Day 2 – The Bus Tour

Friday, April 17, 2009

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Today we woke up at 4am, just because we’re still not used to the time change but that gave us time to get ready for an exciting day around the outskirts or Sydney. We took the Greyline Bus tour and our tour guide, Greg was awesome! He was very knowledgeable, friendly and funny making the tour even more enjoyable. Plus, I couldn’t have ordered a more perfect day! Perfect temperature, perfect cloud coverage and even a perfect breeze.

First off, we drove by the harbor and through the suburbs to a Featherdale Wildlife Park where we got to see the friendly faces of Australia’s wonderful animals. Here at Fetherdale they have a wonderful set up where you can interact with many of the animals who just roam the grounds. Plus, many of the animals here have been rescued and nursed back to health, but can not be sent out into the wild. Koalas were everywhere and they are just so darn cute! I would take one home if I could get away with it. Along with holding the koalas, playing with the wallabies, I got to hold a children’s python. Needless to say, my mother wouldn’t even go near me at this point as she is beyond terrified of snakes. It was also amazing to see how many types of birds Australia has and today I got to see my first wild Cockatoo and to see them fly was great.

After a couple of hours playing with the animals we took another hour long drive up to the Blue Mountains. Here we got to see my mom let loose a bit. We had to take a tram over to get into the park. Jam packed inside we were above the valley floor 600 feet and after we stepped off we ate at the buffet first off where we tried kangaroo meat. Not a bad bit a beef but I did feel guilty having eaten something that I may have just pet their relative just a few hours before.

Getting the tummies full we thought we try to see if we could keep it down by going on a railway ride down the steepest rail incline in the world. It felt so weird getting into the railway cart and you’re practically laying down, but you soon find out why this is as your descend into a deep coal mine tunnel and you’re practically standing up!

After the thrill ride, we got to take a very pleasant walk through the bush. The trees were very thick. How any of the explorers in this land made it out alive, I don’t know. I now know the meaning of “You can’t see the forest through the trees”.

The main highlight of this tour was a rock formation called “The Three Sisters”. Legend has it that three sisters were turned into rock when their father was protecting them against the Bunyip by using his magic bone and to protect himself he turned into a Lyre bird. But trying to escape the Bunyip, he lost the bone and to this day the three sisters remain imbedded in the rock and if you see a Lyre bird scratching at the ground it is supposable him trying to find the bone. I love legends like this and this land is filled with them.

I’ve only been here two days and I love it! It has just about everything I could want in a city. Who knows, maybe in the far off future this could be my new home. I could actually see it.