Day 23 - Blue Mountains

Clint - Today we took a guided tour of the Blue Mountain region about an hour inland from Sydney. On the way out, we stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park. Here, we crossed the last Australian animal that we wanted to see off our list: the Croc! We also saw many other animals. They allowed the kangaroos, wallabies, and emus to roam free in sections of the zoo and you could pet them. Best of all, Theresa finally got a chance to pet a koala.

We then headed up into the mountains and made several stops at key spots. First, we took a bush walk to Wentworth Falls. It was shorter than most of the walks we’ve done so far and these falls were also in their dry season, but they were still nice and had a double tiered fall to them.

Our next stop was Echo Point to view the Three Sisters, which are 3 rock outcroppings. It is a spiritual land for the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and represents the three daughters of a powerful spirit that were turned to stone for protection from evil.

Finally, we hit Scenic World, which used to be a coal mine. It is now a rainforest walk, but the rail line is still there and claims to be the steepest in the world. We took the rail down, walked through the rainforest and viewed remnants of the old coal mine, and then took the cable car back up to the top. We stopped in the mountain town of Leura on the way back. After the tour, Theresa and I stopped back in Chinatown for some Pho for dinner.

We head to Fiji tomorrow. We’ve booked a bure (private bugelow) at a beachside resort. I’m not sure of internet availability nor our desire to blog while we’re there so in case you don’t see any updates before we return on 5 July, don’t worry! I’m sure we’re doing fine. :D