We've been on holidays for two weeks already; hard to believe how quickly it's gone! Seems like not that long ago Leah just wrote her last exam and I had my last day of placement, but our time down under continues to go by so quickly. Our holidays have consisted mostly of some much needed relaxing, which included a fair dose of sleeping in, lazing around and watching movies and tv.
On top of all the relaxing though, we made sure to do some sort of adventure to explore this country. This past Wednesday (July 8th) we signed up for a day tour of the Blue Mountains, which are about 90 minutes west of the city. We caught our OzTrails bus around 8.30 and headed out. Along the way to the mountains, we made a couple of stops at Olympic Park and the Napean River, which is where the kayaking and rowing events took
place during the 2000 summer Olympics.
After a quick stop for some refreshments, we made our way to one of many national Australian Parks; in this park we saw quite a few different animals, but none were more fun to watch than the mob of kangaroos we saw! Altogether there
were 6; 3 females, 2 males, and one joey in the pouch of one of the females. Because they are so used to having vistors stop by, we were able to get pretty close to them and take some great pictures and just really appreciate the view of these wonderful animals!
After the kangaroo visit, we made our way into the mountain village of Leura. Much like Banff, Alberta, Luera is loaded with tourists, shops, cafes and of course that fresh mountain air. In and around Leura, our tour guide (Scott) took us to a few different lookout points to view the mysterious
rock formation in the Blue Mountains known as The 3 Sisters, but unfortunately due to heavy fog we
were not able to get a good view of them that day, which Scott indicated was quite common; part of the reason why they are so mysterious. But that did not ruin the fun and adventure of touring the
Blue Mountains. A stop at Scenic World was worth the trip; upon our arrival we took a gondola ride close to 500 metres down the mountain side into the Temperate Rainforest in the valley. There are several walkways to take you through the rainforest to look at all of the different kinds of trees and
animals and take in all the sounds of nature. After the 15-20 minute walk, we hopped aboard a train that travels only 450 metres, but goes up 250 metres, averaging about a 45 degree angle the whole way making for some good home video!
After leaving Scenic World, it was time to head for another lookout where lies the biggest waterfall in Australia. While the volume of water massively lacks in comparison to Niagra Falls, the 350 metre drop sure is nice to just look at. This stop was the final of the lookout points, but that wasn't the end of the sightseeing. An hour long ride back into the city was spent napping by most of the tourists (including myself) but a day trip would not have been complete without what was next to come! We hopped on a ferry to head back into the port at Circular Quay,
which of course means we got to ride the water underneath the awe inspiring Sydney Harbour Bridge and beside the Opera House, which is even more of an amazing sight to see when all the lights of the city surround it; a really nice way to finish off what was an amazing day.
It's Saturday night here, and Brent and Wanda are currently in the air on
their way to Sydney! Leah and I are both very excited to finally have a piece of home come and enjoy the experience we've been having for the last six months. We're very excited to entertain, see more of this wonderful country and enjoy the rest of our holidays!!
Hoping all is well with everyone back home and looking forward to telling you all about our trip in a few weeks time!
Jeff and Leah
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