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Sydney
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Yesterday we took the ferry across Sydney Harbor to Manly, an oceanside suburb. It was about 1/2 hr. with stunning views of the Sydney Opera House & the Sydney harbor bridge. We loved Manly . Alot less crowded than Sydney, beautiful beaches & lots of stores to browse thru on streets with no thru traffic. Again, the ferry back with beautiful views. A lovely day.
This morning we started out early t6 go to Blue Mountains. The gorgeous Blue Mountains region is said to be Sydney's favorite escape, a tourist wonderland just outside the city, yet very much away from it all. We had to check it out.
A 2 hr. train ride took us out of the city to Katoomba. Then we got a hop on & off bus pass to get around. 2 of the things we really wanted to do were the scenic railway, the world's steepest -inclined passenger railway & the scenic cableway. The cable car coasts from cliff top to valley floor & vice versa. Now keep in mind, Abby & I are both afraid of heights but decided we would go for it. I sat outside while Abby goes into get our tickets. There is a third scenic skyway, a cable condola suspended high over the Katoomba falls gorge. On the way over a door in the floor slides open to reveal a glass bottom. We decided to skip that one. Two were enough. She comes out as says, "she got a deal for all three." I say, "I thought we were only going to do two?", she says, "I know, but it probably won't be that bad". So off we go to the suspended Gondola. It was this large oval shaped, glass enclosed area with only a couple of seats. Everyone usual stands, but I immediately took the first seat. Turned out to be not so bad, and the views were spectacular. Next - The scenic railway. Runs at a 52 degree pitch. Quite steep. This one Abby was more afraid of. She asks the guy, "how long is it?" and he replys, 45 minutes" I thought she would freak out. I said, "no - he misunderstood you." turns out, it's 90 seconds. There's maybe 12 rows of seats. Set up like a roller coaster. It does have bars ontop and sides. Pretty scary stuff, but actually really fun. We were holding on for dear life. A very short ride, but I enjoyed that the best. Next - the cable way which turned out to be fine. Excellent views. Each ride is really short, but fun.
Hopping on our bus again - next stop, Gordon falls - a beautiful lookout point, more photo opts. I think if we had done Australia first, we would have been more impressed, but playing second act to New Zealand's south island, was a tough number to follow
In town, we did our share of helping the economy :)
Finally decided to head back to Sydney, got on the train which was supposed to leave in a 1/2 hour. Turns out there was a lightening storm, and the railway couldn't run. We had to wait an hour till they arranged some buses for us. We took the buses half-way back, then had to switch for the train which was running in this area. We were just happy to be back in our beds that night. We were glad we went though :)
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