We started by driving through the Sydney Olympic Park. It is pretty amazing. They did a really nice job planning and designing the Park so it still get a lot of use today and even generates enough revenue that it will pay for its own upkeep. We then began our tours of the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are the portion of the Great Australian Dividing Range that runs through this part of the continent. They are called the Blue Mountains because the eucalypt trees in that grow in the valley give off a vapor that creates a blue haze through the valley.
We drove up to Blue Mountain National Park for morning tea. It is was fun to have coffee outside with the birds and nature and all that. Then we drove up to see the several of the little towns surrounding the mountains and see the amazing outlooks. It was breath taking. The first one we went to was of Jamison Valley. There was no railing at the edge of the outlook so we were all paranoid about falling off the cliff so we kept clear. There was a group of teenagers who were really close to edge and making us all nervous. The seemed not to believe it when our tour guide told them that people have fallen off the edge with regularity. Nothing happened, but we were convinced that of of them would take a tumble.
We then went to an outlook that gave us a great view of the Three Sisters rock formation. Dad took a picture of Traci, Laurel and I in front of the rocks. It was awkward because we were trying to get a good shot but too many people were obstructing the view. Then the one of the guides said something and everyone moved and watched us get our picture taken. Uncomfortable!
After that, we had a lovely lunch, saw some more outlooks (one of them included walking down and up over 200 steps to see a waterfall) and went to a Wildlife park. It was basically a petting zoo of Australian animals. It was really nice, but we were kind of on animal overload.
After we got back to the hotel, we decided to have one more go at animal viewing. Laurel really wanted to see a platypus, but the ones at the zoo wouldn't come out. We decided to go to the Aquarium which is about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. What was the first thing we saw? Platypus! It was super cute and we had a good time watching it play and swim. We saw some ridiculously large fish, sharks, rays, crayfish, and crabs. Basically every time we would go to a new tank, one of us would gasp and point and freak out. They have several set-ups were you walk underneath the water and the fish swim around you. It was quite spectacular. We also discovered the Dugong, which is a relative to the manitee. It was amazing to watch.
After that, dinner and chilling in the hotel.
Tomorrow has the potential to be amazing, but it is weather dependent so I I shall keep you in suspense until then.
***A note on pictures. I know we said we were going to try to post a lot of photos, but it takes a long time for them to load. I will definitely post some when we get home, but I will try to get few up before then.****
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