Into the antipodes
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2005
1
65
158
Trip End
Jul 21, 2007
Sydney,
Australia
Monday, April 17, 2006
We spent the first two weeks being shown around by Linzi, Keith and Nick who were absolutely brilliant from the moment we landed
CBD from botanical gardens
. It was so good to see our friends after such a long time and they whisked us from the airport to Elizabeth Bay and installed us in their flat before taking us for a good old fry up down the road followed by a beautiful walk around the bay to the Opera House, enjoying what turned out to be the last heat of the summer! Bah! The next day we took a bus ride to Coogee beach and walked all the way to Bondi beach. We were impressed by the beautiful and dramatic coastline that is punctuated every mile or so by lovely beaches. All are so well maintained, backed by grassy areas, complete with coin operated BBQ's and even exercise areas with chin up bars and push up benches! There are also salt water swimming pools built by the sea for serious swimmers, and surfers dot the foamy waters lying in wait for the next big wave.
Predictably we quickly ate into the overdraft, drinking loads of schooners (glasses between half a pint and a pint) and eating loads of good food, which is significantly cheaper than in the U.K., and this situation continued unabated when our mates Andy and Sarah arrived from their trip to Queensland.
One day we all took a train about two hours West of Sidders into the Blue Mountains which form part of the southern end of the Great Dividing Range, and are home to hundreds of species of eucalyptus trees
Fullardo & opera house
. The reason for the name is that, because the trees give off so much vapour, this reacts with the light to leave an unmistakably blue hue in the air. We took a walk from Wentworth falls around the cliff side, overlooking great plains covered in jungle and other huge cliffs in the distance. The scenery is really spectacular and it was a fairly gentle plod that took us in a circuit and back to the picnic area where we munched on our snap in the warm sun. We walked back to the main road in the hope of catching a bus to Katoomba and 'The Three Sisters'. Well we waited and waited but nothing came along so all we could do was walk in the direction of town. About half a mile down the road we ran into a spot of serendipity, sighting a 1960's London double-decker bus heading our way. Is this some sort of mirage? we thought as we waived and screamed like mad people and it sailed past us in a flash of red, totally empty and almost spectral like. We carried on and strangely it turned around and ground to a halt right next to us, an angelic and graceful vehicle straight out of 'On the Buses'. The doors levered open and the driver enquired "you're one of our lot then are you?" We told him that we were lost trekkers and he agreed to take us to Katoomba!! We were saved!! And to top it off it was a cabriolet version so we rode up top and the driver chatted to us about his memories of England via the ancient P.A. system. The Three Sisters is a rocky outcrop that millions of years of erosion have conspired to create. It has carved three identical tall pillars that look out onto the vast expanse of forest below and the view from the specially constructed platform is spectacular and was a delicious taste of things to come for our further adventures into the country.
