July 4th
Hello dark 30! 5am came early, but I guess not early enough as we were literally running (me with Lincoln on my shoulders) to catch the 6:35am ferry. They actually held it for us! There are benefits to early rising – watching the sunrise over the Sydney Opera House for one.
Sunrise view of Opera House
We caught our tour (about 15min from Circular Quay) and headed out to the Blue Mountains. The tour bus was very modern & complete with Wifi. The driver, Henry, was fantastic – knowledgable, informative and very kind to Lincoln (AKA hell on wheels). I would highly recommend this tour company – AAT King Tours – http://guidedtours.aatkings.com/destinations/blue-mountains
The bus ride was about 1.5hrs out to the Blue Mountains and our first stop was at Echo Point for an Aboriginal dance performance. The girls were called up to perform the Emu Dance!
Aborigines Dancing
Lincoln’s Boomerang
Lincoln convinced Bryan he “needed – really, really, needed” a boomerang. So, here it is. He spent the rest of the trip obsessing about it – didn’t want to get off the bus without it for fear of someone pinching it. Henry (the bus driver) assured Lincoln he would look after it for him as he had Kangaroo boots and no one would mess with him. So, after some coaxing, Lincoln agreed to get off at our next stop, Scenic World.
Scenic world is the “amusement park” of the Blue Mountains – complete with 3 “rides” of “HIGH” intensity. The first ride was a Sky Car with a glass bottom (the glass would shift from opaque to clear once over the gorge.
Glass Bottom Sky Car
This gorge is famous for the 3 Sister’s rock formation and used to be a mining site. There were various mining tools and equipment shattered around the hike we took and nestled in the forest, there was a small, one-room cottage where miners used to stay while working.
Gorge with 3 Sisters Rock Formation in the Distance
The second ride was a rail car – the steepest in the world. It was awesome! Took off like a shot – or the Rock-N-Roll roller coaster at Universal.
Getting on the rail ride – Kendall’s eyes are not closed in fear – rather I had to take a quick shot and it was like herding cats to get them all to look my way at the same time.
After the rail ride we had a walk through the forest and saw tons of enormous ferns, eucalyptus, birch trees, vines Tarzan would be proud of and many other trees I couldn’t identify. The peace of the forest floor was only broken by the periodic whines and cries of one 3.5yr old claiming his legs were no longer working – a common occurrence throughout the entire trip! I could have walked through the forest for hours. There were loads of trails, but we had to press on to catch the last ride – the Cable Car back up to the top. This last ride was the least exciting of the 3, but it was still a thrilling site to be suspended over such a large and old expanse. This gorge is ancient – much older than the 6M year old Grand Canyon. It was impressive.
We hopped back on the bus and headed to the Featherdale Wild Life Park. The park is only made up of native australian rescued animals. The girls are going to do a guest post on this one, so stay tuned!
We made it back to the bus after Featherdale and quickly drove through the Sydney Olympic Park and caught a ferry back to another ferry before arriving at The Simpson’s for dinner. So grateful for friends who will make you a warm meal after you have spent the day touring! Long and lovely day!
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