Australia: Blue Mountains

Monday, Nov 8:  Today was our last day in Sydney.  We relaxed at Room 10 for the last time.  The fresh orange juice was sooo delicious.  Thank you for being awesome Room 10.

Room 10

Three Sisters

We got a two hour train to Katoomba, the main town in the Blue Mountains.  This is the only place in the world you can see a blue haze, which is caused by the oils of the Eucalyptus trees.  We decided to do a bus tour of the area which was great because we got to see a lot of the mountains.  We could hop on and off the bus at its several stops and it comes around every half hour.  The first stop Steph and I got off at was a trail that opened up to a epic view of the famous Three Sisters, which are rock formations standing over 3000 feet above sea level.  The commonly told Indigenous Australian Dreamtime legend of the Three Sisters is that three sisters fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. Battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back.  These mountains are a different sort of beautiful than New Zealand mountains, but they are just as mind-blowingly stunning.

Blue Mountains

Giant Stairway

We walked right up to the Three Sisters and began to walk down the Giant Stairway.  It was so steep and we got amazing views.  We thought it would end but it never did and we started to get nervous.  We did not want to have to walk back up.  On the way down we met two Belgians, Maarten and Hilde, who were sweating and panting on their way up.  They told us that this was the most intense hike and there were 1000 steps.  Also the last bus was leaving in 30 mins.  Ahhhhhhh!!  So we turned around and we all booked it up the stairs.  It was painfully strenuous but luckily we made it just in time to not get stranded in the mountains.

Kangaroo Burger

Steph and I started talking to the Belgians and we all got off the bus in the cute town of Leura.  Here we had some drinks at a bar before walking back to Katoomba.  Maarten and Hilde are awesome!  They have been traveling for a month and want us to stay with them in Belgium.  We talked for so long about life, traveling, politics, school, and work.  In Katoomba we found a restaurant that served kangaroo burgers!!  Kangaroo is so delicious.  While eating at our table outside we witnessed a hit and run!  Some dodgy guy hit a motorcycle with his car, got out, talked to the bike owner's friend and then decided to drive away!  Luckily I had a notepad and wrote down the license plate.  

We rode the train home with them late at night and basically became best friends.  At our hostel, we fell asleep to crazy loud French rap music and woke up super early to catch our flight to Cairns.  We were so happy to leave Kanga House Backpackers for good.