Latest news with #BlueMountainsExplore
The Age
2 days ago
- General
- The Age
It's one of Sydney's favourite urban legends. But could it be real?
Circus escapees. Abandoned World War II mascots. Black market pets. No matter who you speak to, everyone has their take on how the Blue Mountains Panther – one of Sydney's favourite urban legends – came to be. But for a group of local explorers, the 'how' isn't the important question – it's the whereabouts of the 'Big Cat' itself that they're determined to answer. For four years, 14 locals from the group Blue Mountains Explore have searched the most hidden corners of the bush to try to find evidence proving the existence of big cats in the Blue Mountains. The group, selling Blue Mountains guidebooks to help fund their search, have shared their experience with believers and non-believers across social media, including the highs (evidence of suspiciously large paw prints) and lows (ticks, leeches and accidentally camping on spider nests). They're so certain that they're getting close to proving the existence of big cats that, for the past 18 months, the explorers have dedicated themselves to the search full-time, going out into the bush five days a week, every week. Like many Blue Mountains locals, group member George Kaplan grew up hearing the legend of big cats. 'It's the same as the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, and it's the same as other mythical creatures in different parts around the world, but from the age of probably two I've been hearing about the mythical Black Panther in the Blue Mountains,' he said. 'After starting the Instagram account Blue Mountains Explore with a number of other friends, we started to see things out in the wilderness when we were just exploring that we thought were weird, unusual.'
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
It's one of Sydney's favourite urban legends. But could it be real?
Circus escapees. Abandoned World War II mascots. Black market pets. No matter who you speak to, everyone has their take on how the Blue Mountains Panther – one of Sydney's favourite urban legends – came to be. But for a group of local explorers, the 'how' isn't the important question – it's the whereabouts of the 'Big Cat' itself that they're determined to answer. For four years, 14 locals from the group Blue Mountains Explore have searched the most hidden corners of the bush to try to find evidence proving the existence of big cats in the Blue Mountains. The group, selling Blue Mountains guidebooks to help fund their search, have shared their experience with believers and non-believers across social media, including the highs (evidence of suspiciously large paw prints) and lows (ticks, leeches and accidentally camping on spider nests). They're so certain that they're getting close to proving the existence of big cats that, for the past 18 months, the explorers have dedicated themselves to the search full-time, going out into the bush five days a week, every week. Like many Blue Mountains locals, group member George Kaplan grew up hearing the legend of big cats. 'It's the same as the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, and it's the same as other mythical creatures in different parts around the world, but from the age of probably two I've been hearing about the mythical Black Panther in the Blue Mountains,' he said. 'After starting the Instagram account Blue Mountains Explore with a number of other friends, we started to see things out in the wilderness when we were just exploring that we thought were weird, unusual.'
