Storyline: Home to home westward
Sat, May 4
The skies in the mountains were stunning today. Rae, our driver/tour guide picked us up from the hotel. She was as good as the New Zealand drivers, talking all the time needed to keep us comfortable, even while in heavy traffic getting out of Sydney.
Telling us stories and history of the areas we drove through, the fact that it is so expensive now in Sydney that the younger generation can only afford to buy a house an hour or more out of Sydney (sounds familiar). She’d even tell us the prices of the subdivision houses as we drove through.
Our first stop was at the Featherdale Wildlife Park. I was surprised how rich and diverse were the captive-born exhibits.
We saw all kinds of local animals and birds. Our second stop was for lunch at café in Leura, a pretty little town.
And from there, off we went to the mountains. We saw the historic township of Katoomba, took the scenic cliff drive in the Jamison Valley and Australia’s Grand Canyon.
We visited the Three Sisters, a towering rock formation overlooking Jamison Valley. The view points were incredibly overcrowded.
We did some short distance hiking before boarding the bus for our next stop, the Scenic Skyway, followed by the Scenic Cableway. Rae was really good making sure we got to the right locations on the cable cars so we would have the best experience. We walked for about 40 min along a boardwalk on the valley floor, under the ancient rainforest canopy to the bottom of the steep Scenic Railway.
The trail housed an art exhibition. Many sculptures and historic activities like mining were included. The train was like a Disneyland experience accompanied by appropriate music.
Rae was waiting for us at the top. We had all made it in time to have a bonus view from the Malatia Point, another pretty area overlooking the Malatia Valley.
With this tour, I think I’ve got my “crowds” dose for the next 5 years. Each sky car was full to the brim with noisy tour groups. It would have been much better if we had the time to hike it all.
But even if we had more time, our host had backed his car into the garage door and couldn’t get the car out until it was repaired, so they could not drive us as they had intended.
The most amazing for me was the sky. The clouds, hanging initially over the mountains, gradually started to extend over the valley. It was like pleated blinds slowly covering a pot. Fascinating to watch them!
They were decorating the sky as Rae drove us back towards Sydney. She dropped us off at Paramatta Harbour, from where Tracy took over.
We boarded a catamaran that took us down the Paramatta River to Sydney Harbour.
We followed the suggestion of the information clerk from the previous day and got off the boat at Darling Harbour rather than Circular Quay.
We both loved this place. We walked into an Italian restaurant that had an inexpensive (relatively) early bird menu. A selection of appetiser, main, desert and a glass of wine for $35. This again includes it all (tax and tips).
So we shared a 3-course menu and the desert was a bit too much. Um, added another glass of wine, of course. After dinner, we walked along the Pyrmont pedestrian bridge over Cockle Bay.
There were crowds lined up on one side, and as we walked to the middle, a firework display split the air. It was spectacular. Why is it that fireworks fascinate so many, us included?
We were told there are fireworks every Saturday at this time of year: one of the reasons together with a great restaurant selection, that we went to Darling Harbour to begin with.
This nicely finished our day tour and we were ready to walk to a train station and return to our lodgings in Hornsby.
Join the conversation around our e-Table