...the Darling Harbour and the Harbour Bridge, i might as well see it in person because its fireworks display is always the highlight of every new year’s eve newscast all over the world...
...We cruised the Sydney Harbour aboard the ferry and rode the monorail, or was it the lightrail around the city, im sure its one of the two...
...YES, I looked and acted like your regular tourist!
Of course every good catholic, and i do mean me, should visit St. Mary’s Cathedral, which I did even though my sister was already brainwashing me into thinking that St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne is even more beautiful than this one, ok, whatever you say, im sure that’s a fair and unbiased opinion from a Melbourne resident! right sis?
in our travels, i noticed that my sister and i have this thing about conquering every city tower(with the exception of just one, the Macau tower which was not in our itinerary when we were there, but im sure given the opportunity to go back to Macau, we will certainly go up that one too). So, up we went to the Sydney Tower to get a bird’s-eye view of the city, hmmm…not bad.
The next day , we took a full day tour of The Blue Mountains and river cruise. First stop was the Featherdale Wildlife Park where...
...I met aussie icons such as the koala and the kangaroo...
...the tasmanian devil(there’s nothing at all devilish about its looks, its quite small and kinda cute) and the kookaburra...
...the platypus, the emu, and the adorable wombat...
...What’s nice about this place is that you can interact with the animals, in fact, the other tourists were carrying the koala like a baby. yes they look cuddly and gentle but we opted not to do that because I heard that once, a tourists’ ear was bitten-off so, no thanks, i like wearing my earings!
Next stop is a place called Leura. It is a sophisticated and charming village in the Blue Mountains area. I love its elegant tree-lined streets. Its houses and gardens are mostly european in style. Its mall is full of chic coffee and tea houses, gift shops and …
… an old favorite, The Candy Store, which houses over 1000jars of candies…sweet! ive never seen that many candies in my entire life housed under one roof, i could get a tooth decay just looking at them.
Finally, we got a glimpse of The Blue Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is indeed a blueish tinge that seems to hover over the vast area which was incorrectly but widely believed to be caused by the vapours from the eucalyptus trees down below. The blueish color is in reality, the result of an even more complicated reason that has something to do with UV radiation and floating particles in the area which I hope none of you will ask me to explain coz I have no idea where to start.
In the same area, you can also find the Three Sisters, a famous rock formation. The “Sisters” actually have names, believe it or not, they are Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo. i have no idea how old these ladies are, i guess every aussie male is a gentleman so nobody dared ask. Since this rock formation were formed by erosion, eventually, the Sisters will be eroded away completely.
Of course, just looking and appreciating the view is not enough for the Two Sisters(nnylanna and piberg), we just had to take the Scenic World tour which includes the Skyway and its state-of-the-art Electro-Scenic glass floor, revealing breathtaking views of the valley floor, 200meters below. If there is an ounce of acrophobia in your system, believe me people, forget about taking this ride.
The Scenic World tour also includes the Cableway which can transport and accommodate 84 passengers in just 3 mins.
The Scenic World tour saved the best for last, the Railway. While we were waiting for our turn to take this particular ride, we would hear loud screams from inside the tunnel where the train tracks were located. The Two Sisters were like, what’s going on for chrissakes! Well, our turn came and soon enough, we knew what the screams were all about. when we got off, i was like, what just happened? What “happened” was we didn’t know that the Scenic Railway is often described as the steepest train in the world and the train drops almost perpendiculary into the Jamieson Valley in the Blue Mountains! Serves us right for not doing a little bit of research before doing something.
Our next stop is the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the olympic village, which includes the main stadium, the Telstra Stadium.
Finally, we ended the day with a night cruise that took us back to the Harbour, btw, the Bridge looks fantastic at night. after which, we walked back to our hotel just to get our belongings and straight to the domestic airport for our flight to Melbourne.
