January 31, 2007 Sydney, Australia

January 31, 2007
Sydney, Australia

This morning at 7:00 B’s alarm went off. The only person it woke up was Spizz, who then woke us up. We quickly prepared for the day and packed up our things. B and I headed to the train station and jumped on a train headed for the legendary Blue Mountains (Spizz stayed behind to take care of some travel arrangements).

The train to the Blue Mountains (about $16) took about 2 hours (110 km). Besides a few other backpackers we were the only people on the locomotive. Not getting much sleep the night before, we both slept for a large portion of the journey.

We arrived in the mountain town of Katoomba at about 10:30. The town was small enough that we were able to walk from the train station to Echo Point (the renowned lookout point). Though it was only 2 km, it was hilly and made the walk feel a little longer in my current physical state (no appendix…).

Once we got to Echo Point it made the whole journey worth it. We stood on a platform looking out over a massive canyon. It was sort of like a squashed version of the Grand Canyon but with a forest eucalyptus within the canyon. It is from these trees that the “mountains” gain their name. Apparently, the oils of the eucalyptus cause a blue haze when viewed from a distance. Still, I have no idea why they call them mountains…


The most spectacular part of the view was a geological formation known as the Three Sisters. Three peaks extended from the sides of the canyon and stood majestically over everything else. They were awesome! After taking a million photos from Echo Point we walked along the edge of the canyon to a platform connected to the first of the sisters.


From there we took a few more photos and then began our journey back. As we walked through the eucalyptus forest and reminisced about our trip, we heard a loud crashing sound in the woods. Startled, we looked to see what had caused the disturbance. I was absolutely thrilled to see that it was a wallaby! We watched the unique creature until it bound out of sight…(The woods kept me from getting a good photo)

A few minutes past noon we made it back to the tourist area and decided to grab some lunch and wander the shops. Though we didn’t purchase anything we did treat ourselves to some free wine tasting before making the trek back to the train station.

Luckily we arrived at the station just before a train was headed back to Sydney. It was a slow, relaxing ride back to the big city. At 15:30 we arrived at Central station and then made the quick journey over to Kings Cross.

When we got back at Mates Place we reconvened with Spizz, chilled out for a few minutes and then headed over to Kirstina’s house. As usual these days, Spizz was my hero and carried my big bag for me. On the way one of the most random things in recent memory occurred. As the train made one of its usual stops and the doors swung open, there stood Tessa (one of Millie and Kristina’s friends). In a city of more than 4 million we randomly bumped into one of the 4 people we knew…

When we arrived at Kristina’s no one was home. We sat on the porch and watched some Deadwood until her sister showed up and let us in the house. As it turns out, we sat watching the computer screen for about 2-hours before anyone came home (19:30).

Once inside we finished our episode and then headed out to get some dinner. We rode the train a few stops to meet up with Tessa and then she directed us to a local pub for a late dinner (20:45 or so).

Having not yet had an Aussie meal, I decided to try the steak. I was a little disappointed with the meal but I suppose a pub is not the best place to sample the renowned outback beef. In the middle of our dinner Kristina showed up (just off work, and Millie couldn’t come because she was too busy with a boyfriend or something) and joined our little group.

When we were done eating the five of us wandered to 7-Eleven to grab a Golden Gaytime. As always, it was delicious. From there we made our way to the train station and headed back to Kristina’s (on the way saying our goodbyes to Tessa).

By the time we got back to the house we were all quite exhausted. Even so, I managed to gather up my things and pack my bag whilst talking with my companions. We finally got to sleep just before midnight…