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Wednesday 3rd May we caught the train from Sydney to the Blue Mountains. We had booked into a hostel in Katoomba (the main town of the Blue Mountains). It only took a couple of hours so we had arrived by lunchtime. The train ticket included 3 days on the sightseeing bus so, once we had checked in and dumped our bags, we walked up the road to catch the (London) sightseeing bus. We sat on the top deck (luckily it wasn't an open-top bus as it was freezing!!!)
The plan was to stay on the bus a full circuit so that we could get our bearings and decide where to go properly the next day. However, what we would soon realise later on, was that everytime we caught the bus we seemed to catch it just in time for it to be the drivers tea break so the bus would stop halfway!!! It stopped halfway this first time but we managed to pick up another sightseeing bus right next to it - which was doing a Clifftop and Valley Tour. The tour lasted about 30 minutes and we saw some amazing views of the Jamison and Megalong Valleys - especially
Blue Mountains
Blue Mountains in all their glory!!!as we were on the top deck! It was quite hairy at some points though being on a cliff-side, with the wind blowing hard, on a rickety old double decker bus!!! Especially when the driver stopped at one point right on a cliff edge (you couldn't see any road between the bus and edge when you looked down!) and proceeded to talk to us for ages about the valley. I (Karen) was half-listening - paranoid that the bus was going to blow over the edge!!!
After the tour we got back on the other sightseeing bus and managed to finish the rest of the circuit - taking in the beautiful views as we went. The bus also went through the next place on which was a lovely quaint village called Leura.
We spent the evening at the hostel - we met some people from Doncaster who were lovely (Mick, Morgan and Dan).
The next day we got back on the sightseeing bus - again, just in time for the drivers tea break!!! Luckily though this time we wanted to get off at the stop the bus was ending at!!! Scenic World - basically it had a scenic
Jamison Valley
View of the Jamison Valley, Katoomba railway and two different cable cars all leaving from the one point - called Scenic World. We brought a ticket to do all 3 (feeling brave!)
Firstly, we went on the scenic railway. Its the steepest railway and it goes right down (vertical) into the valley. It used to be used to transport the coal but they then changed it into a passenger railway. It was quite daunting when we were waiting for it to leave because you don't know what to expect. Its so steep and dark at the beginning! It was hilarious though - a great ride with, not only great views of the Valley, but also it played Indiana Jones music as it went down - classic!!!
Once at the bottom of the valley we walked round the rainforest on one of the trails and then we caught the cable car back up. It passed the mountains and, again, had fantastic views. Karen saw less of these though as it was too high for her and she buried her head! (It was very steep!)
The last delight at Scenic World was the Scenic Skyway - another cable car. This one went straight across the
Scenic Railway
The steep track of the railway. valley though (rather than upwards) and it had a glass floor. Karen was most nervous about this one but actually enjoyed it far more than the other cable car. The ride was so smooth that it hardly felt like you were moving. The views were spectacular - really amazing. I think they were so awesome that you couldn't get scared at how high you were!!! The other side of the Skyway we got off and walked around. There was a viewpoint with more fab sights and we did a 'spot' of bushwalking!!! Afterwards, it was back on the Skyway to go across to where we had started from.
In the evening we went for a drink with Morgan and Mick and Dan - the people in our hostel from Doncaster. We went to a bar down the road from the hostel. It was a strange place - if you watched The League of Gentleman - it was along those lines (in fact the people in Blue mountains in general are a lot like that - very local indeed!!!)
On the Friday we were (you guessed it) back on the bus!!! This time we got off at the Three
Katoomba Falls
Katoomba Falls from the Scenic Skyway. Sisters Lookout point (the Three Sisters is famous & its where the mountainside has fallen away - its left three points shaped like heads). They are very impressive. We did one of the walks around the cliffside and attempted the Giant Staircase - although it was too 'Giant' for us!!! It was too high for me (Karen) and very steep. Jamie went down some of it though and walked along the small bridge that leads to the Three Sisters itself (very high up!) He came back up panting a little though (well everyone did!!!) We spent the rest of the day much the same - walking and taking in the beautiful scenery.
In the evening we went back to the strange bar with people from our hostel. One of the guys - Maltese Mark - had been staying at the hostel for 2 months and was leaving. It was a great night and we met some more strange local folk - including a man who was threatening the guy we were with who ran the hostel (because he had told the man not to talk to Karen - very amusing!!!)
On the Saturday we caught the train to
Karen 'Goes Bush'!!!
Bushwalking in the Blue Mountains. Wentworth Falls. From the train station it was quite a walk to the falls themselves. We walked for about 30 minutes and then picked up the trail along the cliffside to the falls. It was a lovely day - nice & sunny and not too cold so it was a great walk. The falls were impressive - the trail actually leads you to a ledge on the falls (the bit where it is flat) so you can stand right at the top of the falls. A barrier stops you looking over from the top though (good job!) The views were spectacular!
Sunday morning (our last day in the Blue Mountains) we checked out of the hostel and caught the sightseeing bus (illegally as our ticket wasn't valid anymore - he he!!!) to the next town - Leura. Its really quaint and nice so we wandered around for a while and spent the morning there. We had vouchers for 'buy one get one free' cream teas - I don't like them so Jamie polished off 2 lots of cream teas (he felt quite sick after!) Next we caught the bus back to Katoomba, collected our bags from the hostel, and
Sister Sledge!!!
The 3 Sisters become 4!!! caught the train back to Sydney. In the evening we had lovely chats with our parents on the internet - including web cams - so it was excellent to see them!!!
The Monday (8th May) in Sydney was spent organising things and generally not doing a great deal!!! We brought a coach ticket to go from Sydney to Cairns (with unlimited stops). So, Monday evening we did our first coach trip and went from Sydney to Newcastle. It only took a couple of hours.
We spent 1 week and 1 day in Newcastle. Our hostel was fab - it was quite small and had a great feel to it (the small hostels are best we have since realised!) The people were really frendly. We would have liked to have stopped there and worked but as it was our first stop since Sydney we thought it was too soon to settle anywhere and that we should carry on going up the coast. Especially as we need to meet Karen's parents in a month in Townsville (yipee!!!)
The beach in Newcastle was lovely so we spent a lot of time walking around. One day we went on the Hunter
Karen, Kim & Mark
The three of us after the 'strange' pub night (Mark is the one who was leaving). Valley Wine Tour. It was a whole day of being taken round to the different wineries in the Hunter Valley and tasting their wine. It was great and at the end of the day we were all a little red-eyed and had had our fair share of wine!!! We also got to taste cheese and chocolate so it was definitely a highlight (all our favourite things!!!) The same evening, the hostel had a free barbeque night so we went to that. It was at a nearby bar and we had free food and plenty of cheap drinks vouchers. There was a quiz and a band on after aswell so that was good. The next evening, the hostel had a free pizza night so we got to eat as much Dominoes pizza as we could manage (can you tell now why we liked the hostel so much!!!)
The Saturday evening in Newcastle (Saturday 13th May) was the big night that Jamie had been waiting for - the FA Cup Final. We decided to stay at the hostel and watch it and we had a great time (obviously the result helped with that!) There was us 2 watching with Martin -
Wentworth Falls
Jamie at the 'ledge' of Wentworth Falls. an Australian Liverpool fan, a Dutch guy who found it really funny, and Leanne - a lovely english girl who works at the hostel and also supports Liverpool! At the end Jamie was picking Martin up in their moments of pure delight!!! Jamie was an emotional wreck at the end of the match and, despite it being 4am, couldn't sleep at all!!!
Then, on the Tuesday (16th) after a great week in Newcastle we made our next coach journey. This time it was a 'biggie' - 12 hours overnight to Byron Bay. At least we slept on the coach................................................................................................................................
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Mike
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From all in the Control Room
Glad to see you guys are havin a great time. Keep up the great Blogs. They give us something to read at four in the morning!!