7:53am Sydney time
Heading out west of Sydney to the Blue Mountains.
There are 4.6million people in Sydney and 4.2million in Melbourne. I think he said there are around 24 million people in Australia.
We are heading to Katoomba now.
Apparently Australia's nation was built by convicts. In England, the population separated into poor and rich. Poor people started stealing food so England started to move people into convict jails. Then they filled up and they started sending them to America. Then we had the war of independence and stopped taking the English conflicts.
Captain James Cook was sent to find a foreign land. He found New Zealand and Australia (a little outside Sydney). Then, he went to explore more and got killed with a spear from the aboriginal people.
Then England decided to send 11 ships of convicts to Australia to develop a new colony. It took them a while to find the Sydney Harbor but then they sailed the ships in there.
One thing I forgot to say about the Outback. While we were driving the whole time with JP, everytime we passed another vehicle on the road, even motorcycles, they would both wave or somehow acknowledge eachother. I thought it was cute.
9:20am Sydney time
We tried to find some Kangaroos in Eureku (?). Nothing. But that's okay because I already have seen a lot of kangaroos.
Kangaroos were named in a really funny way actually. When the English came over they asked the aboriginal people what the jumpy creature was called and the aboriginal people were confused and said "kan-ga-ru, kan-ga-ru" (?). So they wrote it down in their books as kangaroo. Then, they saw an emu and asked the same question of the aboriginal people. They also received the same response. That response actually means "I have no idea what you're talking about". Haha. True story.
There are over 250 different languages in Australia due to the aboriginal tribes. With aboriginal life there is a big separation between the women and the men. The grandfathers (elders) will teach the young boys and grandmothers teach granddaughters. It is believed the older you are the better teacher you can be. All the aboriginal cultures are different. This is going to sound terrible and really rude but the aboriginal people I saw in the outback actually resemble monkeys a lot more than we do. Like their faces especially. It's very strange to see.
There are 1 to 2 million camels in the Outback. Lol. Crazy, especially since they aren't supposed to be here!
10:17am Sydney time
We stopped in Glenbrook for about 45 minutes. There was nothing here. But I got water and some breakfast from the bakery. When walking around I found a lot of really cool shops. But, unlike in Asia, everything was really expensive. But, it was cute stuff that did give me some good small gift ideas :) crafts! Love it.
The Blue Mountains are called so because of the eucalyptus oil from the trees. There is a mist everyday and when the water particles and the oil particles mix it reflects and gives blue light so there is a blue haze/hue. It's the scattering of blue light. It's like the sky. It scatters blue light off the oxygen molecule and produces the blue color. Blue light is the thickest.
12:27pm Sydney time
We just stopped and did a small walk to Wentworth Falls. There were a few lookout points where you could see the blue haze of the mountains. We then walked down around 360 stairs to the bottom of the waterfall. The stairs weren't too difficult but our guide made it seem like it would be really hard. The first 150 stairs were pretty normal woodsy stairs. The last 200 stairs were natural rock stairs and they were pretty steep. I was the first one down and the first one back up and I even stopped to take photos. I think my cardio has improved with all the hikes I've been doing on this trip... Or I feel like it has. Who knows. It could also just be the fresh air. I feel like its so much easier to breathe, not just normally but when I'm exercising as well. Very crisp and clean. Love it.
The waterfall was nice. The surrounding area made for some really nice photos. It was pretty chilly to start out with on the walk but it got warmer so that was good because I left my jacket in the bus.
We are heading for lunch now.
The 3 sisters are over 350million years old and they are very important to the Aboriginal people. We will get the full story later apparently.
2pm Sydney time
For lunch we had "salad rolls" with ham. Salad rolls are what Aussies call sandwiches with lettuce in them. There was also a pesto pasta salad.
Here we had time to walk to Echo Point to see the 3 sisters. On the way down to the viewpoints there are large, thin stones placed along the walkway with quotes from different people. The quotes were pretty interesting and set a good tone for the upcoming view.
Obviously, the view was amazing. A beautiful "blue" valley thickly populated with trees.
3:48pm Sydney time
We then headed over to the Blue Mountain National Park- Scenic World. Here we took about 1000 stairs down one if the paths. It gave great views of the 3 sisters an it wound through the forest. We saw another waterfall. Some of the paths were really wet. I didn't wear my hiking boots, just my shoes. It was fine though. My ankles felt naked for sure though. And I was really careful going through the mud and water because its a pain in the ass to have wet socks. These shoes aren't waterproof at all.
Steps wise, it wasn't bad at all. The other stairs we took today were worse... As in more steep.
At one point, Dave, the driver/guide (since its all one in the same here), pointed out water dripping down some trees through moss. He said this is some of the best water you could drink because it is filtered. We saw a natural spring as well. He also painted my arm with white, yellow and red dirt that the aboriginal people would mix with water and use for body art. Dave spent 3 weeks with an aboriginal tribe so he is very knowledgable. He said it is such a different way of life and one of the best things he has ever done.
At one point along our "hike" we stoppe so Dave could tell us the story of why the 3 sisters are stone. 3 sisters were playing and the father went out to get food. While they were playing they were loud and disturbed the monster in the cave below them. They yelled out for their father to help them and he took a magic bone and turned the girls into stone. He then turned himself into some type of bird that I can't remember the name of that inhabits the area. The monster saw this magic and freaked out and ran. The magic bone still hasn't been found in the Blue Mountains but it is said that when it is the 3 sisters will not be stone anymore. There is also a weird turkey like bird in the area that always is scratching at the ground and supposedly that is what they are looking for.
We also had to help Dave make the noise to call out the pigme koalas. We did a call that echoed all through the mountains and then he pointed to the tree. It was a pigme koala! Which really wa just a very tiny wooden made koala on a tree branch.
We continued down and at the bottom we boarded the scenic railway. It is the steepest incline railway in the world. The length of the natural tunnel is 80m ( you go through this), its on a 52 degree incline, the length of the incline is 310m and the vertical drop is 250m. We rode the cliffhanger option which meant that out seats were actually at 64 degrees. It wasn't super great. The best part was the cheesy Star Wars music while we were going up. I was impressed with the incline. I had to brace myself with my feet. It did not take long to get up at all.
A lot of people are talking about how their legs are sore. This was like a walk in the park for me. It was still really great to see though and if I came back to Sydney I would love to come spend more time out here. There are longer hikes you can do and a lot more to see.
Dave told us a story earlier about the road we took to get out and back from the Blue Mountains. Originally when it was being built, it was by a group of convicts. They were offered 1000 acres of land each as well as to be pardoned if they completed the 100km road in 9 months. They completed it in 6 months actually! Now they are restoring the road and construction/planning/getting approval from the aboriginal people has been she opening for 21 years now! And we though road work in Michigan was slow!!
I spent a lot of the time on the bus trying to work out tomorrow. My time here has flown. But, even though Bondi beach is famous, I am skipping it because I want to do the opera house and sky tower. The bridge climb takes most of the morning. I asked Dave about Bondi and he said it wasn't special so he made my decision a lot easier.
The rest of the evening I was so tired I just chilled out. There isn't as much to talk about or comment on in Australia because its pretty much like home, especially the city. It's just a normal city. No cows sharing the roads or live chickens slung over the back of a motorbike. At first I thought my blog posts were really short and I was being lazy, but no.
I went to the grocery store to save money on food. Normally a cheap sandwich is like $8 but I got 2 meals (lunch tomorrow too) at the store for $10. Way to save! Spinach and actual turkey! Yumm. Lots of fruit too. I still love the apples here. I was too lazy to find the kitchen in the hostel so I had a little picnic with myself near the Town Hall building.
Tomorrow should be good with the opera house, bridge climb, and sky tower!
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