We left early this morning for an organised coach trip to The Blue Mountains. They are called the Blue Mountains because the eucalyptus trees give off a blue haze.
First we stopped at a place called Leura a small town with lots of unusual shops some gift and some expensive clothes shops. It was freezing here. More like English temperatures which wasn't good as we were wearing shorts!
Then we proceeded to Scenic World in the mountains where we crossed the valley on the Skyway and then descended almost to the valley floor on the Railway which has the steepest incline in the world. That was fun especially to the tune of Indiana Jones! Once down there was a boardwalk in the heart of the rainforest to walk around and then there was a Cableway back to the top.
The Blue Mountains and the forests are spectacular and as it was a very clear day we had beautiful views of The Three Sisters and the surrounding mountains. There is an Aboriginal story about how The Three Sisters were formed but I can't remember it.
After lunch we set off for the Waradah Aboriginal Centre where we had a performance by some 2nd generation aborigines.
Down from the mountains our next stop was the Featherdale Wildlife Park which was full of native animals and bird life.
To finish the day we had a ferry down the Parramatta River back to Darling Harbour. We passed some beautiful houses on the riverbanks with their own boat moorings and many little boat marinas in the many inlets. It was our last opportunity to see the harbour bridge and the Opera House before leaving Australia tomorrow evening.
I am not sure whether there will be a blog tomorrow as we are flying to Dubai a total of 15 hours altogether with a short stop in Bangkok.