Blue Mountains and more from Sydney

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Well my last entry just got deleted so I will try to remember it all.

I went to the blue Mountains a few days ago on a day trip with the Swiss fellow. We got on the bus at 7AM and didn't get back till about 7PM. It was a good trip but too much time was spent on the bus and we only had 15-20 minutes at each site with the exception of lunch. The mystery behind the blue Mountains lies in the sap of the gum trees. It evaporates in the heat and scatters the light by Rayleigh diffraction to give off a blueish hue over the mountain range. The view was breath taking and pictures will accompany this entry once I find proper computers again. There were numerous legends about the Blue Mountain Formation and the Three Sisters peaks which I can relate to you another time if you so desire but I can't nearly do them justice and they are rather lengthy. I intend to head back up there because there are lots of interesting geological formations such as various basaltic formations from the rift valley and numerous caves and trails that can be explored.

I left the following day to go back to the hostel that I had first stayed at and this time I found it a great deal better. I hung out the first night with numerous British, German, French and Canadian folk drinking 'goon,' a cheap wine, $10 AUSSIE for 4.4L of wine. it is the cheapest thing here as everything is extremely expensive. At a pub a bottle of beer is about $7-9 Aussie dollars and a bottle of Jagermeister from the liquor store is $50 Aussie. We went back to Manly the next day for the beach then out to a bar with people from the hostel. The next day we went back to Bondi with a large group of people to enjoy the beautifully sunny 40ºC weather and made sure to apply sunscreen quite regularly and liberally. I am slowly turning a darker shade and its funny to realize how white I was from the photos I have from the first few days compared to now.

Today will take me to the Sydney tower once the midday heat cools a bit and then I am taking it easy because Dave arrives tomorrow and Australia day is in two days and will definitely make for a good day. I will be watching the sail boat races at 11AM, going to the large Sydney park and the Botanical gardens and then back to the Harbour to watch the fireworks at the bridge and the opera house.

I went on a walk through the Botanical gardens already and up to the opera house. They were spectacular gardens and the opera house is a great deal bigger (and not as nice looking) up close. I went and saw a reduced shakespeare play there last night and it was quite good. I am almost done the main touristy things to do and I am looking forwards to my road trip down to Melbourne in about 4 days to see two really good friends that came to Canada for school last term.

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Comments

[Carleen Finn]

I really truly miss Goon. Slap the goon! <3 Fruity Lexia is not bad. Also haha try this. Get Orange Fanta and mix it. Tell me what you think.