Blue Mountains Tour From Sydney With An Aboriginal Experience

Reviews

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  John_B 5

  03 Dec 2020

  This was a first class day. I would have thought it was a great value at twice the cost. Blue Mountain & Animal Park & River/Harbor boat ride back to Sydney.

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  spiffnolee 5

  19 Feb 2020

  What to expect - They picked me up from my hotel at 6:30am, which was pretty early, so I'm very glad we stopped at a coffee shop after an hour. Maybe I should have taken a takeaway cup. We tried to see Olympic park, but it was mostly closed for a special event; I didn't care. Once we got up to the park for our destination, our group split into those who went up a gondola and those who went with the aboriginal guide. Yamandirra was my aboriginal guide, and he's one of the most amazing people I've ever met. It was a cloudy/foggy day up in the mountains. We stopped to look at a waterfall and the rock formations known as the Three Sisters, which he showed us as seven sisters. He told their story, and how other stories branch off from that story, and the fundamental values they teach. He stopped to scratch some stones to reveal the pigments they use to paint their skin, and gives each of us a stripe on the cheek. We hiked then, and he showed us various important plants, and we smelled and tasted several of them. There was a stop at a particularly reverent place that affected me strongly. We climbed back up the path and had a view back. It was stunning. The trail is very steep, with a few steps being high steps, but it's not especially challenging or long. We then got back in the van and drove into town for a short stop at what was clearly a tourist photo op (just so we didn't miss the critical stop), and then into town for a surprisingly good lunch at a funky, charming restaurant. We then drove back and got dropped off at the ferry terminal near the Olympic stadium, and they made sure we had ferry tickets back to the right places. The ferry was a nice ride I hadn't already done, and it was good enough that I used it for another excursion the next day. Anyone with the slightest woo should absolutely do this tour, with an Aboriginal guide.

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  Tim133 3

  03 Dec 2019

  I would like to start of saying Tony our company/primary tour guide and Yamandirra (Aboriginal tour guide) were very knowledgeable, funny and professional. My review will focus on the content/layout of the tour itself and in no way reflects anything on Tony or Yamandirra. Tour Title: Full-day tour to Blue Mountains with river cruise, from Sydney with Aboriginal experience Pick up was at the pre-determined time of 6:30AM.; after another pick up we began our tour at 7:00AM. The tour was mostly driving in city and surrounding small town areas. There was very little to no countryside views during the drive. This review is referring to the main guide (Tony), who is driving the van and providing local information about the towns and area, and the Aboriginal guide, who we spent 2 hours with. Yamandirra (Aboriginal guide was very knowledgeable, professional and funny. Do not expect a painted face and skin clothing, he looks like a typical Australian. The Aboriginal part of the tour: The tour guide (Tony) picked up the Aboriginal guide (Yamandirra) after making our way into the Blue Mountains where we stopped in a local park and he welcomed us to the land. There was supposed to be a “smoking ceremony”, but due to fire bans he was unable to do the smoking ceremony. The smoking ceremony is where they burn some plants to cleanse your “spirit”. So don’t worry you will not smoking anything (pipe, cigar, etc.). Due to the burn ban, our Aboriginal guide picked some native plants and patted the plants over our body while ‘chanting’ in his language. After this we went to the Blue Mountains scenic look our area which is a public park area with all kinds of facilities including a souvenir shop. Our group split at this point. Our group took the Aboriginal experience tour and the other took the gondola ride and a small trail walk. On this specific tour you will do either the Aboriginal experience or the gondola ride and walk, not both. Our guide took us on the Blue Mountains nature trail, which is accessible to everyone, and shared stories about his heritage. This is a hike and you walk (many stairs) to the bottom of the hill area and then walk back up (many stairs). He talked to us about the native plants and shared about how the Aboriginal people used the plants for various healing and other various uses. He picked certain vegetation for us to taste. He was very knowledgeable. I wish we could have spent more time with him learning about the Aboriginal culture, their customs, family/group dynamics, history, art etc. Time spent with Yamndirra was more pleasurable than the rest of the tour (nothing against Tony, just the tour content). After finishing the hike, we met up with the other group and continued our with our tour Tony - Blue Mountains – This is a public park and I did not see any place to pay to enter. We stopped at two places to view opposing sides of the three sisters’ rock formation. It was nice to see but did not feel that it was as beautiful as everyone says it is. - Katoomba Falls– This is a public park and I did not see a place to pay to get into the park. We stopped here for about 15 minutes. It was pretty, but not really a vast amount of water fall pouring over. More like a small stream trickling over a cliff. - Norman Lindsay Gallery & Museum –I do not remember stopping at any gallery or museum - Featherdale Wildlife Park and “Visit Featherdale home to over 1,700 native animals”– This did require an admission fee, which was paid for by our guide. This park is like a small zoo which has many different native Australian animals. However, you are only given 1 hour here and you do not have time to listen to any animal talks, pet the animals, or do any activities. - Sydney Olympic Park - This is not a park (as in a place with grass/trees, picnic table, etc.). This is the area of town in which the Olympics were held in 2000. I would call it a town. There is nothing to do here on the tour; it’s just were you catch the ferry back to downtown Sydney. -Regarding pick and drop off: The description says two things about drop off. It says “Hotel pickup and drop-off” and “Sydney Olympic Park a ferry journey into Sydney Harbor. You do not have an option, which was not a problem for us. The return trip is by Sydney Harbor Ferry to either Circular Quay or Darling Harbor. You can take a cab, bus, uber or walk back to your hotel from the harbor. We were picked up from our hotel in a timely manner. -Morning Tea/ coffee, homemade scones”: we were driven to a little restaurant in a town and were given a scone (it is much like an American biscuit), jam and cream. It was tasty; just know it is not a full breakfast. -Lunch: Seven options “Fresh hot”, “2 course”: Lunch was at small restaurant in a cute, secluded area on the grounds of Norman Lindsay estate. Options are provided, you must pre-order. My wife had the Sourdough Chicken Sandwich and I had fish and chips. My wife said her sandwich was delicious and my fish and chips were good. A drink and dessert was included. We were told the dessert changes all the time. We had half of a large cream filled donut. In my opinion, Tony and Yamandirra were e great. Recommendation: If you want to save some money, look up and plan the trip on your own. You can take a bus or rental car and drive to the Blue Mountains Park and do the activities of your choice, ride the gondola, hike, or other things that may be available, all in your own time line. Another option is to take the ferry to Sydney Olympic Park either from Circular Quay or Darling Harbor ($9.40 Australian dollars) each way. I think you could also take a bus to the Featherdale Wildlife Park and have time to do the activities.

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  mommabug2010 3

  03 Dec 2019

  First, let me say that the company tour guide and the Aboriginal tour guide were both very nice. My (seemingly negative) review has nothing to do with them. Here is my take on the tour, organized by the description titles of the tour: 1. “Full-day tour to Blue Mountains with river cruise, from Sydney”: We were picked up at our hotel at 6:30am and departed for the tour, after other pick-ups, at about 7am. This tour is mostly driving in city and small-town areas. There was very little to no countryside views during the drive. I would say that other than walking the Blue Mountains trail, this tour mostly covered city/town area. • “2 guides, incl local Aboriginal guide” and “Aboriginal smoking ceremony” – This description is referring to the main guide, who is driving the van, and the Aboriginal guide, who we spent 2 hours with. Please note that the Aboriginal Tour does not have anything to do with a museum, art, artifacts, cultural ceremonies, history, food, etc. The tour takes place outside on walking path, not in any cultural buildings. The Aboriginal guide was very nice and funny and speaks English; he looks like a typical Australian, so do not expect a painted face and animal skin clothing. I want to share what to expect in terms of the Aboriginal part of the tour. The tour guide picked up the Aboriginal guide after making our way toward the Blue Mountains. We stopped at a local park and the Aboriginal guide welcomed us to the land. This was supposed to be done via a “smoking ceremony”, but due to fire bans he was not able to do the smoking ceremony. We learned that the smoking ceremony is where they burn some native plants to cleanse our “spirit”. It has nothing to do with smoking anything (pipe, cigar, etc.). Because of the burn ban, our Aboriginal guide picked some native plants and patted the plants over our body (from head to toe) while ‘chanting’ something in his language, not sure what he was saying, but most likely he was welcoming us. After this we went to the Blue Mountains scenic look out area, which is a public park with all kinds of facilities including a souvenir shop. This is where we had the Aboriginal part of the tour. Our guide took us on the Blue Mountains nature trail, which is accessible to everyone, and shared some stories about his heritage. Please note that this is a hike and you walk to the bottom of the hill area and then walk back up. He talked to us about the native plants and shared about how the Aboriginal people used the plants for various health benefits. He picked stuff for us to taste or smell and shared the health benefits of these plants. He was very knowledgeable. After finishing the hike, we continued with the remained of the tour with the main tour guide. We were not able to visit any of the Blue Mountain facilities (Gondola ride, souvenir shop, etc.) we had to continue in the van to our next destination. • “Entry/Admission - Blue Mountains” – This is a public park and I did not see a place to pay to get into the park. We stopped at two places to view basically the same thing, the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters are three tall standing rock formations. Sadly, I did not feel that it was as beautiful as everyone says it is. Also note that this public area has some things to do that you cannot do while on this tour, such as riding the gondola that goes from one side to another side of the hills. The gondola actually rode over us on our Aboriginal walking tour. • “Entry/Admission - Katoomba Falls” – This is a public park and I did not see a place to pay to get into the park. We stopped here for about 15 minutes. It was pretty, but not really a water fall. More like a small stream trickling over a cliff. • “Entry/Admission - Norman Lindsay Gallery & Museum” – If we stopped here, I do not remember. I do not remember stopping at any gallery or museum. • “Entry/Admission - Featherdale Wildlife Park” and “Visit Featherdale home to over 1,700 native animals”– This did require an admission fee, which was paid for by our guide. This park is like a small zoo which has many different native Australian animals. However, you are only given 1 hour here and you do not have time to listen to any animal talks, pet the animals, or do any activities. • Entry/Admission - Sydney Olympic Park - This is not a park (as in a place with grass/trees, picnic tables, etc.). This is the area of town in which the Olympics were held many years ago. I would call it a town. There is nothing to do here on the tour, it’s just were you catch the ferry back to downtown Sydney. 2. The description says two things about drop off. It says “Hotel pickup and drop-off” and “Sydney Olympic Park a ferry journey into Sydney Harbou” (exact spelling – no ‘r’ in description). You do not have an option, which was not a problem for us. The return trip is by Sydney Harbor Ferry to either Circular Quay or Darling Harbor. We were picked up from our hotel in a timely manner. 3. “Morning Tea/ coffee, Homemade scones”: we were driven to a little restaurant in a town and were given a scone (more like an American biscuit) and some jam and whipped cream. It was tasty, just know it is not a full breakfast. 4. “Lunch, 7 choices Fresh hot 2 course”: Lunch was at small restaurant in a cute, secluded area. I think it was the part that had to do with Norman Lindsay. You do have some options, that you must pre-order. I had the Sourdough Chicken Sandwich and my husband had fish and chips. The sandwich was delicious but my husband said the fish and chips were good but not the best he has had. You get also get a drink and dessert. We were told the dessert changes all the time. Our dessert was half of a fairly large cream filled donut. MY OPINION: I was shocked to see so many glowing reviews about this tour. While the tour guides were great, the tour just lacked in scenery and intrigue. My recommendation would be to take a bus or drive to the Blue Mountains park and do the activities of your choice, ride the gondola, hike, or other things that may be available (we don’t know all of what was available as we didn’t get to look around), all in your own time line. You can also take the ferry to and from Sydney Olympic Park either from Circular Quay or Darling Harbor for about $9.40 (Australian dollars) each way. I think you could also take a bus to the Featherdale Wildlife Park and have time to do the activities. I do recommend taking another tour, “Walking with Wombats”, as it takes you out of town to see several country views and to see Kangaroos and Wombats in their natural setting (in Kangaroo Valley). The Walking with Wombats tour also includes a stop for a beautiful view of the Blue Mountains in Leura, south of Katoomba.

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  morgdog 5

  25 Nov 2019

  After 5 weeks of scuba diving around the South Pacific, we stopped in Sydney for four nights and picked this trip for our first day because it looked interesting. I was a little hesitant because it was the end of the trip and the description said that you needed to have moderately good physical fitness. We felt we would be ok, but being in our 70's, we were a little concerned. The trip began at 7 am and our primary tour guide (and owner of Dingo travel), Menashe, was incredibly informed about the area and dedicated to helping people understand and appreciate the aboriginal culture. When we got to the Blue Mountains we were introduced to Yamandirra, our aboriginal guide, and my husband and I found we were the only ones who had opted for the aboriginal tour, rather than the other blue mountain options. We immediately began a most informative and inspirational trek. Yes, it was strenuous, but Yamandirra made it so interesting that we wished the trek could have lasted longer. There is no way I can rate this highly enough! The rest of the tour was very good, and the food at all of the stops was delicious, but the Blue Mountains trek was one of the best travel experiences (outside of scuba diving) we have ever had!

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  louisafebe 5

  18 Nov 2019

  This tour was perfect! Highly recommended for those who wants to know more about the aboriginal culture and walk around the track with Yamandirrra! Have a blast time with him!!

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  Patricia_L 4

  16 Nov 2019

  Beautiful views of blue mountains. Aboriginal guide was very knowledgeable but was with us for too short a time. Expected more of an "Aboriginal Experience"

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  emcguinness 5

  24 Sep 2019

  Don't think I could speak more highly of this tour. 4 of us joined the tour and we haven't stopped talking about it a month on. Really informative and engaging.

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  si0bhf 5

  10 Sep 2019

  I took this tour with my parents in September. What can I say but what a lovely experience. Our tour guide Menashe picked us up and we were lucky that we were the only ones on the tour that day. Menashe was informative, friendly and fun. He answered all our questions and took us on a scenic route to the mountains. As the weather was rainy and cloudy that morning he went out of his way to show us another view point so we really could see the blue mountains. We then started the Aboriginal guided tour with Yamandirrra. This aspect of the tour was brilliant. Although I have lived in Australia for some time he taught me a lot about Aboriginal culture. His stories were so passionate and informative and really gave me a better perspective on Australian history. We also got a great walk in the blue mountains and seen the famous sites. Although there were so many aspects to the day the guides really made our tour so enjoyable. Would highly recommend.

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  344tinal 5

  01 Sep 2019

  Yamandirrra, our Aboriginal guide, took us on a mini hike at the mountains. He was very friendly and informative. He showed us the many different birds there as well as the plants and their usages during ancient times. He showed us the Seven Sisters (not just three!), the Young Man and most of all the Old Man. It was an eye-opener to be able to learn first hand information from Yamandirrra. He brought us to splendid, breathtakingly look-out points, usually not covered by other usual tours. A time very well spent!

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