Blue Mountains

I ate breakfast a mere hour and a half ago, but I’m already hungry. We have a nice looking bloke as our tour operator, so perhaps I won’t notice how hungry I am (smiles). The tour buses here have seat belts; a novel idea. It makes sense since wearing seat belts are the law. I wonder if the tour buses in Canada have seat belts. Aussies call them safety belts. I just saw a sign that said “Give Way” instead of “Yield”.

First Stop – Featherdale Wildlife Park. It is a rescue park that is still used as a rescue facility, but it is now also a breeding facility. I fed kangaroos. One Kangaroo seemed to take a liking to me and was holding my hands with its hands. Their fingers (if that’s what you would call them) are very fine and their long claws didn’t scratch me and when it stood up on its hind feet, it was almost as tall as me.

I also petted a koala bear. They are very cute, but they aren’t really that soft, or at least the one I petted wasn’t. I even had a snake slithering on me. Some of the varieties of parrots are very colourful and beautiful. My Dad would love seeing the parrots so I made sure to take some video.

We’re heading towards the Blue Mountains now. The history behind why the Blue Mountains are called Blue is because the Eucalyptus leaves give off a vapour. When the sun shines, it scatters the vapours and that creates the blue colour.

We have arrived at our first lookout point and it is cold and windy. Darryl, our friendly bus driver, says it occasionally snows here. The elevation is 900 meters and I almost feel like I’m at home, but not quite.

Next stop, Scenic World. I have never been in a rain forest and it was very lush, but it was also very cold because of the elevation. There is a legend behind the Three Sisters; something about three sisters being turned to stone instead of being killed by a monster named Bunyup. At the end of the tour I only had 10 minutes to power shop. I bought some possum merino gloves, and I bet you can guess what colour.

Right now we are driving through Katoomba with shops lining the main street heading towards our next stop, Sydney Olympic Park. Oh, I can hardly wait - I've never been there. I never thought I would become one of THOSE people who take their laptop with them on a tour, but I don’t want to forget anything.

We’re now at Sydney Olympic Park and we decided to take the ferry back to Circular Quay. I didn’t even know there was a ferry from SOP. See what you learn when you go on a tour! Hmmm, I feel like having dinner at Circular Quay as by the time we get there, the sun will be starting to set and I think it will be beautiful to sit on the harbour and have dinner. It was a nice day – venturing outside of Sydney and seeing different sights.

I have to get to SOP again soon so I can use their faster Internet to upload and e-mail videos.

Before I left Edmonton I bought a 2-day "Sydney Bondi Beach Hop On-Hop Off" tour where I get on and off a double-decker bus at various locations around Bondi Beach and in Sydney. I am going to start that tour tomorrow morning after I do some laundry. Laundry...it’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

See ya tomorrow!