Sunday, February 17, 2013

Sydney: Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains are about an hour from Sydney. We took a small group tour there, which was...okay. It was a LOT more sedentary than I expected. And there was a really, really annoying woman on the tour who was just helpless and talked too much and monopolized the tour guide's attention. I liked the guide a lot, though--especially because she put up with her. When I get annoyed by someone it's all I can focus on.

At one point I basically told annoying lady to STFU and people applauded. Heh.

So although I wish we had gotten out of the van and, oh, I don't know, WALKED AROUND the actual Blue Mountain area, I was still amazed by the beautiful scenery. We stopped in a couple towns, the most notable being Leura, which is very twee but still worth a visit and lunch.

I'd recommend the Blue Mountains, but maybe in your own vehicle and with your own agenda. The scenery is amazing, but I got kind of tired of the "drive to here, get out, take a picture, get back in the van and do it again."



On the way there, we stopped at a nature preserve and saw our first wallaby of the trip:




Unrelated: One of the few non-self-portraits of us on this trip!


I love seeing shadows of clouds on greenery:


It was a little windy:






Not just bullshit repellent, but AUSTRALIAN BULLSHIT REPELLENT, mate.
 We didn't go into this store (not my kind of thing) but I did try unbolting this bench and taking it back with us:



 Didn't try this, either.


We saw an aboriginal dance show. This is at the gift shop. For my running club pals: An aboriginal red lizard.


One of our many self-portraits on this trip. The Boston 2012 cap was worn a lot on this trip.










On the way back to the city, we stopped at the Olympic Stadium from the 2000 Olympics. This is as close as I will ever get to the Olympics (especially with that gait. sheesh).




 A nice thing about this tour was that they didn't take us all the way into Sydney but left us at a ferry terminal so we took the ferry back. No one fights traffic and we get the view from the river back into the city! Was a beautiful day.





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