I still haven't got a good night sleep in a hostel, and once again I was the first one up. The problem was the bunks squeaked really loudly when you moved, and in addition to this my room was right next to the road so I had the noise of both cars and bars coming into the room until the early hours. To make things even worse when I went to the toilet in the morning to get ready for the day, I forgot my key so got locked out. Luckily I managed to get back in, but I think that shows you how tired I feel!
Today I booked another tour, this time into the Blue Mountains to explore various parts of this world heritage site and the surrounding areas. It was a 7.45 start today outside Base (my first hostel), but I went to early just to collect my booking for a couple of nights in Byron Bay, which they knew nothing about which made me a little worried. We then all crammed onto this minibus which was full, a change from yesterdays tour where it was a half empty luxury coach! The group was primarily made up of young people, although many of the people were not English which made any decent conversations a little bit difficult. En route to the Blue Mountains we stopped outside this enclosure which was protected land for the kangaroo population of Sydney. The actual city centre of Sydney is actually quite compact, but Sydney's residential catchment is growing at a rapid rate which is bad for the local kangaroo population. We saw a few of these creatures, but not close up.
Next stop was for morning tea at Glenbrook village, which was a small village home to all the local services you would expect, just with a large number of bakeries. I got a sausage roll here, as the prices were noticeably cheaper than Sydney. Lets hope this trend continues as I travel up the East Coast! We then arrived at a car park in the Blue Mountains, and a short walk from the minibus was an amazing view from the lookout showcasing the sandstone cliffs and dense forests, along with the many waterfalls weaving their way through the middle. It was simply breathtaking. Our guide was very good because he grew up in the Blue Mountains which meant he had done many of the trails in his childhood, and again you could tell he loved his job.
We then began a two hour hike or so to the bottom of one of the waterfalls. We started going through dirt paths through the forest, before reaching some stepping stones between two waterfalls. This was one of many good views we got of the valley en route. It was then onto this mountain path, which must have taken years to construct with each step being carved into the side of the mountain. It was rather tough on the legs this section but worth it for the views and also the alternative terrain I was walking on! We then arrived at the bottom of the waterfall where he showed us this love heart that was embedded on the rock above. Despite being at the "bottom", the valley kept going down for a much longer way yet and apparently it can take days to properly explore this part of the mountains.
We then went back up the same we came, before turning off down a trail which Charles Darwin supposedly walked again when writing his book. Our guide was very good at showing us basic survival skills, and other interesting things along the way. At one point he extracted these rocks from this small stream, and after rubbing them frantically created this clay based stuff in both a red and yellow colour. He also showed us a plant which is used in bath products, which had such a strong smell! There was also the nail file plant and the toilet roll plant, but I won't go into much detail there! We then emerged back at the car park after a simply stunning walk in terms of the scenery and terrain!
After re boarding the mini bus we made our way to the small village of Leura to collect lunch, and also visit this beer shop which sold endless amounts of worldwide imported beers. Spread over a cellar and fridges upstairs, there was a massive choice! I bought a bottle of James Squire The Chancer Golden Ale here to sample at our next stop. We then got given our lunch on the minibus for the next stop, but everyone kind of ate it before we got there because we were so hungry! There was another brilliant viewpoint here however, this time spanning over into open outback too.
Our final stop for the day was a trip to Scenic World to ride of the worlds steepest railway. It was a good idea, but to get there we had to walk down to the bottom of railway deep in the valley. It was very steep! En route we passed the famous three sisters rocks where he told us an aboriginal myth related to their formation. He also told us about drop bears which I still don't understand? I couldn't work out is he was joking or if they actually were a Koala gone wrong. After getting many views of the valley on our way down to the railway, and also seeing the cable car which went over the valley, we finally arrived, and it baffled me how the railway even functioned. Going at a 52 degree gradient at the steepest, it ran simply on rails from what I could make out. After a short wait we entered this compact carriage, looking down over the valley before going upwards into the air to the Indiana Jones theme. It was very surreal as we went through these natural tunnels and saw the tree tops below us. It only lasted a couple of minutes before we were back at the top ready to board the minibus back home.
On the way home we passed the Olympic Park, nearly 14 years ago for those of you who remember it, before arriving back in Sydney by about 5.30. I finally managed to collect my Byron Bay booking which relieved my stress levels a bit. It has been very stressful going from everything being organised for me in Thailand, to effectively having to make sure I am booked into places each night and also book tours early enough in advance. I also collected my Fraser Island and Whitsundays booking which were fixed dated so I had dates and locations to aim for. Everything was coming together now, kind of, as I had to get my head round the paper work. After a rather long Skype session, and going out to daylight at 8pm, I love the summer, I headed for a little walk round Sydney to try and clear my mind from everything. Hostels, tours, bus reservations, blog, and most of all photos have all been causing me problems so the fresh air did me good.
On the way back I finally found a supermarket right opposite my hotel, so I bought what most of you would probably describe as "crap", and headed back to the hostel, barely keeping my eyes open! After a good chat with the the people in my room who were not out drinking, it was off to bed where I crashed out straight away which was good!
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