Blue Mountains/Manly Beach

Trip Start Feb 20, 2006
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13
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Trip End Ongoing


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Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to visit Blue Mountains National Park. It's situated in Katoomba which is about 109 km from Sydney's city centre. We took a two hour train ride and enjoyed views of spectacular cliffs and dense bush land. Once we arrived we hoped on a red double decker bus that brought us all around. Our first stop was Scenic World where we rode the scenic skyway. It's a cable car with a glass floor revealing views of the valley 200 metres below. From above we could see the famous Three Sisters which is a rock formation. Is Blue Mountains truly blue? Yes it is. The haze gives the Mountains their name because of the rays of light striking droplets of oil dispersed by gum trees.

We walked through the rainforest where we saw Jurassic age tree ferns and several species of eucalyptus. We also rode the scenic railway that was used by a coal and kerosene shale mining industry Blue Mountains
Blue Mountains
 . The 45 degree incline was pretty scary and it's one of the steepest train rides in the world. We walked our feet off going up hundreds of stairs. It's a good thing we made sandwiches the night before because there's no food along the paths. The only downer is that Tim lost his hat but we found it later in the evening on the double decker bus.

We went to Manly Beach today. This time the real one! The waves weren't nearly as big as Bondi and there weren't any jelly fish. We had a really great time swimming around and jumping in the waves. The only thing is the water got in our eyes and it would sting a little. On the other side of the beach we saw some surfers riding the waves. Overall, it was a pretty big beach. Oh, and we even saw a man scanning the beach with a metal detector.

Tomorrow is our last day in Sydney before we head up the east coast. So we have to call the bus company and reserve our next hostel. Also, we will probably do a laundry and get our stuff ready because we have to be out by 10:00 am. Our next stop is Newcastle which is about two hours away. We might stay there for a few days then move on.
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