The Blue Mountains

G'day!

So since we last posted, we've been seriously trying this looking for a job thing.  So far, it hasn't paid off but we're optimistic!  We've also been planning our travels for when Coley comes out.  Our route will hopefully be: Sydney - Kuala Lumper, Kuala Lumper - Hanoi, Siem Reap - Kuala Lumper, Kuala Lumper - Denpasar (Bali), Denpasar - Perth, Perth - Sydney.  Then depending on the money situation we'll either work in Sydney for a bit and travel up the coast, or we'll work our way up the coast.

The most interesting thing we've done in the past week was go to the Blue Mountains last Friday.  We'd heard mixed reviews; some folk had said "oh, it's just some hills and rocks", others had said it was "incredible"

We had actually planned to go on the Wednesday, but slept in.  We're now so glad that we did, we had an absolute belter of a day for the visit!

So we got the train from Windsor to Blacktown, before we had to swap for the Blue Mountains train to Katoomba.  Here is Ewen on the train...I think the train looked like it should be from the 70s

We walked from Katoomba to Echo Point, where I made friends with a giant koala in the gift shop...

The view from Echo Point was absolutely incredible.  There's not much I can say so here are a whole load if pictures, although they don't do it justice!

Aboriginal man with didgeridoo

The Three Sisters

Ewen & The Three Sisters

From Echo Point, we wanted to go up the Giant Steps which lead right to the Three Sisters.  Unfortunately these were closed due to a land slide.  So we headed off in the other direction along the Prince Henry cliff walk, en route to Scenic World!

Due to the abnormal amount of rain in the area over summer, the path now resembles a swimming pool or mud bath.

The view from halfway along the Prince Henry cliff walk

Going up some of the thousands of steps from the Prince Henry cliff walk

Only a small fraction of the steps we walked up

The start of Katoomba Falls.  Such a beautiful, but peaceful place

After leaving the fountains, we found ourselves in the jungle, before more stairs, more mud (I had an unfortunate brawl with a fence whilst trying to avoid being engulfed by mud.  As a result, I have obtained a nasty bruise on my right arm which is now an attractive shade of puke)...and road!  So we finally made it to Scenic World.  I took a picture of the "4 big facts about Scenic World" so I wouldn't have to remember them to tell you.  What I will say though, is that the Scenic Railway was AWESOME!!!

...so awesome, that here is Ewen while we're going down

And this is the view on the way down (after coming out of a black cave)

We took the longest of the three walks around the rain forest.  There wasn't much to see except two fake coal mines (which were surrounded by the whole of China) and a fake miners cottage.  It started to get a bit chilly under the canopy and we were hungry so we headed for the cable car back to the top.  You can see the Katoomba Falls in the picture below.  There's actually a glass-bottom cable car which you can get across the valley to see the falls better, but we didn't pay the extra $10 each for that ticket.

The Three Sisters from the cable car

Ewen's first holiday purchase, a $5 Australia hat, complete with corks!

All in all, we were lucky and had an excellent day for the trip!  The lonely planet guide recommended that you spent more than one day there, however we felt that we did and saw enough in just one day.  Although if you wanted to do some of the walking trails or go further into the mountains then I'd definitely recommend a longer trip.

Since then we've been on the job search really, yesterday in Blacktown and today in Parramatta.  Tomorrow we'll probably go to Richmond and hopefully book some flights!  Last night I managed to get bitten by mosquitos SIX times in 20 minutes, all on my feet.  I'm currently rocking elephantiasis of the right foot, which is not a great look.  Ewen had football training tonight and was told that the first game (supposed to be this weekend) had been postponed for three weeks due to the pitches being waterlogged, which has made him sad.  Although he made two friends!

Hope all is well wherever you are reading this.  Hopefully the next time I write my feet will be less swollen and itchy.

Lots of love x

The day we took loads of pictures of birds and fountains

So yesterday (14th March) we decided to go into Sydney to sight see and be tourists for the day.


On the way to catch the train from Windsor we spotted some pretty cool looking birds - like a cross between a pigeon and a parrot!

Then when we arrived at Central Station in Sydney, we spied this bad boy...

Firstly, we headed to Paddy's Market.  It was lovely and cool thanks to the absolutely MASSIVE overhead fans.  It also made a nice change to be in a market and not be heckled to death!  It sold your usual touristy souvenirs along with some clothes and accessories, phone covers and has a large fruit bit.  We found a massive bag of garlic (must have been at least 8 bulbs) for $1 - the most reasonable price for anything we've seen so far!  We just were kicking ourselves that we've just bought 4 bulbs of garlic for $1.50 :( We made our way out of Paddy's Market (I bought a giraffe watch for 10 bucks) and headed up to China Town.  We were gutted that we'd just eaten because the food smelt amazing and was very reasonably priced - must go back again.  It even has Chinese arches at either end of the main street.

We then headed off in the direction of Darling Harbour.  I wanted to see the Chinese Garden of Friendship which was at the bottom end.  Unfortunately, they charge an unfriendly $6 to go in...so we just took some pictures from outside.

Next, we walked through Tumbalong Park (which has the coolest kids play area EVER) and took lots of photos of the cool fountains on the way up to Cockle Bay.

Then we reached our destination!

Once Darling Harbour was crossed off the list, our final destination was the Sydney Opera House via Sydney Tower.  A picture speaks 1,000 words so this is what we saw on the way...

Some guys playing some pretty good music with the harbour bridge in the background.

Ewen and the Sydney Tower (couldn't quite get it sticking out of his head a la Grandad)

Tiffany's!!!

The Finnieston Crane

On the way back to the train station we decided to head to the oldest pub in Sydney for a drink.  However, they were expensive and didn't serve Aussie beer.  So we went to a different pub instead.  Ewen got a schooner of a beer he hadn't tried before and it was disgusting apparently. So he decided to get a pint of Kilkenny which was on offer, which was even worse.  Still, the sun had finally come out (it may look overcast in the pictures but it was still about 25 degrees!) and we had a nice spot.

Finally, we headed back out to 'the bush' watching the pretty sunset from the train.