This morning we participated in the Jamison Valley Walk in the Blue Mountains. We descended down a 900 step giant staircase and path to the valley floor and walked amongst the beautiful forest to the steepest incline railway in the world - the Katoomba Scenic Railway. It's the steepest railway in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records, and was originally part of the Katoomba mining tramways constructed between 1878 and 1900. The funicular railway line descends through sandstone cliffs, via a rock tunnel beside Orphan Rock, then emerges to spectacular views and lush fern-filled rainforest.  We rode this 52 degrees angle, 415 meter long railway out of the rainforest. It has a vertical drop of 405 metres through 80 metres of natural tunnel. It was very cool. The scenery was stunning. Going down we saw lots of greenery and cliffs and even a waterfall. It's a beautiful country. Lots of firsts on this trip!

Back to Sydney for the final day of our tour. Caitlin drove some of us to Coogee Beach and we walked the 6 km to the iconic Bondi (pronounced Bond eye) beach in this beautiful city. Others opted to lay on Bondi beach for a couple of hours instead of making the walk. Bondi is one of the most famous beaches in the world and is known for surfers, beautiful people and the gorgeous lifeguards. I was quite toasty from the 2 hour walk so I had to take a quick dip in the wavy water. It was a record setting day in Sydney. The temperature was 34.2 degrees ( remember it's fall here) but there was a stiff breeze which made it bearable. The scenery along the way is unbelievable. Beaches, cliffs, blue water, and, of course, all the lithe, young beautiful bods. ;)

Apparently the big thing is to get a picture at the lifeguard station, kiss a lifeguard on the cheek and take a selfie with him. I managed to do the first and I did see a hot lifeguard but he was in a fuss up with someone and didn't really look approachable. Damn it! I'll just have to come back one day.

Today is our last real day of the tour so it was our last night to dine together as a group and.....yup….. dance!!! Caitlin gave us all a nice farewell speech and note and some Aussie trinkets and we said our goodbyes after hitting a couple of dance floors. I managed to stave off any tears during the night but had a cry when we got back to our room at 1:30 am. It's sad leaving everyone behind. I made some close friendships during this tour and it's sad to think I may never see them again. I'm tearing up just writing about it now. Or maybe I'm tearing up because now it's just Vic and I, alone, for 4 days!