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Published: August 20th 2011
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Champagne & Chocolate!
Courtesy of our hotel! YES! We did in fact arrive in Sydney after just 24 hours of continuous travel and so far we've had an action packed trip. Our first day here, we arrived at 11:30 AM and basically wondered around all the wrong parts of the city before grabbing a quick bite to eat and passing out for the night at 6:30 PM! Yes - we fell asleep - for the night - at 6:30 PM.
On our first full day, I had booked a tour to the Blue Mountains, which are about an hour and half from the city center. We were picked up at our hotel (which is ADORABLE, by the way) at 6:50 AM and didn't get home until 7:30 that night. The tour was actually much more than we expected. The company is run by a young (low/mid 30s?) husband/wife team and there is a max of 14 people per bus. We were on Roberto's bus and we started out the day by going to breakfast at a little spot in the mountains. Next we took a cable-way/tram type thing across a huge valley with stunning views of the "3 Sisters" rock formation and a waterfall. From the tram
we took the steepest railway in the southern hemisphere straight down into the rain-forest. The railway was as steep as a roller coaster - which was NOT what I was expecting, but a nice thrill anyway! From there, we walked around the rain-forest and then took the cable-way back up to the top of the mountain. After seeing the 3 sisters at another lookout point, we explored the small mountain town of Leura, where Brian found a "bench for bored husbands" - see the attached photo! Then we had lunch and continued on our way to Featherdale Wildlife Park. This place was AWESOME. We walked in and the first thing Brian said after was, "these fences aren't very high!" He was right - they were MAYBE 2 feet high and home to some Wombats. At the next moment though, some Wallabies (which are essentially mini Kangaroos) came hopping up to us (not in any cage at all) and Brian about jumped out of his skin! Our guide gave us some Eucalyptus leaves to feed them, and encouraged us to pet them, but Brian just took some pictures of me kneeling next to the little guy!
As we continued into
the park we saw the deadliest bird in the world (Cassowary) - being that it can rip you open with it's talons or ram you with it's head, which is strong as bone. Then we wandered right up to the Koalas! They weren't in any cages, but were happily perched on their logs, getting stoned off Eucalyptus leaves! We took a picture right next to one - like RIGHT next to it - but Brian was still weary at this point. It wasn't until our guide went right up to the koala and rubbed his face against the koala's fur that Brian would stand close enough to allow us to get a picture! After an hour and half at this park Brian was running around like a little kid. He got to the point where he was actually holding food in his hands and feeding the Kangaroos and Wallabies. Actually - I should mention that Brian now wants a pet Wallaby himself...while I was impressed with his new found tolerance for wild animals, I told him I didn't think it was a good idea! Other animals we saw included: dingos, Tasmanian devils, deadly snakes, bats, peacocks and penguins.
From
the park, we took our first ferry of the trip across the Sydney Harbor, where we saw the Bridge and Opera house for the first time. It was beautiful. Then we found a bite to eat - where Brian had the audacity to order KANGAROO - after he'd been petting and feeding them all afternoon! As it turns out - Kangaroo is a lot like steak, just a little leaner and a little gamier. Once we finished our meal, we made our way back to the hotel and passed out at 8:30 PM!
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Ellen and Tom
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Awesome
Looks like you guys are having a wonderful time, We are soooo jealous. Ellen& Tom