Wednesday 3rd April - Sydney
We were off to the Blue Mountains today. I had booked a coach trip with a very early start time. We were up at 5.15am and out of our room by 6am. We had a 20 minute walk to our pick up point, thank goodness it wasn’t raining! It was going to be a bit of a magical mystery tour as I really didn’t where we were going!
We had a nice 22 seater coach with an excellent driver/guide, Tony.
Our first stop was the Elysian Rock lookout with a view over Jamison Valley. Our next stop was Echo Point where we had chance to get a coffee and see the view, again over Jamison Valley, but also seeing The Three Sisters rocks. The story goes that three sisters fell in love with three warriors from another Aborigine tribe. This was against tribal rules so to stop them their father turned them into stone.
We then went to Scenic World which consists of three rides and a walkway. The Skyway was our first experience. It was built in 1958 and travels across the gorge above Katoomba Falls 886 feet above the valley floor. The current cabin was put into service in 2017. Next was the Scenic Railway. The steepest section of the track is on an incline of 52 degrees and it came as quite a shock as we set off! The railway was originally constructed for a coal mine in the 1880s in order to haul the coal from the valley floor to the escarpment above. From 1928 to 1945 it carried coal during the week and passengers at the weekend. The coal mine was closed in 1945 after which it remained a tourist attraction. It is the steepest railway in the world. We then had a walk through the rain forest which was beautiful. Our last ride was the Scenic Cableway which was installed in 2000. An 84-passenger cabin (replaced in 2028) passes over a 82 foot tower on the edge of the cliff, and then drops 656 feet to the bottom station, though we did it the other way! It was certainly different!
One more stop before lunch to see the view over Megalong Valley which actually civilisation in it!
Lunch was at the RSL club in Katoomba. RSL stands for the Returned and Services League of Australia, similar to our British Legion. The food was good, we had fish and chips.
It was then back down into Sydney to Sydney Zoo. This isn’t the main large zoo but a smaller privately owned one which opened in 2019. We saw wallabies, kangaroos and koalas close up, Richard even fed a kangaroo! I finally got to see some penguins, Fairy Penguins, just a shame they were in a zoo. We had a Aborigine guide to start with who showed us a boomerang and played a digeridoo. He also explained that there are still over 250 tribes and each one has its own language. See the map below.
Our journey back into the city was on a catamaran ferry from the Olympic Village. It took 30 minutes and was really smoothe. We took the light railway from Circular Quay and then walked the hill to the hotel for the last time.
It was a long and tiring day but really enjoyable.
There was a Dominos Pizza shop just opposite the hotel so we had to give it a try. The pizzas were nice as they weren’t hanging around being delivered.
The packing was finally done and we collapsed into bed.
Thursday 4th April - in the air and in San Francisco
Why two places? Well we had two Thursday 4th Aprils as we crossed the International Date Line!
Another early start but not as bad as yesterday, 6.15am this time. We were ready in plenty of time and we’re sitting in the lobby when our shuttle arrived with the grumpiest, rudest driver we have ever had. Everyone we had come across in our time “down under” have been friendly and helpful, this was not the case with this one.
I had checked in online last night and it had been quite an extensive affair! However it paid off as all we had to do was chuck our bags down a moving belt, well not exactly like that, but almost. We are getting good now at all the different security machines and sailed through. The personal check was good too. Usually I go through the gate and set off the alarms with my replacement knees and then have to have a pat down. This time I was asked if I had any replacement joints and was directed to one of those machines which, so they say, strip your clothes off to see what’s underneath, I really hope it doesn’t work like that! However it was spoilt but a rude woman who kept telling me to move on when I was waiting for my bags to come out of the X-ray machine.
We found our lounge and realised that we had only left the hotel about an hour or so before. We relaxed until it was time to board.
We were flying United this time, the last of the five airlines we had booked. We had bulkhead seats so plenty of leg room. Lunch was a pretty poor affair and then the window blinds all came down, it was 2pm! Then we hit turbulence and even the cabin crew were told to take their seats. It went on for almost an hour and wasn’t a very pleasant experience. Sadly the turbulence carried on and the crew were told to take their seats again but not as long as the first time.
Neither Richard or I slept, I had restless feet and Richard said he was uncomfortable. Breakfast arrived and then there was a slight panic as the cabin crew weren’t ready for landing!!
The usual hassle with passport control and then we were out and waiting for our Uber which was a Tesla, another first for us!
It was pouring with rain as we drove into the city, the first real rain we have seen in 9 weeks. We were so early that our room wasn’t ready but all we wanted to do was collapse! We went for a walk and got caught in a real downpour, another Uber back to the hotel and our room was ready.
After a short nap we went out to the waterfront in the sunshine and shared a crab cake and fries for lunch then went off to find the sea lions. We didn’t have to look very hard as they were very noisy. If you ever wondered what a crowd of sea lions on a pontoon is called - it is a heap!!
We then walked down to see the Jeremiah O’Brien, a liberty ship. There were about 2570 built during WWII as supply ships. It took 24 hours to produce one ship - it was a production line. The Jeremiah also took part in the D-Day landings. It was fascinating.
We returned to our room for a rest, no naps, before heading out to find some dinner. I had seen a fish restaurant earlier called The Pier Market so we gave it a go. We both had trout stuffed with crab and shrimp - it was lovely.
It was pouring down again when we came out from dinner and got soaked on to way back to the hotel.
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