The Blue Mountains

Wednesday 14 November

All kind of birdlife in the park Eating frenzy on ground level Chewing kangaroo's tail Meeting the koalas Learning how to throw a boomerang The Three Sisters Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains Cruising the harbour with the Rivercat

6:30 AM. Awake and went off to the shower. Already packed I slipped out of the room and went to the dining room. Drank Cola to wake up, because I don't drink coffee. 7:30 AM. I was picked up by David from Anderson Tours to go to the Blue Mountains. I met the others in the coach and we introduced ourselves by name and where we're from. We drove across downtown to pick up others.

8:15 AM. We headed to Featherdale Wildlife Park. Underway we were stuck in a traffic jam, I don't know what happened. David, our guide, improvised and took another route to the park. 9:30 AM. We arrived at the wildlife park. I helped a couple with their camcorder. They're still using those big VHS cassettes. Where do they dig up prehistoric machines like this? It didn't matter, because it's always nice to help someone.

There was so much to see in the park, different kind of birds, koalas, kangaroos, wombats, emus, wallabies and much more. For the first time I saw the Tasmanian Devil in real life. Really weird creatures to see. While we were walking in the park, we had also the opportunity to hand feed the kangaroos. I got some food from David and walked to a young kangaroo, stretched out and it ate right out of my hands. In one hand I was taping the whole event and with the other feeding the kangaroo. Quite funny to do! We had a great laugh too, because one kangaroo was not chewing on food, but another kangaroo's tail!

Meeting the koalas was nice and we even had time to take pictures of it. After spending some time in the Featherdale Wildlife Park we continued our tour. Arriving at Nurragingy Reserve for our morning tea. The group was split in half; one half started their morning tea, while the others learned how to throw a boomerang. That's so cool! David, our guide, taught us the basics of the boomerang; how to stand, throw and catch. Seeing others throw first makes it easier what to do and what not. My first throw wasn't that bad, but I was aiming too much to the ground. My second was much better; had to add more swing at the end before releasing the boomerang. The next group was coming, so time for our morning tea.

I only drank water and ate a couple of biscuits. Those biscuits were a killer! Yummy! While enjoying our morning tea, we looked at the other group throwing boomerangs. I gave my voucher to a lady and said goodbye. Time to move on.

The next visit was Wentworth Falls lookout for a scenic photo shoot. The Blue Mountains is huge, the size of Belgium and that's pretty big. It was possible to walk into the valley, but we didn't. We had older people in the group as well, going down takes at least one hour or more and we had to go up again. I don't think they will make it. We all walked back to coach and went to the Wentworth Fall Golfclub Country Club for lunch. The meal was delicious, chicken, spaghetti, nuggets and much more. Yummy!

1:30 PM. went off to Katoomba, Blue Mountains. Got our tickets from David and waited for the steepest Scenic Descender in the world. It drops about 540 metres in less than three minutes, but you'll have a great view of the Blue Mountains. Standing next to windows I had a fantastic chance to take pictures of the area. Once down we waited for the Scenic Railway, but unfortunately it broke down. Took another ride back with Scenic Descender. Heading to the Edge Cinema, for a glimpse of the Blue Mountains on a gigantic screen.

After the movie, the highlight of the tour, a visit to Echo Point to see the Three Sisters. Just a stop for about 30 minutes, enough time to take pictures of the Three Sisters and the beautiful Jamison Valley.

After seeing the Three Sisters, we headed to Leura, a historic township in the Blue Mountains. We visited a candy store, where we were able to buy a thousand different kinds of candy. I just bought a Chupa Chups Cola flavour lollypop. I wasn't the only one. The tour was almost coming to an end. We were heading to Homebush, home of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. We drove along the many complexes, but we didn't stop to walk around, because we had to catch the Rivercat to Circular Quay.

Fortunately we were able to buy a real returnable boomerang from David for just $ 14 AUD. Since I had thrown one of those boomerangs, i'm pretty sure it will work. Not those fancy boomerangs you can buy in a souvenir shop, but the real one! We all thanked David for his guidance and of course for this wonderful day and boarded the Rivercat. With the high speed catamaran Rivercat, we cruised the Parramatta River to Circular Quay. Sydney harbour is just enormous!

I took the bus to Woolworths and bought some groceries, fish and chips for dinner. Dropped my stuff in the room and headed to the dining room to consume my dinner. Freshened up and changed clothes to visit the Star City Casino near Darling Harbour. Checking my e-mails first and after that I took the light rail to the casino. Dressed casual shouldn't be a problem to get in. No identification required, so I entered the deluxe Star City Casino. Never been to many casinos before, but this one is huge! Lots of people sitting or standing around tables. Walked around a bit to see the casino.

Watched a couple of games at the blackjack table. Later on I decided to gamble too, just $ 50 AUD. No more money. Played around till 11:15 PM, gained and lost, but eventually I gained $ 50 AUD! Not bad and I almost won my Blue Mountains day trip back. Heading back to the hostel. Talked with Marco from Canada. I met quite a few Canadians during my stay in the youth hostel. Freshened up, wrote my diary and went off to bed.