Day one I spent recovering from jet lag. but did get some pictures of the queen victoria building.
So I attempted to go to the blue mountains- to give everyone stateside an idea its about 60 miles northwest of Sydney. The easiest way to get there is to join a day tour 24 hours in advance. So that is what I did. Only problem with a tour group- no weather guarantee. And guess what- the weather hit bad- it rained almost all day. There was one point in the am, when it seemed to let up and there were some peaks of blue sky, but alas it didn't make a prolonged appearance. So the negative was I went to a temperate rain forest hoping to see some great scenery, but did not get to see it. I did see some nice, mist covered trees. for comparison, there is a link and my pictures.
http://www.explorerworld.info/2011/02/blue-mountains-sydney.html
Also went to Leura, a quaint Blue mountains artsy village and Feathersdale Wildlife preserve (on the way back). That was interesting. The later is a rescue preserve- they take in only australian animals that can no longer survive in the wild.
here are the pictures I promised in the last post. the first one has the 3 sisters via echo point- I oped to see that today, but was unable to wit the storm and mist- there is an interesting legend about the 3 sisters. Years ago the local shaman's 3 daughters were being chased by a yeti like animal. To save them he turned them to stone. The animal then came after him so he turned himself into the fastest bird. But when the animal left, the bird could not find his magic bone/wand. As a result he stayed a bird, and his daughters stayed as stone. The second is from scenic world where you can bush walk part of the rain forest (this part also mined coal in the 1800-1950s). Even with the mist, the trees provided some gorgeous pictures.
