Everyone kept telling me I had to see the Blue Mountains. So I signed up for one day there today. I was actually a bit disappointed, probably because I had not done enough research on this myself, and so I went on a tour recommended by the concierge with APT (I had run across them just about everywhere, but had not booked anything with them, which should have been a good hint). It was the first time I felt like I was on a tourist-type tour. I did sign up for the small group, so at least there were only 16 of us instead of 60 :-) I don't know if there were other better options but I would definitely not recommend that one. There appeared to be some wonderful walking trails in the park, and I would have preferred doing that. It was also a long day, with not much time in the mountains, so perhaps this is one where renting a car would have been a good option and going up the night before and staying in a b&b in the cute little town of Leura. Although I'm still not sure I would have wanted to hike alone, so would have still needed to find someone to do that with....I am sure they were there somewhere.
But anyway, we went to the scenic railway/cable car to see the "three sisters" -- it was foggy,
and so we barely got glimpses of them. I think I was the only one in my group that was lucky enough to catch them between clouds...
One of the aboriginal stories (apparently there is more than one story) about the three sisters is that the father of three sisters turned them to rock with a magic bone which he had to protect them from a bad monster. Then the father became a lyrebird. As the bird, he dropped the bone and lost it, so was unable to turn the sisters and himself back to human once the danger was past. To this day, the lyrebird, which scratches away at the forest floor, and makes very loud noises, is still looking for the magic bone.
On the way back to Sydney, we went to a wildlife park and so got to see some of the animals up close, including the koala. Most of them were asleep...
Except for this cute little one who was enjoying the attention...
They also had a Tasmanian Devil, which I hadn't seen, since Tasmania was not on my itinerary...
They then dropped us off to take a ferry cruise back to the harbor. This was the best part, as I can never get enough of the city harbors...some great views on the way back...Some great places to live along the water here....
Another bridge..the Anzac bridge (Australia new zealand army corps).
Great night for sailing as everyone was heading out after work...Might have been some racing going on...
The boat brought us back into Circular Quay, the main harbor area, and I am now sitting at the Eastbank restaurant, an outdoor cafe right on the Sydney Harbor. Awesome view of the bridge and people watching.
The bridge is interesting. When I first saw it, I thought, ok, it's an old expansion bridge, not so impressive. But then, it draws you in. Every time I turn around, I find myself taking a photo of it from a different angle. I must have at least 100 pictures of it so far. So I guess it is really impressive after all!
Anyway, I had noticed this row of restaurants along the harbor's edge when I had walked past here to go to the opera the other night, and vowed to come back, so here I am. As soon as I sat down, a little boy next to me-- maybe about Kai's age, with a NY Yankees hat, started talking to me (Kai, I told him you would not let me buy you a yankees hat. He didn't understand as he thinks they are "the best"!! :-). But then he did understand when I told him you were a Mariners fan. He was from Korea, but had lived in the States for two years so his English was excellent. (and very proud of himself when I told him so). He was very interested in my trip. He wanted to know why my "husband" wasn't with me :-). I told him I was not married and so was able to go wherever I wanted to go. He thought that was awesome! Before they left he wanted his mom to take a picture of me with him (darn, didn't think to get one with my own camera). Btw, he also asked me if you were ok when I told him that you live in Tokyo...he was very concerned for the people in Japan.
Dinner was excellent! I had a salad (with cheese that was kind of like mozzarella, but better, prosciutto, pears, walnuts and fresh spinach with balsamic). If Bob at H3 is reading this, ok, I have to admit, that wasn't all good, better, best. Then had New Zealand mussels cooked in wine, garlic and tomatoes--ok, here's a concession, I passed on pommes fritas. I know this is sacrilege, but they were better than Bertha's (for the non-Baltimoreans in the group, that's a place in Fells Point that is famous for it's mussels). Ok, here's another concession....I passed on dessert! And my plans for tomorrow, my last day in Sydney, are to walk, walk, walk.
G' day, mates!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Blue Mtns & Sydney, Australia
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