Oh So Blue

Although we are now home safe and sound, I'll get to that part in a couple posts. First off I would like to catch up on the trips we made before we left the gorgeous sunny warmness for this frigid place.

With a exactly one week left, and lots left to see, we packed up everyone (but not Richard, unfortunately he had to continue working), rented a minivan, and took off to the Blue Mountains for a couple days. Now, when I say mountains, most of you are probably picturing rocky peaks with snow on top. Picture instead, a large version of the Sooke Hills mixed with the Grand Canyon, but with all deciduous leafy trees instead of conifers (needly trees). Here's a couple pictures, it's easier than explaining.

Beautiful, no? That's as close to panoramic as your gonna get from me today! They are about an hours drive west of Sydney, and the little town of Katoomba is where we stayed for the night, and it is the tourist center of the mountains. We stopped once at a little fruit store in a town called Billpin to feed the Bubs on the way there. It is known for it's apples, and the apple juice we drank a lot of while in Sydney was made in that very town. Very good juice. We also went to a little lake just outside of Katoomba, and did a little swimming. It was very refreshing on a nice warm day!

From the lookout in Katoomba (where the above pictures were taken) you can see the famous Three Sisters rock formations. They apparently have significance with the aboriginals, and the back story to the name is that they are said to be three sisters that were turned to stone by an elder or a wizard or something... You'll have to look it up for the whole thing, i can't remember the details.

From there, Marc walked along the cliffs on the Prince Henry Cliff Walk toward the Scenic World and saw a bunch of cool stuff on the way. Here are a few f the pictures he took. Cathleen, Ben the Babies and I drove there because it was an hours hike, and apparently not suitable for strollers or young children.

All shots of a ice waterfall on the way. Apparently it's more impressive after it rains.

It obviously hasn't rained for a while... but it was still beautiful!

This little cockatoo was taking a drink from the river, but flew away just as Marc snapped

a shot.

The Center has a few attractions, one being the steepest section of railroad in the world, the other being two cable cars, one across a valley, the other down to the bottom of the ravine. We chose to go down on the train, walk about on the boardwalks at the bottom, then return to the top on the Skyway cable car. Here's a shot of the train I stole from the website...

As you can see, i's VERY steep. 50 degrees I think. It's basically like going down a roller coaster, but in slow motion. It felt like we were going straight down, and I'm sure I did't breath the whole minute we were on it. Maybe it was a bit more nerve wracking because I was holding onto Jeremiah for dear life. Fun none the less! Here are a few pics Marc took from in the train. They played Indiana Jones music as we went down.

It used to be a coal train, carting the coal from the mines at the bottom, up to the top of the mountain, until they realized that they could make more cash taking hikers up and charging for the ride, and doing scenic tours.

Once at the bottom, we wandered around the boardwalks in the rainforest, reading the little factiods about the plants and such for an hour or so. I failed to take any pictures as I was clearly too immersed in the wonder of the forest! Ben was a trouper doing that much walking, and had a good time too.

This is the cable car that brought us back up to the top. The alternative is a set of stairs and ladders somewhere around 1000 steps high. Yuck.

The view from the cable car. Beautiful no?

From there we made our way back to the car after grabbing a bite to eat at the little cafe in the Center, and began our trek home. On the way we saw a lot of these crazy pink trees and I just had to take a picture. Their called Bougainvillea.

And so ends the trip to the Blue Mountains. It was a great trip!