Sydney

Blue Mountains – once I decided I had time for the blue mountains trip I started with the having to get an Opal pass, ticket for train.  The cashier at the North Sydney station was closed so I had to get one at the grocery store across the street.  Once I was able to get onto the T1 towards Central Station things went more smoothly.  Once at the Central Station I found the train for the blue Mountains/Katoomba on track number 7. After a 29 minute wait, on the air conditioned train, I was excited that the train left on time at 10:18 and I was on my journey. The train will take about 2 hours to get to Katoomba and I think a few hours out there should be good.  When I arrived at Katoomba was the bus runs every hour through the route with the last one starting at 1600. I now have 3 hours to go through the blue mountains instead of 5 or 6 hours. Oh well had to get some adulting completed.   The Blue Mountain express was a great choice as they run a route that is 1 hour long and you can hope on/off as you wish but just know your next buss is in 1 hour. You can pick up the buss just outside of the Katoomba rail station and the cost is $49 for the day. If you are staying local you can use the 1 day pass for up to 3 days, another reason to stay in the area.  This area used to be know for honeymooning and there is a stop for honeymoon lookout, I did not take that stop but if you are here for a long time you can take the route and walk to the three sisters.   My first stop was the 3 sisters a rock formation that is in a beautiful valley in the Blue Mountains. The hike to the viewing area and visitor center is not really a hike. Just to the left of the visitor center is a trail that you can take that will get you closer and have a bit of exercise.  You can get around via the local bus as well for a few dollars a trip. The Blue Mountains explorer bus was 5 minutes late at the first stop but we will how it goes the rest of the day. The bus continued at a 5 minute delay and the driver Ella was very knowledgeable of the area being a resident her entire life. Her knowledge of the local shops and landmarks made the journey more enjoyable. I do have to say that I do wish I was able to stay in Katoomba for a few days but poor planning on my part. I enjoyed hiking to the Katoomba falls and then a bit of a hike to see the orphan. The orphan is called as such due to the formation is the same as the 3 sisters but it is by itself.  During the hike I spotted many white birds and they are cockatoos in the wild.  The parrot family has three different birds in the area with the cockatoo being one of the three.  A majority of the trees in the area are gum trees which the koala bear eats the leaves and only the koala can eat the leaves since they are poisonous to everything else.  Leura is a second town that is on the tour.  The town is known for its lovely gardens, chocolate stores and ice cream.  There are plenty of shops to see in the town as well.  One well known place in Leura is the Bunker cafe and it sits on the top of town with views of the Blue Mountains, worth getting a tea or pint there if you have time.  The journey ended where it started in Katoomba across the street from the Grand Harrington.  The hotel used to great its own electricity with a coal fired furnace .  They also supplied electricity to the town.  The Harrington has a beautiful facade of stain glass and even an atrium ceiling that is stained glass, guess in 1882 the cost of stained glass was. It that much or was the norm.  Before catching the train, I had a pint of cask condition ale before heading to the train. While waiting at the station. Talking to a young lady about America, I even helped her with train information, a ruckus broke out at the train station as two groups of young me decided to get into a fight. Funny thing is when it was broken up one man yelled at a lad and told him to go home, guess he knows the lad.  The train arrived heading to Sydney and I got on to head back for the day.

Whale watching – What a day I had whale watching.  I caught the boat in Sydney harbor just outside the aquarium and after our demonstration for safety the crew told us about the 3 – 4 meter seas we would be seeing today in the Tasman Sea.  The seasickness bags were mandatory for everyone who was going out today.  I chose to go up top on the boat rather than the comfort of being inside as I was hoping it would give me a better chance at some good photos.  The seas were rough today but everything seemed to be fine until our captain said he was calling it a day as the seas were getting worse and we were heading home.  During the turn I can confirm it was some seriously rough seas but all of a sudden someone yelled 3 o’clock being where they spotted a whale!  That was the end of going in early and we were looking at a couple of whales.  The first two were a baby and a mamma.  The next ones we saw was another baby and mamma but also an escort whale.  An escort is a male whale who travels with a mamma and baby just to give some protection and it is NOT the dad, they are “deadbeats.”  We had the pleasure of seeing a few breaches, and even the mamma whale slapping her tail on the water to let us know we were too close to her baby.  The captain and crew of the boat did a wonderful job in keeping us near the whales while not getting into too much trouble with the seas.  One thing that happens when someone spots a whale everyone runs to that side of the boat and tries to see it and film it.  If you have been to a concert when people hold up their phones so that they can video and still see and be dammed the person behind you, you get the picture.  The experience of today was wonderful and is something that I will do again as whales are such majestic animals.