Blue Mountains

Oh no! It's all grey and cold today. It's the day that we've planned a day trip to Blue Mountains. After small hiccup, hoping for a better weather later on we were on the mini bus with 5 others. One American, German, Austrian and Spanish couple. A nice mix. 30 minute drive out of the city and we're at the Featherdale Wildlife Park. We had over an hour to explore the park. Most time we've spend at the Koala enclosure. They are so cute. Apparently they sleep most of the day, but somehow all of the seemed to be wide awake, and trying to escape. Koala means 'drinks no water'. All they eat is eucalyptus. And not every variety either. The place was full of all sorts of animals. Some of them running wild. I had a peacock flying right above my head. Some I have never seen. It was definitely worth visiting. Even if it started raining slightly. By that time I regretted that I didn't put on my jeans this morning. In 3/4 pants it started to be cold.

On the way to Blue Mountains we stopped in a little town of Leara, which had a European feel to it. It was time for lunch. Everyone went their own way. We chose a little cafe which had polish looking doughnuts. Unfortunately it didn't take like the ones I grew up eating. After that we wandered up and down the main (and only) street. I picked up few candles from the candle shop. It had some wicked furniture in there too. Another 30 min to our main destination, foggy all the way. All the hope for a clear day disappeared. Instead of taking a cable bus tour above the mountains (if you can call those mountains), we decided to walk down the gorge. We had an excellent guide. First she showed us a little whole on the side in the ground and then informed us that down that hole lives a spider. One that can kill you in 3 hours flat. Thanks for that. The scenery resembled something out of a horror movie. Cold, dark, wet and misty. Half way through we got to the lookout. Look we couldn't, but we could hear the waterfall. Disappointed by not being able to see a thing we reached the end where we got a ride up the mine shaft train. 45 degrees steep and we were facing down. At least that was entertaining. Somewhere behind that fog are Blue Mountains.

Next we stopped at the nearby lake. Not sure of its name. Then we were on the way to a old winery. With 1,5 hours of driving it was time for a nap, not like we could see much outside. Tizzana Winery is situated West of Sydney. It's over 100 years old and produces some lovely wine. After a little talk we got to taste some of it. The port was great. Didn't buy anything though. A bit more relaxed we drove to the 2000 Olympic Village. The only village that wasn't deconstructed after the Olympics. Apparently Sydney was the only host to actually make profit out of the Olympics, but now the maintenance cost are huge and there's not enough events running. Still it was great to explore it. In the centre of it stood hundreds of poles with all the volunteers' names. Some of the poles had little monitors with Olympics' flashbacks. By 4pm we arrived at a small ferry terminal destined for Circular Quay.

Next we stopped at the nearby lake. Not sure of its name. Then we were on the way to a old winery. With 1,5 hours of driving it was time for a nap, not like we could see much outside. Tizzana Winery is situated West of Sydney. It's over 100 years old and produces some lovely wine. After a little talk we got to taste some of it. The port was great. Didn't buy anything though. A bit more relaxed we drove to the 2000 Olympic Village. The only village that wasn't deconstructed after the Olympics. Apparently Sydney was the only host to actually make profit out of the Olympics, but now the maintenance cost are huge and there's not enough events running. Still it was great to explore it. In the centre of it stood hundreds of poles with all the volunteers' names. Some of the poles had little monitors with Olympics' flashbacks. By 5pm we arrived at a small ferry terminal destined for Circular Quay.

We were pretty exhausted by then. On the way to the hostel we stopped to have a bite at the local kebab place. It's nice that you can get pizza at a kebab place. And it's not too expensive either. It was our last night, but we were too wasted to do much. Just packed and watched some DVDs in the TV room right next to our room. I must say that the fellow travellers were not so nice here. They weren't really interested in talking with each other, which is a shame.