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The Blue Mountains is a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia. It borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting approximately 50 kilometres west of the state capital. A large part of the Blue Mountains is incorporated into the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site, consisting of seven national park areas and a conservation reserve. The blue haze for which the mountains were named is believed to be caused by mie scattering which occurs when incoming ultraviolet radiation is scattered by particles within the atmosphere creating a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds. Volatile terpenoids emitted in large quantities by the abundant eucalyptus trees in the range also contributes towards mie scattering.
The temperatures was hitting 40 Celsius when we visited the Blue Mountains. Choosing to be away from the ocean within this heat wave was a pretty bad move. There is nowhere to cool off up in the vintage loving town of Katoomba, well not that we could find. I came to this viewpoint over two evenings and a morning. Initially my biggest worry was the legions of people that visited the three sisters on a daily basis, getting to my chosen spot looked like it wouldn’t be achievable judging by the first evening sundowner’s swarm. Morning as always was the best bet and sure enough I had the place to myself, but like the evening before there was no drama in the sky. It was the last evening that brought home the bacon and unbelievably we shared the place with a handful of people. In the distance the Blue Mountains live up to their name with the three sister ignited by the burning sun on the horizon. |
