p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }

11/16/10

I rose somewhat early this morning much to my surprise and I organized and packed my back and shuffled up some of my stuff since my small day backpack was still wet from the prior day I did not think it was a good idea to keep my electronics and books in a wet back so I packed them up in my regular pack and moved a growing pile of dirty and still wet clothes in a plastic bag within my small pack. I was glad to have eaten the little bit of food I did bring along so I did not need to carry anything extra out. I checked the ferry times and I thought I was ready to go and catch the 9:10 am ferry but as checking out they had me sweep out my room and then I booked and paid for the next hostel I was headed to so that way I for sure had a place to stay that night. When I was ready to go I had enough time to make the 15 minute hike down to the wharf where the ferry would pick me up at 9:50 am. I was told to make sure to put out the flag so that the ferry would know to stop and pick me up. I arrived at the Wharf and set my bags down and proceeded to find the flag and place it in the holder. A man and a woman were also waiting at the Wharf for someone to pick them up and I chatted with them a bit. A smaller boat came and the woman asked if I was going to Church Point, which I was...so she told me to get on I could ride with them in the water taxi since it held eight people and it was much quicker then the ferry. This is the point I was kicking myself, why because I had bought a return ticket when I came out to the hostel to save a dollar or two when I ended up getting a free ride and not even using the ticket I paid for. Oh well, I chatted a bit more when the two on the water taxi ride and then we all got off at the same point. They asked me where I was headed and I told them I was headed to Manly to take the ferry to Sydney. The guy said he would give me a lift part way so I took him up on the offer. It turns out the guys name is Robert and he is a "chippy" which he told me is what the Australian's call carpenters and he was at the ladies house getting measurements to build her a fence and a small shed. I learned a bunch about him and was enjoying his company and he then decided he would take me the entire way to the ferry after we stopped at the lumber yard so he could get some material prices. That worked for me just fine so I just hung around outside his car for 10 minutes while he got his prices. Then on the ride out he got a phone call and you could tell the other end was a frantic female and he kept telling her that he would come over an fix the problem. After a few minutes he got off the phone and explained that was his daughter on the phone and she had not paid her gas bill so the gas had been turned off and now it was on but the pilot light needed to be light and she was going to have a service person out to take care of it. The long and the short of it is she called again not two minutes later still all worked up and he told her that he would be at her place in a matter of minutes. This means that he dropped me off at a bus stop near her house along the side of the road, which I was fine with I thanked him and wished him well. So I am standing on the side of the road at a random bus stop and a small Asian lady joins me at the bus stop. Her name is Maria and I pretty much know her life story in all of about 10 minutes, not that I asked but she was pleasant to talk with but I had to work a bit to pick up what she was saying at times because the car noise from the street was loud and she would look away while talking to me so I would be bending over and leaning in to try and hear what she was telling me. A few minutes before the bus came by on the opposite side of the street a car went by and it honked and a arm was waving outside of the window in our direction. Maria looked and said who is that, I looked and said "Oh, that was Robert he is the one that gave me the ride here". We got on the bus and sat in different areas of the bus but when she got off at her stop she waved and said goodbye to me. Crazy nice interesting people. All went smooth the bus arrived right before the ferry was to leave and I got right on and off it went. The views of the harbor going into Sydney were fantastic and I was glad I spent a bit more money and time to get this experience. I then took a few different trains to get out to Katoomba which is located in the Blue Mountains. I arrived at around 3pm and checked into my room and was off on a hike by 4pm. I decided to take a three and a half hour hike but I did not bring anything with me no water, food, rain gear, nothing but my camera and a very basic free map. I was maybe half an hour into my hike and still going down the stairs and the trail when I came across what looked like a trail runner wearing a camel back and running gear. I stopped and talked with him and he did not know where he was out how long until he would be out. I assured him he was not far from out maybe half and hour but it was straight up. He then told me that he had been out running for almost nine hours and had a few route problems along the way. I asked him if he had filled up his water at all during the run and he said no and he had just ran out of water but he started with 100 ounces. I laughed a bit and I said to him you are basically out here doing an Ultra on your own. He said that was the basic plan but he was thinking he would only be out running for about 4 hours. The rest of the hike went very well and I see why this is such a popular weekend get away destination for the folks who live in Sydney. I arrived back in town feeling a bit hungry since after breakfast I had only had two granola bars on the train ride. Everyone knows that you are not to go shopping when hungry, I seem to do that a lot anyway and I was glad I did not get too carried away with my shopping. I stuck mainly to my fruit, bread, sandwich meat, and I also sprung for a jar of Nutella. Later that night I meet the two guys that were staying in my room one name Adam from Scotland and the other named Bryan from Norway. Both are interesting Adam had been traveling for 8 months and has been to Cambodia, Singapore, and Vietnam before coming to Australia. Bryan is just a bit different, nice but I am not sure he is playing with a full deck of cards. Some of his stories I just laugh and wonder to myself...HUH, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME......Another good day and I am now a fan of the blue mountains!!!