Day 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13


in

7:00am this morning, we strolled up the street to another cafe called Serigo.

After the waiter seated us, he asks, "Are you on holidays?" Yes, we replied. Two weeks! Our concierge later told us that Australians get a mandatory 4 weeks, and may accrue up to 10 weeks!

This was the first time I've ever had Muesli -- which is a mixture of oats and fruits, swimming in milk, with yogurt on top. A$7.50.

Yesterday's Affogato was so good, I had to have another. A$4.00.

7:50am, John meets us at the lobby of The Grace. He suggests that we bring something warm since it can be cool in the mountains, even though it may be 27ºC in Sydney (that's 80ºF)!

We get into John's mini-rangerover... I thought, cool, private tour guide through the mountains.

But his job was only to transfer us to a central meeting zone where we met Mark, the guide, and the other 9 guests.

8:10, we leave for the Blue Mountain National Park.

After 10 minutes of fiddling with the microphone, Mark decided to do without it, and asked us all to introduce each other.

Ivan, in front of me, is from Hong Kong. Tells us Sydney is a lot like Hong Kong, which could be my next vacation.

The British couple behind me have travelled quite a bit. Their daugther decided to pack up one day and move to Australia. A sudden yet satisfying change.

Michio is from Kobe. She's got a VISA to stay in Australia for a few more months before returning home.

They found out what I do for a living... so, fix the microphone! Umm... how about, I'm on vacation.
  9:15, we reach the info center for the Blue Mountain National Park.

The park covers about 286,000 hectars = 706,000 acres = 4 x size of Singapore.

That's pretty big.

10:00, we arrive in Katoomba -- used to be a train station.

1880, the Carrington Hotel was the first hotel to be built in the area, and it's still around.

Watch out... pedestrians and speed bumps up ahead.

11:00am, we begin our hike...
...through several species of eucalyptus trees. Did I mention there are 900 species of eucalyptus trees? Within these 900 species are about 500 different gum trees.

Fires happen quite often around here. Eucalyptus trees secrete oil that can be flammable in the hot sun.

Notice the scribbles on this tree. Hence the name, the Scribble Gum Tree.
a devil-something plant.
Heading down through the Grand Canyon...

Look... a yabby... one o-clock.

Here's where the aboriginals took shelter.

Below our feet, the canyons seem to keep going and going...

So we're at the verry bottom now, says Mark. We'll start heading up and over... where we'll have lunch.

Such motivation, I tell ya.

Well, the good news is... just a little further, he kept telling us.

He kept telling us that for about an hour.

Pretty soon I was starting to believe him again.

All we have to do now, finally, is go up these steps.
Then we see Mark and his new running partner dart up the steps.

Alas, a beautiful view tof the Grand Canyon.

Finally made it.

Back at the bus, Mark and his new friend drop for 20.
2:00pm - Back in town, we take a quick it stop and grab lunch at the

.

I had a delicious smoked salmon sandwich.

2:30pm - Back on the bus.

We drove out to

where we saw the Three Sisters...

The story behind the three stories is... well... the 3 girls ran away to see some boys... and when father found out, he used his want to turn them into stone.

(Mark's tale was more elaborate, but that's the idea.)

There used to be seven sisters, but nature had taken its course.

 

Another view of the canyon...

and cable cars below...

Back on the bus again, heading over to the east side of the Blue Mountain National Park.

4:10pm, we arrive where was a volcanic area.

Now, a farm where wild kangaroos live.

They don't to mind visitors.

Up in the air, we see Sulphur Crested Cockatoos flying about.

We also saw half a dozen Galahs in the grass.

Max spotted a Kookaburra.
A few last words with our new friends (that's Michio to the left), and a last treat (coffee, tea and bikkies) before our 2-hour journey back to the city.

You know what's funny?

We never got to see the Blue Mountains.

Tonight, we meet Boy Max.

That's Max's friend, Max, from Down Under.

We had dinner at Macchiato's, where pizza was served.
Yummy. Food was good and company was great.

Boy Max also helped us with the lingo.. including
ROCKET = the fru-fru veggies on top of our pizza
BONNET = hood of a car
BOOT = trunk of a car
YOOT = truck

The other night, I made a mistake of asking for a NAPKIN at a restaurant. Oops.

 

After dinner, Boy Max was kind enough to take us around the city, another chance to practice the night-setting on my camera.

Tonight we, get a close-up view of Luna Park.

Even better, the moon was out!

Thanks, Max, for taking around town tonight!

And for relieving my craving, again, for gellato.

:)

 

 

Today, we climbed down into the canyons. Tomorrow, we climb up...

 

Day 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13