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.

SKYDIVING in Australia

Friday Nov. 5:  One of the most epic days of my life.  It began with chai lattes and free cinnamon croissants at Room 10.  Our mood changed drastically from frustrated with our hostel to loving life in Room 10 simply due to the people around us.  People are so important because they can make or break the moment.  We walked around Kings Cross on a caffeine and life high before boarding the train to North Wollongong.

And what awaited us in North Wollongong?  SKYDIVING!!!!  We were lucky to get the perfect day - blue sky scattered with white puffy clouds.  We spent awhile preparing, learning the techniques, and meeting our tandem partners.  My super awesome partner was Andy.  Steph and I became pretty good friends with Ju-Yeon from Korea who was in our plane. 

Skydiving was sooooooo amazing.  It was not even close to as scary as bungy jumping.  The view from the plane was amazing, but I did get nervous the higher we got.  We got up to 14,000 feet (the highest skydive in Australia) before we tumbled out of the plane.  We free fell at over 200 km/hr for one minute and then opened the parachute at 5,000 feet when we were in line with the clouds.  It was crazy going from the greatest rush of adrenaline in my life to a beautiful five minute glide over a breathtaking view of the beach and mountains.  Seriously the greatest view I have ever had in my life.  We had a smooth landing and right away I knew I wanted to do this again.  Thanks Andy for flying with me!  Life is short.  Stunt it.

Our first day in the land down under

Wednesday, Nov. 3: Schools out for the summer!!!  Wednesday night Steph, Court, Cathy, Max, and I ate at Space of Love.  Again, I love this place.  We had amazing vegetarian mince pie, spirulina smoothies, hot chai, sweet and sour salad, and this crazy carrot dessert.  That night we said our goodbyes to Max, Lindsey, Jess, and Sarah :( ... then Steph, Cathy, Court and I hung out in my room, watched hot rod, and laughed so much.

Leaving beautiful NZ for Australia

Thursday, Nov 4: All of Steph and my crazy planning was somewhat complete as we headed to the airport 4 am Thursday morning.  Right away we got good vibes from the Aussie people.  However, we did hit a bump in the road when we arrived at our hostel in Kings Cross and they told us they overbooked.  They sent us to a different hostel called Kanga House Backpackers.  Worst travel experience of my life.  The hostel and reception was nice but the inmates were extremely rude and awful.  We hated going back there every night and couldn't get out of it without losing money.  But we did not allow this to ruin our trip because the rest of Australia was incredible.

After we dumped our bags into our room, we wandered the streets of Kings Cross and came across a cafe called Room 10.  This was one of the best choices ever because it became our haven after every night at Kanga House.  We had amazing banana bread as the guys told us about cool things to do in Sydney.

On our way to the grocery store, we passed by a table raising money for the para-olympics.  We almost didn't stop but we felt good vibes so we wandered over.  The two guys were super nice and we talked to them for so long about more things we can do in Sydney!

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge

After that we walked to the Sydney Harbour where we found the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.  It was all so much more epic than I imagined or saw on TV!  We walked up to and inside the Opera House and then across the Bridge.  It began to torrential downpour on our way across the bridge so we caught a train back to Wooloomooloo.  Here we went to the famous Harry's Cafe de Wheels.  It is a caravan cafe that serves the best meat pies I have ever tasted ... and has served so many celebrities!