Here are a few quick pictures from our final day in Sydney. The highlights of the day were two self-guided walking tours. First we did a walk through The Rocks - the first sections of the city established by the First Fleet of convicts who came here. Then we took a ferry to the other side of the harbor to hit up a few craft breweries in a neighborhood called Manly. It was a fun and low-key final day in town! Enjoy the final photo slam.
historic building in The Rocks
the Sydney Harbour Bridge is always looming around a corner...
friends
a road cut through the rocks that give the neighborhood its name
This hostel was built around an archaeological dig of original buildings discovered here. Notice also the "Christmas in July" reindeer on the site!
This is a section of original road surface. One section nearby was discovered just in the past 30 years.
This shed is original to the area - early 1800s. Today it is still a shed for the house visible in the left of the pic!
This 1800s well was discovered during recent renovations to this home.
This is Greenway Lane - a tiny, hidden away stretch of original roadway!
another view of Greenway Lane
Brewery #1 - they make a beer using sea water from the nearby bay!
We both posed for a picture in this brewery. We are having equal levels of fun. These pictures were taken within one minute of each other. No additional commentary is necessary.
After the adventures in Cairns, we returned to Sydney in the late afternoon and had an early night - we had a train to the Blue Mountains to catch in the next morning! The Blue Mountains are just two hours outside Sydney and are a really popular weekend getaway spot for Sydneysiders. Luckily it was midweek when we were going so it wouldn't be packed. The train trip was fun (as they always are). The trip had lots of stops at towns along the way. It was neat to watch the busy urban world that is Sydney gradually turn into cozy little villages at each passing station. We finally got off at our stop - the mountain town of Katoomba. A pleasant surprise was our hotel - it turns out it was built in 1882 and still had a lot of the old charm inside! It was also decked out with Christmas decorations and trees. Whaaa? Turns out "Christmas in July" is a thing in some parts of Australia. We checked in, dodged some low-hanging Rudolph decorations, and set off for a quick walk through town and a bushwalk (Aussie for hike)!
Quick pic of the Main Street of Katoomba
HOTEL PICS:
!Feliz Navidad!
We decided to head for the Leura Cascades - a really impressive waterfall on one side of the canyon. This part of the Blue Mountains is popular due to the incredible scenery. Check it out!
Let's walk down to this formation, shall we?
Getting there...
Yikes...
Is this bridge safe?
The view from the formation!
Sean's the KING OF THE WORLD!!!!! (I made him do it.)
This formation is called "The Three Sisters"
Sundown hits pretty early up in the mountains and we ended up navigating the trail to the waterfall in the dark after awhile, using the flashlights on our phones. It was a little intense, but Sean is an Eagle Scout after all, so I just trusted his instincts went along for the ride. Did I mention that the signage along these trails was basically nonexistent so we weren't exactly sure where we were going? So imagine walking a deserted narrow trail (that you think will take you to a waterfall eventually) in jungle foliage that winds its way through boulders, along cliffs, and over rickety staircases - all in the dark - and you pretty much have it. Oh, and I started playing the Jurassic Park/Lost World music pretty much as soon as the light faded (obviously)! It was actually pretty fun and Sean was clearly having the time of his life. We finally arrived at the waterfall and it was amazing to see in the starlight! It was also impossible to photograph in the darkness.
Click here if you want to experience exactly what Sean was subjected to during the night hike:
last light
creaking bridge
stairs in the darkness
The Leura Cascades!
After ascending to Leura, the town above the falls, we had a few well-deserved beers by the fireplace at a quaint little pub before grabbing a cab back to Katoomba. All in all a three hour bush walk - not bad! We spent the remainder of the night in our hotel bar playing Catchphrase, arguing about Indiana Jones trivia, and trying to ignore the Christmas carols playing in the background.
The next morning we got up and headed for Scenic World, a complex on the other side of the canyon from our bush walk from the day before. Scenic World has four "biggest in Australia" claims to fame - the highest cable car, largest cable car, steepest train, and longest forest boardwalk. All you have to do is pay a fee and you get unlimited rides to go across the canyon on a glass-bottomed cable car, or up and down one side on the train and another cable car. While on the canyon floor you get to explore multiple trails on the boardwalk. It was lots of fun!
Cockatoo!
waiting for the train
older train model on display
These vines descended. Sean didn't know that they are Australian Python Vines, so he thought it was funny and snapped a pic. I knew what they were though and started to freak. They gently descend and then encase their victim.
Last pic Sean took before he realized they were starting to attack and wrap around me. He had to pull and tear away the vines to save me!
Afterwards we transferred back to Sydney and headed out to a concert at the Opera House! Very cool! The hall had a movie screen set up and showed Raiders of the Lost Ark from start to finish - with the soundtrack supplied live by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. It was a blast!
Tomorrow is our last full day in Sydney before the long flight home!
