Katoomba

A two-minute walk from where we are staying is an overlook into the Blue Mountains. Looks a lot like the Rockies or some places we have been in Arizona. They say you can hike into the mountains here and never see another soul. 120,000 people live in and around the Blue Mountains but it is an area the size of Britain. Nice break from Sydney. Where 120,000 are waiting at the cross walk for the light to go green. And 90,000 of them are smoking.

We have been hiking all over the place. Rain, sun, chilly out.

Right down from our place is this view. Called Three Sisters. The aborigines say that during the dreaming time three sisters were being pursued by an evil spirit. In order to save them the gods turned them to stone. They have names but I can't remember them. If you look close at the one on the left there is a walkway into the spire from the cliff face. We are going there today.

Cable car ride across the gorge. Long way down baby!

Water fall shot from the cable car. It was blowing so hard that the bottom section of the falls just about blows right back up the wall.

They boast the worlds steepest railroad. And, oh yeah, its steep! More like a roller coaster ride. Dawn is not a fan.

Heya Tim. How ya going?

M

Blue Mountains, Katoomba.

Took a train. Two hour ride heading west from Sydney. Not very pretty till about the last ½ hour. Then you’re in the Blue Mountains. It’s a federal preserve area. About the size of Great Britain they say. So we get off the train and wait in a café for the bus. And for the FRIGGIN HAIL to stop. We will be buying some warmer cloths here. Its 37 deg this morning. 3 deg C!!!  Wish I was in Fiji! The mountains are beautiful. I will post some pix if and when the sun comes out.

We bought a weeklong hopper pass for the bus and some tics for cable car and train rides. Got tickets for an aboriginal education program with it and turns out the place is right across the street from the place we are staying. So we pop in there and it turns out we are the only two people in the audience. We told them we could easily come back another time but they insisted on doing the show. So we got our own private ½ hour show and education put on by some local aborigines. They were related but were from four different tribal areas. And four different dialects. It was kind of embarrassing but they were very gracious and made us feel quite at home.

Nice folks. I would not even attempt to spell, much less pronounce  their names. I would say 30 syllables each, minimum. Its your name, your fathers, his father before, etc., all rolled into one. Goes on forever. 

Going to go buy some socks and long johns. Bought a cap yesterday. 

M

Sydney Bridge

Did the bridge climb. Sun kind of came out and it didn’t look like it was going to get any nicer so we went for it.  Blowin stink! Up top the winds were in the 40 knot range. Cold. Sure wasn’t crowded. But it was a lot of fun. 1300 stair steps. Your up 450 feet over the harbor. Views are spectacular.

View from the top.

You ascend and descend inside the 82 year old bridge super structure. Wind a howling.

M

Sydney Opera House

Did the tour of the opera house. It’s an amazing place. Started in the late 50s. Took 16 years to build. An amazing piece of engineering. It would be quite an accomplishment even today. Hard to imagine engineering it pre CAD and computer analysis. And they had the foresight to use stainless steel rebar so it holds up when most cement structures of its time are long gone. Pretty cool. An indoor site on an other wise cold and rainy day.

Will it ever warm up here? We have a couple more days of rain in the forecast.

From the inside looking at the outside. 

We are going to a concert here tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

A shot off of our 45th floor balcony.

More later.

M

Sydney

This place is something. Brisbane was cool but this place really amps it up. I will be in sensory overload pretty soon. Here for a couple more days then heading to the Blue Mountains to chill out.

The Iconic Sydney Opera House. Going to see a Van Morrison tribute show there tomorrow night. A bucket list item.

A replica of Captains Cooks ship Endeavor. The ship he used to discover, well, everything.
Opera House and sydney bridge in the background.
If it warms up a bit we are going to climb the bridge. 55 deg and blowing does not seem like it would be too much fun.

And I ate Kangaroo yesterday. Wasn't bad. Can't say I feel to good about it but it had to be done. Another list item checked off.

More later!

M