Sydney and The Blue Mountains

The rain vanished and Sydney turned on the sunshine. We arrived at Roger and Hilary's (a relative of Dan's) in North Sydney. He made us very welcome and on the Sunday morning we went for a pre-breakfast walk along Bondi beach which was quite crowded even at 8.30 am with families having fun and games and surf races. We went along the cliff path to other coves and past the Iceberg swimming pool, where the hardy people swim. The sea was a beautiful blue as was the sky. We then had a tour of some of the sights of Sydney including exclusive bays - beautiful coves with all kinds of yachts moored and lovely properties.

The next morning, we caught the train into Sydney crossing the Harbour Bridge. We walked along to Wooloomooloo, where migrants used to arrive by ship and where Russell Crowe now has an apartment, then through the Botanical Gardens past MacQuarie's seat (where in 1800s the Governor's wife used to sit and look out into the harbour). On to the Opera House and environs – all these sights, the Opera House, Bridge and the Harbour and indeed the skyscraper buildings make Sydney an amazing city to be in. I felt very 'at home' here. From Circular Quay we took the ferry across the harbour to Manly where we walked to the surf beach and this time we were treated to perfect sunshine. The following morning, after going for a walk around the area in which we were staying, through some bushland and down to the river (what a lovely place to live), we again hopped on a train into the city and explored the 'Rocks' area before catching a ferry to Darling Harbour and explored this part of the city. I think we have captured every angle of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the tall buildings on camera as you will see, all with a perfectly blue sky behind! Sydney is a remarkable city.

But we have to move on and the next day headed for the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. At Katoomba, we found a nice campsite within walking distance of the scenic railway. This railway used to serve the coal miners and drops practically vertically into the rainforest. We wandered along the boardwalk through the forest until we reached the cable car station to ascend to the clifftop again. We saw the local tourist attraction called the Three Sisters – 3 pinnacles of rock. The story goes that the sisters were turned to stone by a sorcerer to protect them from the advances of three young men. However, the sorcerer died before he could turn them back into humans. AAh! The Blue Mountains are apparently so called because of the vapour exuded from the eucalypt trees causes a blue haze.

Next instalment: Bateman's Bay to Melbourne via the coast! Watch this space!