Chillin in the Blue Mountains

Wednesday morning, we headed toward the train station to get us the the right platform to catch the train to Blue Mountians. This is the first time we have actually walked around with our packs on............Mum, I will be sending a package when I get back to Sydney with half my clothes in it!!!! Either that, or I'm going to have killer quads by the time I get home. Kerry already is complaining daily about his back.......we seriously overpacked for this trip. Nice two hour train ride to Katoomba, where we were staying in the Blue Mountains YHA. I booked it after seeing how highly rated it was for a hostel. Katoomba is a quaint town with a busy main road that I imagine would be absolutely packed during their high season. We are lucky to be here now when it's just as warm but with half the tourists. The hostel a bit down the road (luckily downhill...I'm taking a cab to the train station on the way back!!). Quite a facility here with huge common rooms / dining area (it's quite heritage on the inside). What really struck me was the variety of ages staying here. Anywhere from an 18 year old backpacker to a group of seniors on holiday. Unfortunately, with most hostel stays, your room is a bit cell-like. We went high end and got a private room with an ensuite which is extremely clean, but you still have that barracks feel goin on. I am such a spoiled traveller.......... The night we checked in sported a BBQ dinner for $7. It started at 7pm and we got there at 7:15 to find they were all out of meat...........what did we expect!! Probably the best deal in town. Kerry put on the charm and they managed to feed us (also included was massive amounts of potatoe salad, coleslaw, green salad and fried onion, the meat was a small piece of steak and 2 sausages. Great deal!! Since we were only here for two days, we decided the next day would be for exploring the Blue Mountains. We booked into a tour for $38 that included unlimited rides on two of their replica Trollies to Senic World (I know how cheesy that sounds, but it was unreal). Once at SW, you took the Cable Way down halfway down the mountain than caught the Railway (which was the steepest mountainside railway in the world!) down to the Rainforest. Once there, you were free to hike around as you wished. There were roughed out trails (just like Lynn Canyon) and others that were boardwalks through the rainforest that pointed out flora and historical facts. there used to be mining done in that area until a huge landslide wiped it out. Lots of mining artifacts and staged sites for interests sake. My "lets go to the Mines of Moria" crack was only funny the first 5 times I said it according to Kerry...........just wait till we get to New Zealand and climb Mt. Doom!!!!!!!!!!!!! Made it to the end of the hike only to be crammed into another tram like sardines.......no worries, it was only thirty degrees in there, with 100 other sweating people......got to the top and chilled out on the grass while we waited for our Trolley to pick us up. Took it to Echo Point (I had Echo Beach stuck in my head for the entire day!) grabbed a couple of TimTams for energy and took a quick hike to the Three Sisters. Had sadism on the mind when we decided to climb down the Grand Staircase.............should have called it the "Im going to Vomit when I get to the Top" Staircase. Maybe I should have gotten the hint when I saw a women passed out on a bench waving for her friends to leave her there. Took a few moments to enjoy the beautiful view from there and started the climb back to the top. Once up had to take a couple of minutes to catch our breath and headed off to a well deserved beer. The bar there had a wonderful view of the mountains and as we had an hour to wait for a bus, enjoyed a cold drink and took in the spectacular surroundings. Hopped on the #1 which stopped about 29 times but only made it half way through the tour as we were close to the hostel and extremely hungry. Went to a travel agency first to look into flights to Melbourne (the train was $75 and a 12 hour journey) and secured a flight for $100 but the catch was it left at 6:15 am on the Sunday. Walked up the street to forage for food and decided on Lebanese take-away, stopped at the local Liquor Land and had a great meal on the outside patio of the hostel. Read our books out there until it got cold then headed into the common room. Sat in the "reading room" with the rest of the senior citizens (we got a couple looks from the kids playing pool), but enjoyed a nice glass of wine and read for a bit. Next day was a 10am check out.
Got up early and steadied ourselves for the steep incline back to the train station (no, we did not take a cab there). I do believe that everyone in Katoomba decided to take up smoking that day, and every step we took up that long hill included a deep breath of smoke. We stopped at our favorite brekky stop which included a sweet Belgian waffle and cup of coffee for $4.50. It seemed that price also included chain smokers next to us. Serenaded by a local street musician, we got the enery back to tackle the rest of the hill. Another 2 hour ride back to Sydney where we figured out how to get to our hostel in a new neighbourhood, Newtown. Not far from Central Station, we were greeted by the muggiest weather we have seen so far. What a crazy part of town! Very busy traffic (car and pedestrian). It was great not knowing where our hostel was (there is sarcasm in that sentence). Finally found it and am sad to say that I was instantly disappointed. Let me just say that the Billibong Gardens is not what I saw on their internet site! Granted, it is another hostel but it looked so friendly and fun on their website. Not the security gate where you needed to be buzzed in entrance that we encountered. And the pool should have been called a pond......Got our keys and made our way to the room. Actually, the rooms was bigger and better (our own TV!!) than at Blue Mountains but the screaming teenagers sorta ruined it alittle. Dropped our bags off and went to explore the area. I've actually never seen so many different ethnic restaurants on one street in my life. This was definitely a different side of Sydney than we had seen before. Very eclectic with everything from a ton of used books stores to goth clothing stores. After walking around a bit, went and grabbed some Indian food. Went to an internet cafe as we had to secure another nights stay in Sydney now that we had a flight booked to Melbourne. Booked into the Ibis at the airport for more than we wanted to pay, but with a flight that early, it was nice to stay so close to the airport. Next day was bright and early (10am checkout) and had the cleaners banging at our doors at 10am sharp. We had a ton of time to kill before we could check into the Ibis but having our packs on made touring around abit difficult. Decided today would be nice brekkie day (which means more than $5 each) so found the Cafe C, plunked down our packs at a table right at the front of the restaurant (no front doors, just open air). What a great morning, enjoyed a great meal and kicked back with our coffee enjoying the wonderful breeze, U2 and Cafe Del Mar playing and watching all the interesting people walking by. Kerry decided to get his head shaved at an $8 barber, which was the most precise haircut I've ever seen. Since I breezed through my book (thanks Heidi, I read it in 2 days!!!) I needed to find a used bookstore which ended up being at the other end of the street. Book secured, we made our way back to the train station for the airport. Met a nice German boy Anders on the train who was making his way to Tazmania. We ended up getting ripped off on our train ticket so it was nice to scam our way into the free shuttle to the Ibis from the airport. Very nice hotel, clean and comfy beds. Nice that they also had laundrey services as I had a bunch of clothes I was dying to wash. Back to the room for an early night and an even earlier morning........4am, Melbourne here we come!!

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