This past week we spent several days walking many kilometers taking in the beauty of the city. We went to Paddy’s Market, Chinatown, Darling Harbour (day & night fireworks), botanical gardens and of course the iconic Opera House. We are glad to have Mykee and Faith able to join us on some of the days to point out some ‘not in the guidebook’ places like the Bird Cage Alley art exhibit that started out as a simple art exhibit but people loved it so much that it became a permanent fixture for the locals who know where to find it 🙂 Of course, no city walk-about would be complete without a “flat white” to bring contentment to the coffee lovers. Thank goodness they do great chai lattes here 🙂
From 27C to 3C
Yesterday we said goodbye to Cairns and Jason & Kim and flew back to Sydney. We left 27C weather and departed the plane facing 15C. We spent the evening with some comfort food – tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (toasties)!
This morning we piled into the rental car and drove straight west into the Blue Mountains. (3rd Unesco Site we’ve visited on this trip) “The Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees. The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oil, which, in combination with dust particles and water vapour, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are predominantly blue in colour.” (http://www.bluemts.com.au/info)
The sun kept the day warm as we took in the distant view of the Three Sisters rock formation and the vast forests of eucalyptus trees from Echo Point lookout. We walked part way down the Giant Stairway to come right up close to the large sandstone rock formations. The walk was very steep going down and took some effort coming back up. Before we knew it, the sun was setting and it was only 5 pm! Definitely miss the long summer solstice of home!
After a yummy dinner at a quaint Italian restaurant, we are now cuddled up close to stay warm in the hotel with no heat – outside temperature is 3C…inside is a bit warmer 🙂
Australia