Days 19-20 (June 9-10)

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Day 19 (June 9) I went to the Blue Mountains today. It's supposed to be the "grand canyon of australia." It was rainy in the city when I left but the sun was coming through at times. I took the two-hour train from Central Station at 10am. It was cool to see the suburbs of Sydney from the train, and I took in a lot from the conversations of the local commuters.

I arrived around noon and had a nice lunch. The canyon is only a mile or so from the train station, and you walk through a nice little town called Katoomba. I knew when I got there I was in trouble. It was still rainy and very foggy. I had read about the Mtns being covered in fog, and I had been hoping it wouldn't happen to me. But it did.

I couldn't see 50 feet. The view from the lookouts was of nothing but white. I walked around for a few hours looking at more white, then walked back into town to catch a train. Got back into Sydney around 6pm. Pretty much a waste of a day. I could have gone surfing or something. Oh well, at least I got a few more supplies for Mt. Kili at the climbing stores in town... I will post my pics of white later.

Here's what it was supposed to look like Blue Mountains.


Day 20 (June 10) I'm about to head off to Africa. Very excited. I love this part of the world but I'm ready to move on. I'll have to come back to Australia and the South Island of NZ some other time. Maybe Ironman New Zealand in 2008??

Today I pretty much just walked around town. Got a new book at a used book store. Traded it for Lonely Planet's East Coast Australia. I just finished Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. It was a great book about Lewis & Clark and Thomas Jefferson. The store offered me $2 for it so I kept it. I hate to lug around the weight of these books I don't need but... To ship them home would cost $30...

I will most likely be out of touch for about 10-12 days. I will update again as soon as I can, but I have no idea what internet situation is in Africa...

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