MY BridgeClimb guide is squinting into the sunset staring at mountains. “Don’t they look beaut?” he says. We are standing on top of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Below us, the city begins to sparkle, the sails of the opera house have turned pink, but my eye keeps shifting to follow Doug’s gaze. “Some nights they just glow the colour of sunset,” he says. “I guess you must have been there.”

His supposition is understandable. Most visitors to Sydney take a Blue Mountains tour – sooner or later. I never have. Six years ago my wife and I drove right past them while heading west in search of Elvis (another story). I remember how the mountains were dappled with shadows cast by puffs of ice-cream cloud as we stared at the backdrop of endless ridges of eucalyptus, dropping away towards precipitous valleys.

My wife was restless. Turning the volume down on Elvis’s Love Me Tender, she told me she’d rather explore the Blue Mountains than suffer a weekend with guys in big flares and bad Elvis wigs destroying the King’s entire back catalogue. I drove on. I was on business, but I promised her the Blue Mountains would have their day.

So, here we are, on our soft adventure, picked up by Lindsay at our apartment on Sydney harbour as the sun comes up at 6.45am. Australian Eco Adventures run one and two-day tours of the mountain hotspots. We think an overnight will allow us to watch that sunset make its splashdown in glorious close-up. Mountain Heritage at Katoomba, perched on the ridge that overlooks the stunning vista of Jamison Valley is our chosen B&B.

Choice of hotel and number of stay-over nights is optional. Renting a car would in theory have given us flexibility, but the mini-coach takes the driving strain and provides us, thanks to Lindsay, with insider knowledge, smoked-glass windows to soften the glare of the sun and the chance to ooh and aah with our fellow travellers, all first-timers like ourselves.

“So close to Sydney, you just gotta see it,” says Artie from Baltimore. He and his wife are thrown by Lindsay’s sense of humour. “How long you been doing this job?” Artie asks. “Just got my driving licence yesterday. Never been to Australia before,” answers Lindsay, deadpan. “I guess you got satellite navigation,” Artie says.

Lindsay, a constant jesting mine of information, takes us to sights we hadn’t reckoned on. Barely half an hour out of Sydney’s tree-lined suburbs, cruising west we come to a wildlife park at Doonside. “Welcome to Featherdale Wildlife Park, it’s a gem, believe me,” Lindsay says, and we all pile out to grab a snack, a drink, a toilet break and an hour-long familiarisation with Aussie feathers, fur and claws. And we’re also early enough to beat all the other tourists. My wife grabs a selfie with a koala! I head for the possums, but they are kipping and out of sight. Ditto the wombats.

Moments later, I’m being talked to by cockatoos, right next to the budgie cage, then the eagles appear. I turn round; emu with attitude are neck-jerking, eye-balling, urging me towards the crocodiles. My wife, ever the wise one, is hanging out with Tasmanian Devils. “These things are so ugly, that being beside them makes you realise your own loveliness.” I offer to take her photograph to prove how right she is. The Tassie Devils are practising snarling. “They’re endangered,” their keeper says. I am not surprised. “Do you use a blindfold to get them to mate?” I enquire. “They’re both blokes,” is his withering answer.

Then, it’s off up the Great Western Highway towards Wentworth Falls, crossing the bosky Nepean River, reaching Faulconbridge, made notorious by artist Norman Lindsay whose existence centred on living with, and painting, a harem of lovely nubile nudes. His namesake (our driver, seer and jester) gives a wide berth to the painter’s studio cum museum, perhaps not wanting it spread about that Aussies are wanton.

Wentworth Falls is named for one of the three pioneers who in 1813 led white exploration from the coast to the great central plains. As we drive through a narrowing, tree-covered gorge along the increasingly twisting road, there are fleeting glimpses of the tumbling Jamison Valley. Out come the smartphones just as Lindsay pulls into the car park. Mrs Artie leads the charge, snapping everything in sight.

We follow Lindsay down slippery steps towards a hidden viewing zone, facing the thunder rush of the falls. But a recent dry spell has reduced them to a whisper, a skein of water eroding the honeycombed layer of sandstone that tops the plateau. “You find lyrebirds here,” Lindsay tells us. “Have a listen.” Suddenly birdsong from Lindsay’s smartphone is lilting around us. “It’s very rare,” says Lindsay. “The mating call.”

On cue an actual lyrebird appears as if in answer. Lindsay is speechless. “Never seen that before. Amazing.” Then, like a sprite, the bird disappears. Soon Lindsay’s recalling the great Sydney dust-storm of two or three years ago as we clamber back on to the bus and before we know it we’ve reached Leura – “awfully pretty” – where packed lunches are collected for the hikers in our group.

Minutes later we’re dropped near Katoomba, at Mountain Heritage, a grand country house hotel where they’ve upgraded us to the Premier suite, a room with seven windows, each overlooking the fabulous sweep of the Jamison Valley. The view is hypnotic. I prise my wife away from her camera. “Let’s find a cafe in Katoomba,” I say, and grab lunch.

Ten minutes later we’re dropped in Katoomba Street, the main drag of this hilltop town, beside the taxi driver’s recommended cafe. It looks unpromising, but irresistible smells overwhelm my misgivings. While scanning the menu we chat to Kip, a regular blow-in from Leura who, once a month pops by for “a treat of pak choi and chips”. "If you wanna eat fancy try the Carrington Hotel across the street,” he says. “The Carrington was Australia’s most popular honeymoon destination 100 years ago. Very swanky.” Picking up on my accent he says, “You’re Irish. Fancy a pint? The Harp and Fiddle round the corner hits the spot.” He smacks his lips.

My wife goes Chinese, with what she later describes as her tastiest meal for days, a melange of steak-strips, garlic gravy, ginger and snow peas. I opt for simple fish and chips. The generous helpings cost a pittance (£6 each with drinks included). By now the cafe is crammed with locals chatting at tables or buying takeaways. A queue has formed outside, beside the hop-on, hop-off bus stop. “Comes every half hour; due in 10 minutes,” someone tells us – time to grab tickets. We’re ready to hop.

BREAK

If Australian Eco Adventures provides a hinterland-highlights tour, the hop-on bus will take you to every conceivable scenic gem in Katoomba’s immediate eye-popping landscape. Its 29 stops on the hour-long loop include the jaw-dropping famous Three Sisters, Gordon Falls, Lyre Bird Dell, Honeymoon Lookout, Leura Cascades and Everglades Gardens. It’s a chocolate box with all your favourite flavours crammed side by side. We do the full circuit before deciding where we’ll alight second time around.

“Hi, I’m Damian,” says the driver. “You’re in luck. Yesterday, unfortunately, the mountains were drowned in mist. Today is perfect visibility.” An hour or so later we alight at Echo Point (stop 14) to duly gawp at the Three Sisters, who according to myth were turned to stone to prevent their capture by a monster.

From the viewing platform, beyond the sisters’ profile, millions of trees have created an ocean of rippled green which, far away, becomes a ridge of cobalt blue, with Mount Solitary rising in singular grandeur, almost reptilian and basking.

So much to discover, so little time. We stop again at Leura Cascades, taking the trail to the stairway of rapids before diverting towards the cliff-top track and the waterfall, the highlight of Gordon Falls Lookout. Birdsong, flitting through the treetops, follows us everywhere – or almost. Catching the bus again to Leura, it is the gentle tinkling of teaspoons that entices, for Leura is dotted with cafes, tearooms and restaurants. At Bygone Beauties (where, by proffering your explorer ticket you receive a two-for-one offer) we enjoy an afternoon tea with scones, cream and jam, and prepare to inspect the tearoom’s treasured collection of tea pots. Too much excitement.

That night the sunset is spectacular, gilding the canopy of forest. From our window seat at the Mountain Heritage restaurant we enjoy a great meal as well as the view, and the chilled Aussie wine deserves our call for a second bottle. There, we reflect on the Blue Mountains’ stunning reputation for eye-grabbing scenery through the boozy haze of a psychedelic sky.

It’s as well we do. Next day is a washout, despite the beautiful scarlet sunrise (warning enough!). But, when our transport arrives after breakfast the wind and rain have consumed the Jamison Valley entirely. James, our new driver, makes a lunch stop. The food (both ample and delicious) can’t take our minds off the dismal weather. Then he drives to Bells Line of Road, where we find a posse of kangaroo looking baleful, as if a busload of gawking tourists is just the last straw. They bound away.

After stopping briefly at Govett’s Leap above the steep (near invisible) gorge, we drive to Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens where sunshine is nosing at last through the clouds. Inside the bus we give a small cheer. “I put it all down to my good luck charm,” says my wife, her sunglasses on, now fishing from her handbag a toy koala.

A good luck charm! She makes me think of Elvis’s hit. And the King is now singing it in my head. But (wise at last) my lips are well and truly sealed.

TRAVEL NOTES

Getting there

Emirates (emirates.com) flies daily from Glasgow to Sydney via Dubai from £775 return.

Where to stay

Mountain Heritage, Katoomba (mountainheritage.com.au) has double rooms from £100 a night.

What to do

Australian Eco Adventures (aealuxury.com.au) offers a Blue Mountains Experience one-day tour from Sydney from £135 adult/£80 child, along with overnight stay options at extra cost. Blue Mountains Explorer Bus (explorerbus.com.au) has a 24-hour ticket for £20 adult/£10 child.

For information about holidays in Australia, visit australia.com