Blue Mountain trip

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Today was our big trip to the blue mountains. An early 6am rising to catch the coach. It poured down. When we reached the mointains we could see nothing. The first cable car across a 1000 foot valley was unexciting as visibility was zero. We then went down into the valley and this was clear as if the trees formed a roof. The journey down into the valley was by the steepest railway in the world and back up by Australia's largest cable car. By lunchtime the fog had been burnt off and the area could be truly appreciated. The eucalyptus really do give off a blue haze which gives the mountains their name.

Next came a 30 minute aboriginal pageant, educational but not as good as the Moari one we went to in Christchurch. Then it was a drive back toward Sydney. Most on the coach treated this as snooze time. Next stop Featherdale Wildlife Park, a rescue centre for kangaroos, Wallabies and cuddly Koalas. Back on the coach and straight into a traffic queue on the motorway, an accident ahead. The driver took a detour through the residential areas but it meant we missed sight of the Olympic village. Last bit of the trip was a leisurely ferry down the Paramatta river back to Darling Harbour. Another exhausting day out.

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