Big Trip

Well, we're all slowly getting through the jet lag now, I think. We were at least able to sleep through most of last night. Indeed on Monday morning, it was hard to wake Max & Erin up. Which was a pity, because we had to get up early to board our coach to the Blue Mountains. Anyway, more of that later.
On Saturday, we just mooched around Sydney. We decided that we'd go to the Aboriginal Culture Centre just down in Darling Harbour, because they have a free Didgeridoo show a few times a day. Unfortunately, we were all up just too early, and it wasn't open. Not only that, but the shows weren't until the afternoon anyway. So, instead, we took a trip to Paddy's Market. Lots of tat, but the fruit & veg section was wonderful. Had a quick coffee on our way through Chinatown, and then walked up to the Australian Museum. They had a fascinating section on indigenous Australians, and an even better interactive exhibition on how animatronic monsters work. M & E were able to move a crocodile's tale, dinosaurs, play about with different lighting effects on Wolf Man, all sorts of things. Fantastic! After a quick lunch we made it to the Aboriginal Culture Centre in the end. The show was excellent, and with some good didgeridoo songs about crocodiles, kangaroos, dingos & the kookaburra. Erin decided she wanted her own didgeridoo, but they didn't have anything that was quite right.
Sunday was a brighter day, so we decided to make the most of it and take a cruise round the harbour. First stop was Circular Quay & The Rocks, and on the way we got our first views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. The Rocks was lovely - interesting buildings, quaint, but not too much tourist tat. Mind you, we spent most of our time in Didjbeat. Erin came out with a great little didgeridoo, but Chris had to ship his home, as it was a bit big to carry round (how inevitable was that?)... Back on the ferry then, round to the Opera House for an ice cream, and then back to finish our trip round the harbour.
We had an early start on Monday because we had to sit on a coach for an hour and a half while we picked up people from other hotels on our way to the Blue Mountains. First stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park, a great little park where Max & Erin fed kangaroos, and we all got to cuddle a koala. They had all sorts of interesting creatures there, including a Tasmanian Devil and some Dingos, but the Koalas, Kangaroos & Wombats were toughing it out to see who was the cuddliest. My money's on the Koalas. Then it was back on the bus and up into the mountains. The Blue Mountains are so called because of the blue haze of eucalyptus oil from all the gum trees. Unfortunately, for us they were more the Grey Mountains, because all we could see for most of the time was drizzle :-( Still, when we made it to Echo Point to see The Three Sisters the weather had cleared a little. Fortunately it was still misty enough to disguise the sheer drops so that Sarah wasn't too scared to walk down to the viewing point on the first Sister. When she got there, the mist cleared enough to scare at least some of the living daylights out of her, though...
It was clear enough to see the potential for fantastic views. If I can, I'll post some of the photos here just so you can get an idea. Anyway, after that we went to Scenic World to catch a ride down into the valley on the world's steepest passenger railway. It was less than a couple of minutes long, but what a ride! 52 Degrees, feels more like 82 degrees. I got a feeling it was going to be steep when I realised that the seats were inclined backwards pretty steeply, but Sarah was unable to look as we went down. Like the Three Sisters walk, I think if she'd realised what it would be like, she wouldn't have done it. Needless to say, the rest of us thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we split up, and Erin and I splashed through the mud to the base of Katoomba falls - in flood they're probably more spectacular, but they're pretty anyway. Meanwhile, Max & Sarah walked along the boardwalk through the forest to the base of the Sceniscender, a cable car ride back up to the top, which gives some pretty spectacular views, even with the amount of cloud there was around. Erin & I followed them about 10 minutes later.
Finally, it was back via the quaint little town of Leura, and its famous candy shop which sells just about every kind of imaginable sweet (sadly, we didn't have time to visit the equally famous man with 3,200 teapots) to Homebush Bay, the site of the 2000 Olympics. It was impressive, but somehow rather sterile without much going on there. From there, we were ferried back swiftly on the same catamaran that had taken us round the bay before. I think we all felt as though we'd had a Grand Day Out.
Today, we're just pottering around Sydney, probably to the Powerhouse museum later, and then we only have a couple more days here, before we're off to hot & sticky Darwin...