Today we went on a Blue Mountains bus tour. The bus picked us up at 7:15 am, picked up a bunch of other people, and took us out of Sydney. Our first stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park, where we finally saw an awake and alert koala. We also patted kangaroos and fed an emu. The wombat hissed and growled at us - so we left him alone. We saw a lot of kookaburras, parrots, and other birds, including the cassawarry.After leaving the wildlife park our bus driver got lost. He stopped and asked one man on the street where the M4 was - the man didn't know. So he stopped again and tried another man on the street, who luckily knew where to go. After this little episode my confidence in his abilities as a tour guide were really shaken (he also had failed to turn on the PA system, and told lame jokes but gave no info), so we were glad when Fred was replaced by Terry. Terry talked and talked and kept us well entertained.
We completed our drive to the Blue Mountains - so called because they look blue. They look blue because sun light on the eucalyptus forests releases some gases that look blue from a distance. We had a buffet lunch, then went to Scenic World, where we rode down an extremely steep railway, walked on a board walk through rain forest, and rode back up the mountain on a cable car. Our next stop was a scenic look out for a view of the Three Sisters (photo).
Then we went to another little mountain village where we and our new Australian friends had coffee and cakes and chatted. After all this excitement the bus brought us back to Sydney to Olympic Park where the driver drove us around and showed us all the venues and shared his Olympic stories. Then we hopped on a ferry there and had a ride down the inland part of the harbour back to Darling Harbour. It was quite lovely in the dark with all the lights sparkling on shore.
By then it was 7 pm so we stopped at one of the many restaurants along the harbour. I ate kangaroo - having patted one earlier in the day, it seemed appropriate (and was very tasty).
2 comments:
I'm pretty sure that the cassowarry is the bird that I learned when I was up north that you had to make yourself *very tall* if confronted by one. I also recall that Sean thought my explanation of this was hilarious (because I made myself *very tall* as I was telling him).
I remember touring the Blue Mountains - they were beautiful!
the cassowary is billed as "the world's most dangerous bird" because it has sharp spikes on it's inner foot, and is huge and strong. The keepers go in the cage in sets of two, one with a shield and the other to do clean-up, etc. It's quite an attractive bird though, with its bright blue head.
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