The Blue Mountains

On Thursday, we took our first day trip up into the Blue Mountains. It was a great trip.  The Blue Mountain name comes from the blue haze produced by the oils of the Eucalyptus Gum trees that fill the forests there. We took a cable car tram down into the valley floor and walked through the rain forest.

The Three Sisters

Notice the Blue Haze

The cable car down into the valley.

Walking in the Rain Forest

Old coal miners cabin

Kotoomba Falls

We also got to see an Aboriginal cultural show, which gave us a good picture of their background culture. They played the Didgeridoo for us and preformed some native dances. They even got some audience participation and I was chosen to attempt the Kangaroo Dance. On the way home we stopped at an Australian Wildlife Preserve to see many of the native creatures, which I will include in a separate post.

Playing the Didgeridoo

Aboriginal dancers

Wannabe Aboriginal dancer (me) doing (attempting) the Kangaroo Dance.

Accepted into the clan

We also got an unexpected treat by 1) touring the Sydney Olympic site and 2) taking a cruise down the Hunter River back into Sydney.  It was a fantastic cruise past some very expensive homes, right into Darling Harbour.

Sydney Olympic Park

Cruising down the river to Sydney

It sure was windy on deck

Lots of Million dollar homes on the river

Fantastic Sydney skyline

Harbour Bridge

 Beautiful Darling Harbour.