Our last day (as a group-I am coming back on the 23rd) in Sydney was a busy one. We took the day to go out the town of Katoomba, located in an area known as the Blue Mountains. Katoomba is two hours west of the city by train. The Blue Mountains are so-called because of the constant blue mist that hangs over much of the area, apparently a product of the abundant eucalyptus leaves in the area.
We caught the 9:09 train from Sydney Central that terminated at Katoomba. I spent the ride listening to my iPod and watching part of Australia pass by through the window. Whenever I am overseas I always try to take a train, as it gives you a chance to see the spaces in between, as I like to call them. Well, between Sydney and Katoomba there was a mixture of rural and industrial suburbs....but it didn't really look at that much different from what you might see in the US (not to state the obvious or anything).
After arriving shortly after 11:00 we emerged from the tiny train station and immediately happened upon the tourist info center, where we booked our tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus that ran around the town. Interestingly, the company that operated the bus was the same one that Joe and I used in Cape Town, you may remember. Cape Town was even mentioned on the back of the brochure. Small world. Anyway, we ended up spending the day shuttling between various points around the area, all involved hiking along mountain trails and stopping at beautiful vistas to snap photos. Our first driver was an older gentleman named Jimmy, who attempted to greet all of his passengers in their native language, if he could. His Chinese was pretty miserable, but, I give him credit for the effort. Anyway, I could give a more minute-by-minute, but it would make this post a mile long, and I will let some of the pictures do the talking. I will say though that we ended off at the main site in Katoomba, a rock formation known as the "Three Sisters" (there are three segments, I'll let you do the math), behind the Three Sisters is a gorgeous valley, which, lucky for us, had not been misted over, I guess has it had been in recent days. By 3 o'clock we figured we had our fill, and caught the bus back to the train station for the 3:25 train back to Sydney Central.
After our 5:30 arrival, I didn't have much time to rest. This evening I planned on meeting up with my old friend Pierre, originally from Paris but now working here in Sydney for the past almost two years. I haven't seen him since 2008, when he joined our group for the big trip to China that summer. We decided to link up in front of the city's ornate Town Hall, about a 15 minute walk down George Street from my hotel. He said he knew a good place to eat in Chinatown, so I let him lead the way. We eventually came to the same indoor food court that the four of us ate at just the other day. I figured this would happen, but, no worries (as the locals would say) I got the sweet and sour chicken from a different kiosk this time, and it was fantastic actually. Much better than the competition on the other side. Over the food Pierre and I had much catching up to do, and the meal took a while, the non-stop conversation slowing down the eating. Eventually I told Pierre that, since I have a flight early tomorrow, I should be going, and we parted ways around 9:30, which brings me to the here and now. I have to get ready for that flight to Melbourne, and make sure the girls will be ready to go, so I leave it here. I am not sure what the internet situation will be like there, but keep an eye out, I will find a way to give the low-down.
Unfortunately, I ran into some issues uploading photos, and really need to be getting to bed for an early start tomorrow. I promise to get some of today's photos up as soon as possible, cause there were some good ones.
Cheers.
We caught the 9:09 train from Sydney Central that terminated at Katoomba. I spent the ride listening to my iPod and watching part of Australia pass by through the window. Whenever I am overseas I always try to take a train, as it gives you a chance to see the spaces in between, as I like to call them. Well, between Sydney and Katoomba there was a mixture of rural and industrial suburbs....but it didn't really look at that much different from what you might see in the US (not to state the obvious or anything).
After arriving shortly after 11:00 we emerged from the tiny train station and immediately happened upon the tourist info center, where we booked our tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus that ran around the town. Interestingly, the company that operated the bus was the same one that Joe and I used in Cape Town, you may remember. Cape Town was even mentioned on the back of the brochure. Small world. Anyway, we ended up spending the day shuttling between various points around the area, all involved hiking along mountain trails and stopping at beautiful vistas to snap photos. Our first driver was an older gentleman named Jimmy, who attempted to greet all of his passengers in their native language, if he could. His Chinese was pretty miserable, but, I give him credit for the effort. Anyway, I could give a more minute-by-minute, but it would make this post a mile long, and I will let some of the pictures do the talking. I will say though that we ended off at the main site in Katoomba, a rock formation known as the "Three Sisters" (there are three segments, I'll let you do the math), behind the Three Sisters is a gorgeous valley, which, lucky for us, had not been misted over, I guess has it had been in recent days. By 3 o'clock we figured we had our fill, and caught the bus back to the train station for the 3:25 train back to Sydney Central.
After our 5:30 arrival, I didn't have much time to rest. This evening I planned on meeting up with my old friend Pierre, originally from Paris but now working here in Sydney for the past almost two years. I haven't seen him since 2008, when he joined our group for the big trip to China that summer. We decided to link up in front of the city's ornate Town Hall, about a 15 minute walk down George Street from my hotel. He said he knew a good place to eat in Chinatown, so I let him lead the way. We eventually came to the same indoor food court that the four of us ate at just the other day. I figured this would happen, but, no worries (as the locals would say) I got the sweet and sour chicken from a different kiosk this time, and it was fantastic actually. Much better than the competition on the other side. Over the food Pierre and I had much catching up to do, and the meal took a while, the non-stop conversation slowing down the eating. Eventually I told Pierre that, since I have a flight early tomorrow, I should be going, and we parted ways around 9:30, which brings me to the here and now. I have to get ready for that flight to Melbourne, and make sure the girls will be ready to go, so I leave it here. I am not sure what the internet situation will be like there, but keep an eye out, I will find a way to give the low-down.
Unfortunately, I ran into some issues uploading photos, and really need to be getting to bed for an early start tomorrow. I promise to get some of today's photos up as soon as possible, cause there were some good ones.
Cheers.
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