Quality Inn St Mounts Blackheath

... split between male and female (something I was surprised about)... we are given an introduction and the Nobel silence starts.. from now on we are not allowed to talk to anyone, look at then, gesture to them or have any kind of contact with them. Male and female are split and there is no contact at all between sexes - to prevent distractions... It will become very clear very quickly why all this is such an important part of the course....<br><br>And the journey starts....<br ...

... of babbling waters, cricketts and bird call and you could be there. It was beautiful. The walk passed through the bottom of the gorge and climbed back up. I was on my own for most of the walk - and when i got to the top (Ebber Gorge i think) - where there was a parking area - the sudden array of people felt like an insult upon the senses. I continued my walk along the cliff tops - back down and up again and by the end my legs have turned to Jelly. The walk lasted around ...

... we would abseil down into the entrance of the cave and from there we would climb, crawl and slide down to the bottom. We were all given blue overalls, hardhats with lights and abseiling harnesses. We made it to the entrance of plug hole and one by one we abseiled into the entrance. The abseil wasnt massive but still a whole load of fun with some people bombing down and others petrified by the thought of trusting two ropes and a harness. I made it down fine ...

... breaks it in two. The National Pass took us through this dividing point and I wish we could have stayed there all day. Way above us the water rushed over a rounded bluff and sprayed down like a bride's veil into a small group of tiered shallow pools and more "mini" falls. As the water has carved its path through the sandstone to make these pools and continue on its way, it has also smoothed and buffed the stone. So, as the crystal clear water runs ...

... Had to settle for chicken instead. Always interesting to people watch as well - behind us were a couple probably in their sixties who sounded very old fashioned, upper class. When the man went out to make a phone call, the waiter approached with 2 espresso's and the lady said quite loudly "could you bring Mr Munroe's drink back in a few minutes as he is making a phone call"!!

... the hard bit - walking up and out of the valley! The walk was tiring but very rewarding, I saw a yabbie in the river (little read lobster thingy), we walked down tracks we were not suppost to go for the danger factor and came back to the campsite exhausted for more fires and good food and wine. In the morning it was time to get back to katoomba - It is NYE after all!!! We drove back with no problems.

Bonsoir, Nous partons pour la journee aux Blue Mountains, apres notre traditionnel petit dejeuner au Starbuck, notre QG a Sydney. Les Blue Mountains sont a 1h30 de route, nous arrivons la-bas vers midi (le temps de se perdre un peu a la sortie de Sydney...) Nous commencons notre ballade sur le site des "3 sisters". Le sentier nous entraine le long des falaises, dans une foret ...

Dave, Sarah and I went to the Blue Mountains at the end of July, which is 90 km west of Sydney, and a popular weekend getaway for Sydneysiders wanting some fresh air and bushwalking. (Hiking) It's more popular in the summer though, which would be December or Janunary in the Southern Hemisphere, not July, which is when we went. While Sydney's weather is quite mild, often in the 60's in the winter, it's higher elevation in the Blue Mountains and quite a ...

We finished packing, checked out and collected the hire car, another Toyota Camry. It was mid morning when we eventually set off in the 19 deg sunshine. From the Manly peninsula we had to cross the north of the city and head west towards the 'Blue Mountains'. The very busy traffic and some poor signposting, made it nearly two hours before we cleared the last of the ...

... saving move but we are kind of sick of eating out all the time. So the next morning we did what we always seem to do and that is find our bearings of a place through the local sight seeing or explorer bus. We had a particularly friendly driver named Jimmy and found it quite novel to have a double decker bus with a roof on as that has been a rare sight since we left home. We ended up at Scenic World where we rode the Sky way to the actual ...