There was
light rain overnight, but there were patches of blue sky out the window this
morning. It was a warm 23 C; showers are expected during the day. We are
packing sunscreen, umbrellas and light jackets. After breakfast with Bob and Maureen,
we all again walked for less than 10 minutes, in short sleeve shirts and
shorts, to the Park Royal hotel to catch the tour bus for the Blue Mountains Tour.
We arrived there before the bus scheduled for 7:45 a.m.
As passengers boarded, the driver Stephen T.
gave us an envelope containing a sticker for discounts at Scenic World, a
voucher for the return Parramatta River catamaran cruise and complimentary
drink ticket as well as our assigned bus seat number. The bus is a double decker touring bus operated
by Grayline with monitors for the passenger to view the road ahead. It has
Wi-Fi but we left the tablet back at the hotel.
Bob and Maureen were able to update their email from their cell phones.
When we were ready to go the Blue Mountains,
the rain started as we crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, before we had entered
the tunnel on the way to the motorway. The trip will be 90 minutes to the first
stop, a quaint town called Leura. Stephen explained that the day’s journey will
be about 250 km. We will be travelling on toll highways that are monitored
electronically for payment and speed violations. Stephen also mentioned that the motorway goes
to Brisbane 550 miles away.
Today’s itinerary includes visits to the
UNESCO World Heritage listed Blue Mountains, including Leura, Scenic World,
Three Sisters, Katoomba, Echo Point with an optional Waranoah Aboriginal
Cultural show and Featherdale Wildlife Park then return to Sydney Harbour via a
Parramatta River cruise.
The motorway was edged with forests when
the Sydney suburbs faded away. The trees grew within five meters of the edge of
the pavement. The rain spattered the
windows sporadically, but never in the heavy downpours like we encountered on
yesterday’s tour. The Blue Mountains are
like a Canadian escarpment, not nearly as tall as the Rockies. They were not successfully crossed by
Europeans until settlers, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles
Wentworth set out on Tuesday, May 11, 1813 from Blaxland’s farm. The settlers needed better lad than what was
available around the Sydney Cove colony and there had been drought in 1812 and
1813. By crossing using the ridge tops,
rather than the rainforest floor, they discovered farmable land on the other
side, taking only 26 days for their journey. Later coal mining was started in
the region. The original 103 km cart
path through the hilly tropical rainforest and rock to Katoomba was completed
in six months by 30 convict volunteers who were offered full pardons to work
building the track.
The four lane highway follows that path today
winding through small towns along the way. Most of the houses have roofs made either
of metal, tile or slate. The forest of the Blue Mountains National Park contains
150 varieties of eucalyptus trees within one million hectares. We could not see many trees due to the low
clouds and mist. The eucalyptus oil
evaporates and refracts light that produces a blue hue to the landscape.
The first stop was the quaint town of Leura
where the clouds had a higher ceiling. We stretched our legs by walking down
the short main street, peering into the shops selling linens and souvenirs as
well as several bakeries and cafés. We sampled a couple of donuts between the
four of us from a bakery. We needed to
open our umbrellas as we walked back to the bus. En route we spotted the
Treasured Tea tea shop with a two meter wooden teapot with a large wooden
rabbit popping out of it. There were wild white cockatoos flying around the
town.
Back in the bus, we drove through Katoomba to
Scenic World in the mist and low cloud. Passengers who had purchased Scenic
World tickets, were dropped off at Scenic World’s terminal for the Scenic
Skyway 360 degree glass gondola, which crosses the Jamison Valley from which on
a clear day you can see the Three Sisters rock formation, Mount Solitary and
Katoomba Falls. The falls were glimpsed through the fog. Staff told us that the tiny waterfalls seen
along the hiking paths were usually not there, but due to the last few wet days
many had appeared. At the Scenic World main building, we transferred to the
Scenic Railway passenger cars, to experience descending more than 400 meters on
the world's steepest railway incline of 52%. The Scenic World property in the 19th century
was a working coal mine with a railway to move the coal up the cliffs to the
road.
Once
at the railway terminal, we hiked, partly on an elevated walkway, to a
waterfall, sometimes in a light rain, then retraced our steps and passed the
railway and over to the cable car station to ride up to the Scenic World main
building where we browsed the gift shop and bought a Christmas ornament, then
ordered coffee and a churro cookie and joined Bob and Maureen. Back in the bus, we drove a short distance
into Katoomba for the optional 25 minute Waradah Aboriginal Centre cultural
show. We decided to walk around the town
for half an hour while most of the passengers enjoyed the show. We wandered to see the view at Echo Point
Lookout of the Three Sisters rock formation, but it was still too foggy
to see the tops of any trees. Seeking shelter from the rain, we browsed the Waradah Aboriginal Centre gift shop
admiring the opal jewelry before returning to the bus. Stephen, the Grayline driver, explained to
passengers that Grayline has a 100% guarantee that you will see the Three
Sisters rock formation, so if passengers can return in the next few days or
years, they are to mention that they were on the tour on a rainy foggy day and
a few more details and they will receive a complimentary seat to Katoomba with
Grayline but would have to pay admission again if they wished to experience
Scenic World.
The drive to Featherdale Wildlife Park, in
Doonside, was about 40 minutes which included some rain, but before we arrived
the sun burst through and the temperature was 27 when we left the bus, with our
umbrellas which later protected us from a three minute shower. The 75 minute stop gave most of us plenty of
time to stroll among the animal enclosures.
We saw koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, a fresh water crocodile,
quokkas, dingos, water monitors, Tasmanian devils not to mention many
colourful birds including Emus, Southern
Cassowarys and Kookaburras.
The
highlight was listening to a staff member explain the habits of the Little
Penguins, also called Fairy Penguins, as he fed them 5 to 7 cm long fish. The Little Penguins are less than 50 cm tall
and sound like a duck’s quack but not as nasal a sound.
The final journey was to the site of the
2000 Sydney Olympic Games (which had been fully paid for before the event
started) to catch the catamaran from Olympic Park Wharf to cruise down the Parramatta
River to Darling Harbour. We used the cruise
voucher and complimentary drink tickets on the boat. There was a short few minutes of drizzle,
otherwise, it was just windy on the observation deck when going out to take
photos. Returning from taking outside pictures I bumped into the side of the
stairway and scraped the bridge of my nose,
I noticed other people also taking the turn to sharply and hitting their
head. Some passengers left the boat at Circular Quay where the P & O cruise
ship Pacific Jewel was docked. We stepped off the boat 10 hours after we had
started our journey. The temperature was a pleasant 25 C
The four of us decided to go to the Greek
Restaurant in the Belvedere Hotel again since Wednesday is Gyros night. The
walk took about 15 minutes. However when we were seated our server advised us
that they are only served in one of the lounges, which had blaring music. We changed our plans and opted to return to the
New Tai Yuen Restaurant in Chinatown and ordered the same special, but chose as
the dishes tonight - Pork Fillets, Honey Chicken, Chicken Chow Mein and Chicken
with cashews, accompanied by meatballs, crispy spring rolls and white rice in a
wide mouthed thermos container. The food
was as delicious as the previous evening.
It was a short five minute walk to the hotel.
Larry checked into the Internet cost and
found that if he joined the hotel chain’s reward program, Internet would be
complimentary, so he did.
Total
steps 13,448 about 14 miles
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