I left the city of Sydney for the day to visit the Blue Mountains. My driver/guide, Dave, a man of nearly 70 and partially deaf knew a great deal about the area and liked to talk! I can honestly say I've never met anyone who talks as much as him. All day long, from when I was picked up to being dropped off he had something to say. Not only did we learn about the area he also gave us a low down on his family! It was quite sweet really and very clear he loved his job.

The first stop on the tour was flat rock, a great place to get photos of you and the blue mountains. The name Blue Mountains was given to them due to the blue haze above them, created due to the eucalyptus oil from the trees refracting light, allowing only blue light through, as its the shortest wavelength, known as Rayleigh scattering (the same reason the sky is blue).

After lunch we took a trip above the blue mountains on a cable car and then down into Australian rainforest. The walks as great and I even saw tow Lyre birds! Although I didn't see any displays. Then, up the mountain again, only this time on the world's steepest railway. It was like going up a roller coaster backwards (although not quite so fast). It was a great day for it, the sky was clear and temperatures up in the mountains were at 19 degrees!

A walk down 250 steps to see a waterfall and then of course back up reminded me that I'm still not very fit, despite all the hiking I did in New Zealand. Finally, we saw an aboriginal rock engraving of a kangaroo, which is dated at least 400-500 years old. Then arriving back in Sydney early evening by boat to Darling Harbour.