Anyway after finding lunch, we headed back to the train station to decide what to do next. Our general plan was to head to Brisbane, but we couldn't decide if we should do a hop-on hop-off bus or train. After looking at maps and prices and thinking about it more, we decided to just take the deal they were offering and take the train straight to Brisbane. We had no idea where a good place to stop would be, plus we just don't have enough time to see 'everything'. There looks like there's plenty to do around Brisbane. I'm sure we'll be kept busy.
The train left at 4:12 yesterday and arrived at 6:30 this morning. Since then, we've been wondering parks and trying to decide on a place to stay. Lots of parks around, so it should be fun.
-Miranda
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We spent the following day working and relaxing around the hostel since it was raining. However, on Wednesday, we headed back out for a hike. This time, we went down a different staircase and worked out way back to the "Great Staircase". The walk was gorgeous with some pretty waterfalls along the way.
There is a veggie and fruit shop next door where the prices don't seem too bad. We found dinner of gnocchi and veggies, which turned out super delicious.
Today, we decided to take the train to Blackheath. From there we walked about 7k down a road to a spectacular look out. We had heard the "hanging rock" was there, so we searched for that, which was just a short trail away. We climbed out onto it to get an amazing view of the valley. A bit freaky, but very neat. The walk was tiring, but we finally didn't have to walk up or down any stairs.
We were thinking of going out for dinner, but then Joe mentioned making nachos. So, we found corn chips (surprisingly, Doritoes makes plain, salted chips), some beans, cheese, lettuce, olives, an avocado and a tomato. They were super yummy. :D
-Miranda
A better photo of the same type of parrot.
Purty waterfall.
The hanging rock. Joe is on the left. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good photos of it since I can't see what I'm taking a photo of.
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This morning we got up, packed and headed for Central Station. We rode the train to Katoomba and found a hostel to stay at. Unfortunately, their private rooms were all booked, but the dorm we're in is really quiet. Their internet is free and they have free breakfast in the morning, so that will be a nice change.
Once we got set up, we headed to Echo Point where the start of walks into the valley and into the national park are. The hike really wasn't long, but you had to walk down stairs that went down the valley wall. They were super steep. There were apparently 900 steps. That was just going down. The trail was very pretty and had a view of a gorgeous waterfall.
From there we reached the place to head back up the valley wall. We could cheat and take the sky tram, but we decided to take the Furber Stairs instead. There were some beautiful sites along the way, so even though it was pretty tough, we're definitely glad we went that route. Along the trail we ended up seeing a few parrots. They were bright red with blue on the tail, head and wings. We also got to see (and hear) Black Cockatoos. Very fun.
After we completed the hike (it took us 3.5 hours), we headed back into town to find dinner. The Thai restaurant we found was very good. They didn't include rice with their meals, which was a little odd, but it was still delicious.
-Miranda
A view of the Three Sisters. They're a main land formation in this area of the park.
A small section of the stairs on the way back up. Some of the stairs were metal, but most were carved directly out of the stone wall.
;)
Some more stairs. If you click on the photo and then look near the patch of sunshine, you might be able to see two red spots. Those are parrots. ;) That's what I get for breaking my camera.
An amusing sign telling us which way the trail goes.
Another view of the Three Sisters while the sun was working on setting.
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Today we woke up and were hoping to get to the zoo when it opened. I checked work quick and realize it was 7:30am.... We completely forgot it was daylight savings... So, we walked relatively slowly to the ferry and were there 20 minutes before it was leaving for the zoo.
We had a fun time walking around. We went to the seal show and saw a lot of babies. They currently have 3 baby elephants, young chimps, a baby gorilla, baby and young wallabies, all sorts of fun animals to watch.
We were pretty tired after walking around the zoo all day, but we found some sushi and gelato on the way home from the ferry.
-Miranda
The Opera House from the ferry.
Leopard Seal. Apparently they are the only zoo to have them in captivity.
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Since we arrived in Sydney, we've mostly been just wondering around. We walked around downtown quite a bit. It's mostly ritzy shopping. We had a heck of a time finding decent food.
For our first full day we decided to check out more of the city. Our hostel is near the Botanic Gardens, so we headed that way. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab my camera, but I can't see what I'm taking pictures of anyway.
The gardens are where the fruit bats 'sleep'. I put sleep in quotes because they don't really appear to be sleeping. They super noisy and crawling between the branches. It's super crazy. When the sun goes down they're flying everywhere.
Anyway, we headed towards the Opera House, since it was nearby. Not quite as many people around there as I expected, but it was pretty neat looking. We stopped to have some fancy sushi nearby before heading off. From there, we basically just walked and looked around. We were going to get another Vodafone broadband card for internet, but apparently we needed two forms of ID or our passport. Since neither of us had our passport on us, that had to wait until the next day.
For dinner we found a completely vegan shop. It was very good. Fortunately, there is one closer to where we're staying, so we had lunch there this afternoon.
We're spending this evening working and trying to figure out what we're doing while in Australia.
-Miranda
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