Blue Mountains, Australia - October 29, 2014

Blue Mountains, Australia - October 29, 2014

Stephen, our driver, picked us up at 0710 hrs to begin our tour of the Blue Mountains. As we were traveling, he gave us quite the education.  For instance, the Sydney Bridge is the widest bridge in the world with eight lanes of traffic, two rail lines and a walking path.  He also explained a quick estimate to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit - multiply by two and add 28.  He gave us a quick snapshot of the discovery of Australia - Chinese - Dutch and then finally CPT Cook in 1717 when he mapped the land.  He actually sailed into Botany Bay, mentioned the inlet (later to become Sydney) and named the Endeavor River after his boat.  He saw a kangaroo, and was attempting to get the local Aboriginals to give him the name by pantomiming the animal.  The Aboriginals couldn't understand what he was doing, so they said "kangaroo" which translates to "no idea what you're talking about" and Cook thought that was the name.  The British sent prisoners to Australia after the USA gained its freedom.  CPT Philips sailed into Sydney on January 26, 1788 (Invasion Day) and chained the shipload of prisoners to "The Rocks"!

We first stopped at the Featherdale Wildlife Park where we enjoyed an hour of seeing and feeding all sorts of Australian animals such as kangaroo, wombats, Tasmanian devils, penguins, cassawary, emu, crocs, snakes, and a variety of birds.

We then ventured to Lincoln's Rock on the edge of the Blue Mountains.  These mountains have a blue haze due to the eucalyptus (over 93 species - many labeled by Mr. Banks, the botanist who traveled with CPT Cook) oil that mixes with the water vapor.   It is approximately the size of N. Ireland and is part of the World Heritage Park. We crossed over the Nepean River as we entered this mountain range, a part of Australia's Great Divide, which stretches over 4,000 km.  It was in this area that David Noble discovered a tree that is over one million years old and contains both male and female parts on each tree.

We stopped by the Three Sisters before having lunch at Blackheath Golf Club.  I seriously considered  skipping lunch to play some golf....sigh....

Next, we traveled to the Botanical Gardens where we were given champagne to sip while enjoying a stroll.  Again, gorgeous scenery and everything looked like a postcard!

Little did we know, that as we were traveling back into Sydney, all of the police sirens we heard were due to a bomb scare.  Ignorance is bliss!

Once again, we relied on Ritty's recommendation for dinner.  This time, we enjoyed another awesome meal at Casa, an Italian restaurant on the King Street Wharf.  We had THE MOST darling server, Debra, in Australia!  She kept us laughing, as we dined outdoors in Darling Harbor.  Tired, but smiling, we strolled back to our hotel.