Sydney day 6

The Blue Mountains...

It was a very early morning for all of us.  Today we got up around 5:30 to leave around 6:30 in order to catch up train out to Katoomba where we then would take a bus down to the blue mountains.  It was an absolutely goregous day once again.  Actually, it is pretty incredible that it has been sunny the entire time we have been here.  Love it.  So when we get to Katoomba station after a two hour train ride we were all ready to see the cliffs that make this place a tourist haven.  When we got off the bus it was pretty obvious why it was just that.  I'm not too sure who told told us that this would only be a 4 mile hike becuase it seemed like we walked a marathon.  We all decided that we would take the stairs which were carved out of the side of the cliff in order to get to the path through the thick woods that didn't seem too far away.  It turns out the after we got past the tree line there was still a good 100' to descend.  when we finally got down to the bottom (took us about two hours) we took a long but beautiful path around the wooded area.  My brother would actually have loved this trek because the sounds that all the birds and other creatures were making while we were passing by was almost deafening and unfamiliar.  Some pretty cool sights and sounds were experience throughout this trip and I would definitely recommend anyone traveling to Sydney to take the time to experience the Blue Mountains.

P.S. - we didn't scale the stairs back up.  Instead, we decided to take "the steepest train in the world" back up to the top.  This train was about 46 degrees in slope and was the scariest train I've ever been on... No way would it pass any type of regulation in the States.

After we got back from the mountains we were all pretty exhausted (due to tripping over about every rock because I was trying to look around and didn't pay any attention to the ground and descending down narrow stairs for two hours).  Everyone stayed in and did some laundry to be ready for our trip in two days to Brisbane.  I, on the other hand, decided to take advantage of being alone and went over to a local coffee shop where I did some reading and met a few locals who turned out to be exremly nice.  Auburn and Syndey seem to be complete oppisites... You can talk to anyone around here without them thinking you are trying to "creep" on their space with bad intensions.  It's pretty nice to be able to ask someone what they do, where they are from and have them buy you a drink and be just as interested in you!  I love it here and wouldn't mind moving out here if the opportunity presents itself.

I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT POSTING PICTURES... MY COMPUTER GOES INTO FREAK-OUT MODE EVERY TIME I TRY AND POST THEM... I'LL POST SOME VERY SOON ON A DIFFERENT COMPUTER :-/