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Published: August 31st 2007
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Gooday Mates!
I know its been yonks (to use a good Aussie word for 'ages') since I've posted an update but as some of you may have noticed there was a problem with the TravelBlog server and all of my past blog entries (as well as the one I was currently working on) were lost....or so I thought. Thanks to the person who helped to restore them, as we say in Australia that's "heaps good!" and "Ta" (Aussie slang for 'thanks'....as I recall one of you did request more fun Aussie words so I'm doing my best)
My other excuse for not updating sooner is that the internet connections here actually have a limit for the number of megs you can transfer during the month which I found out after downloading tonnes of itunes and then realising that my connection wouldn't work...in any case I'm not able to connect from home at the moment hopefully the new service month starts soon. =) Lesson learned...no more itunes for a while.
Well enough with the administrative challenges and on to my amazing weekend at the Blue Mountains!
After yet another late Friday night out, we arrived sleepy eyed at
Me & Kangaroos
Look what I found on my hike at the Blue Mountains. These kangaroos let me get right up close. the Wolly's (Woolworths) to meet our tour bus at 7:00 am on Saturday morning. By 7:20 I was beginning to get a bit nervous given our bizzare pickup location and that I had no confirmation number or receipt to speak of for the reservation.....if you haven't already noticed (or don't know me very well) it should now be clear that I was the one responsible for booking our weekend away this time! lol =)
This was even more clear when a half-broken down mini bus rolled up to the curb with a driver who I could only describe as Santa Claus himself (should have taken a pic..sorry)! While ignoring the nervous glance I could see out of the corner of my eye from my travel companion I boarded the broken bus with confidence.
Turns out that the bus actually was road worthy and Santa was quite knowledgeable about the area, and quite funny for the first 5 minutes after which I turned on my ipod to full strength to drown out Santa as he continued howling at his own jokes... prefice this by saying that he was the only one laughing.
Anyway, we arrive up at the
Kangaroo
How cute is this? Why don't the Aussies love these little guys?!? blue mountains in early morning and it was beautiful. We stopped in a clearing for a walk in the forrest and came upon heaps of kangaroos! It was great to be able to get up close to them.
After that we headed out to Wentworth Falls where we hiked (or 'bush walked' to be true Aussie) down to the lookout point which was really worthwhile for the view of the falls. The hike back up to the main section was much more difficult but the weather was fairly cool and nice and sunny so it was perfect for being active outdoors.
With that in mind we arrived at the Three Sisters rock formation where rumour has it a witchdoctoctor from the Katoomba tribe turned three sisters into stone to protect them from a rival tribe who were after them. Although he intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over he was killed and since he was the only person who could bring the sisters back to life they remain in the rock formation. See it was even an educational weekend.
From the formation we took a 12 km hike down into the gorge where the
3 Sisters
This is the 3 sisters rock formation at the Blue Mountains. views were amazing! The great thing is that rather than hiking back up to the top, they have a Scenic Railway which is the steepest railway in the world and travels at almost a 90 degree angle up the side of the mountain. Of course, Janice and I had to be right at the front for the reverse trip up so we squeezed ourselves into the front seat (designed for 3 people) with two other tourists from Germany (they didn't look impressed but it was well worth it).
After our long and busy first day at the Blue Mountains we headed to our accomodation which was at a Youth Hostel....yep noone can call me a princess anymore since I've now stayed at a hostel! This hostel, mind you, was a significant improvement over the "motel" from the Hunter Valley so maybe they are not so bad afterall or maybe, as Janice says, this is the nicest hostel ever! They actually had a room with a giant big screen tv and tonnes of movies so we sat around and watched movies before heading to sleep.
The next day we were off for our caving adventure in the Jenolan caves.
It was great, we arrived there and went for a 3 hour hike around the area where we spotted a platapus in the lake, "how good's that?"
Then we put on our caving outfits equipped with hard hats and harnesses (very attractive!) and absailed into the caves. It was great fun with lots of tight spaces to squeeze into...at one point the person ahead of you actually had to grab your ankles and pull you through the hole as you lied on your stomach it was great. The best part was when we all sat around in the middle of the cave and turned off our headlamps to experience the total darkness underground. That was really fun (Mom, you would have hated it!).
We emerged from the caves covered in dirt (and bruises as I would discover the next day at work) and high on adrenaline for our trip back to the city. Good thing we had the adrenaline because we needed it for the trip back. We were supposed to meet up with another tour bus for the ride back to Sydney but since we were running late the bus left without us so we had to
Wentworth Falls
A hike down to the lookout and a much worse hike back up! The view was worth it though. take the train back to the city from Katoomba which was fine but the train was leaving in 5 minutes when we found all this out. Our driver sped through the winding roads and finally stopped with 2 min to go before the train's departure (and we had no tickets) and yelled "RUN" as we raced out to the tracks with the knowledge that the next train wouldn't be coming for another 2.5 hours. We made the train with only a second to spare so disaster was averted, but then we found out there was construction on the train tracks so our train would only be going half-way to the city and we would have to bus it from there and then take a train from the bus depot home.
It was great that it all worked out and we made it home in one piece...these are the interesting things that happen when I'm the one responsible for booking weekend trips!
Cheers!
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