Up at 7am to be ready for my day trip to the Blue Mountains today! Well, really it was 7.15 after hitting snooze about three times! My guide Hayden was waiting at the front door when I got down there at ten to eight: ten minutes early I might add! I was first on the list so we had a chat about where I was from, he said Telford 'rang a bell', but I'm not quite sure how! Ended up telling him about John and Catlin running the half marathon, which resulted in talks of sibling rivalry! I'm sure I must tell every person I meet about my family! Oh well, nobody's walked off mid-conversation yet so I shall continue to do so!!

We had a full bus for the tour: a few French, some Austrians, and 2 Londoners. They were proper cockney! Although their flip-flops and leggings weren't the most suitable attire for the Blue Mountains!

After stopping of for so-called morning tea, which was juice and biscuits, we arrived in the Blue Mountains after two or so hours to the omnipresent view of rain! Luckily it had subsided by the time we got to the first stop: it was an Aboriginal carving of a kangaroo on Kangaroo Place. I think the carving came before the name. Not sure who said it was Aboriginal, as it looked just like any other carving to me! Who am I to comment though?

The plan was to do what our guide ominously kept referring to as our 'longest walk of the day' (422 steps!), but the lunchtime rush of those pesky tourists was there so we redirected to the Skywalk and railway at the Three Sisters. It was $20 so I opted out, the only person to do so, and went for a walk down to the caves. I got a few viewpoints of the Three Sisters too so I didn't really miss out, and besides, it couldn't quite live up to the cable car at Table Mountain. Unfortunately the walk back up wasn't mentioned by the guide, he thought I'd just go down to the first lookout, but as I went all the way down, I of course had to walk all the way back up! Oh what a red face I had! It wasn't a hill, but lots of steep steps, and I'd taken my backpack down with me so it was a bit of a trek! Still, it's good for me, and the pictures from the trip suggest I could do with a fair few more taxing walks!

Hayden dropped us off in a town called Leura for lunch; apparently they have sixteen cafes to choose from! I chose the wall outside as I'd taken my lunch with me, although I did look around the gourmet cafe and excitedly found a brand of breads and antipasti called 'Phillippa's' - they spelt it wrong though, and so the proof of the brand did not make it onto my camera! I did buy a coffee in a little cafe there, just to escape the looming rain clouds and give me a comfortable place to read my Bill Bryson book - Linda, the Welsh lady from my hostel, gave it to me before she left on Saturday. Proud to say I'm over half way, although I'm not sure reading about the Appalachian Trail is the best activity before entering the woods!

Finally made it to the 'longest walk' at 3 and were told we had just twenty minutes to get down and back up before we had to leave on our tight schedule - with this in mind I bolted off first to try and give myself plenty of time to get back up! I was closely followed by a French man from the tour, and when I went down a side path he failed to call me back so I continued on down. When I didn't see or hear any of the group behind me after a minute or so I headed back, only to find they were all, including the French mime, at the lookout taking pictures. Not impressed with the French at that point! The view over the valley was pretty amazing, and we could see Katoomba Falls, which is apparently taller than Niagara Falls - not sure I believe this, as the water seemed to slowly trickle over the edge from its spring water source, not too much like Niagara. Again though, who am I to comment!

At the previous lookout I'd seen a few burnt-out cars at the bottom of the cliffs, which was enough to make you reconsider standing too close to the edge for a photo!

We stopped by another section of the national park to try and see a kangaroo, and did! An Eastern Grey Kangaroo with her Joey - over 18 months old, so apparently mother would have closed the door of the pouch! I should think so too! There was a family camping at the site too, next to the sign that said 'no camping, day stays only'! The mother was explaining to her children that all these people flocking to see the kangaroo were 'tourists' - I found her reference more interesting than the snacking roos!

Our day was then over pretty much, we made our way to the ferry terminal near the Olympic Park, which we'd whizzed by in the morning as part of the tour. The ferry wasn't too busy so most people, probably tourists, flocked to the front to get views of the harbour when we got there. I ended up talking to a teacher on a sabbatical from her post in Cheltenham though: her grandmother lives in Cardiff and parents in Evesham, so we chatted away causing me to nearly miss the bridge and opera house! Still managed to get some decent photos though. We ended up walking back from the terminal together all the way to Elizabeth Street, the other end of town! We talked about travelling, she's just come from New Zealand after managing to get a 399pound flight into NZ and out of Oz, settling down, family and Cardiff. Of course she now knows all about the Smith clan, my trip, and possible career choices for when I return!

My day pretty much wiped me out, but when the Swiss girl in my dorm came in we ended up chatting too! She works for Pricewater House Coopers in Geneva and booked a one-way ticket out here: just a month later she's heading home after getting 'the blues' in Adelaide. She's 25, so it made me proud to be just 22 and sticking it out, even if it is only for 5 months! Another lady then came into the room, an English woman who's lived out here for 8 years teaching at the hospitality college. She books into the hostel when she has classes the next morning rather than get up at 5am.

She was nice enough, she asked about travelling, and particularly about Africa, but it seemed as though every response I gave she already had an answer anyway! She was telling me all about her passion for crime fiction, but of course when I offered my opinion it wasn't quite right! Silly!

I thought I'd fall right off to sleep, but the teacher put an end to that dream! My Schneider earplugs made their debut after three months of travelling in their packaging. Yes, she was a snorer. Oh the joys of dorms!