Who knew there is an area called The Grand Canyon of Australia? Not me! The concierge at the
Westin recommended a 4 Wheel drive "Adventure" tour to my sister so we figured, why not? The driver, Mike, picked us up at 8AM on a chilly morning and we were off with two other Americans from NYC - a high powered financial type named Henry and his 13 year old son, Henri.
My sister and I were secretly amused by the Henri's orange cashmere sweater, button down shirt, and slacks...and later on by his obvious interest in the Olympic park and scoring tickets to the Opera while in Sydney. Not your typical entry level teen! That said they were excellent company for the day - between them and Mike we had great
conversation about all manner of US and Australian politics, cultural mores, expatriate life, the global financial crisis, and sports.
First stop was the local wildlife park to pet the kangaroos and koalas. This would have been a WHOLE lot cooler for my sister if she hadn't literally just petted two different kangaroos in the US in the past 3 days! She was shopping for slacks for the trip and mentioned she was heading to Australia to the sales woman in
Chicos in Salt Lake City. The woman whispered "come with me to the back room". She had a 6 month old joey in a basket back there! Apparently they are useful as therapy animals and this woman raises them for that purpose. Again...who knew?
Then since they were on the inaugural Delta flight to Sydney from LA, Delta has flown in a kangaroo as well. Basically she'd been overrun with
opportunities to nuzzle marsupials before she'd even arrived! Still it was fun and the bird life, wombats,
wallabys,
crocs, etc were all worth the stop.
We drove up through the 'burbs of Sydney, through historic townships, to the mountains. Since this was "adventure" touring we went off road in a national park. Mike dropped us on a dirt track and we walked down to meet him at the truck. Got the full skinny on how bush fires work to regenerate the shrubberies and got to see my first active termite mound up close. It stood about 4 feet high and was hard as a rock.
We visited Kings Botanical Gardens for lunch then wandered around and got to interrupt a very erudite looking TV host filming a documentary. Would love to go back since it's all temperate gardens - great variety and the rhododendrons were almost in bloom. They also have
Wollemia nobilis - an ancient pine/palm cross tree reputed to be a remnant of the days of
Gondwanaland. The story of its discovery is pretty cool. Find out more here:
Wollemia nobilis
Then it was off to
Govett's Leap and Bridal Veil Falls as pictured above. Scenic vistas abounded!
Our final stop of the day was Scenic World! I'm still giggling about the name.
Scenic World!
Suffice it to say, Scenic World is indeed VERY scenic. And also overrun with large busloads of Chinese and Japanese tourists. Fortunately our trusty guide Mike knew the best way for us to see what we wanted to see was to take the reverse route of the hoards, which we did. I would actually love to go back earlier in the day some time to beat the crowds and browse the
rain forest, mines, waterfalls, vistas, and bird life. We got to ride the Scenic
Cableway, Scenic Railway (steepest incline in THE WORLD!!!! With Indiana Jones music to add an extra thrill), and walk the Scenic Walkway. The cheese was knee deep but they had managed to find genuine cool stuff to exploit. We got to hear the story of the rock formation The Three Sisters and watch the birds as well. There are four birds in the photo below.
Our adventures concluded with a brief drive and stop at the Sydney Olympic Park. Most impressive! A fun day and we all really enjoyed Mike, Henry, Henri, and the Blue Mountains.
Who knew there is an area called The Grand Canyon of Australia? Not me! The concierge at the Westin recommended a 4 Wheel drive "Adventure" tour to my sister so we figured, why not? The driver, Mike, picked us up at 8AM on a chilly morning and we were off with two other Americans from NYC - a high powered financial type named Henry and his 13 year old son, Henri.
My sister and I were secretly amused by the Henri's orange cashmere sweater, button down shirt, and slacks...and later on by his obvious interest in the Olympic park and scoring tickets to the Opera while in Sydney. Not your typical entry level teen! That said they were excellent company for the day - between them and Mike we had great conversation about all manner of US and Australian politics, cultural mores, expatriate life, the global financial crisis, and sports.
First stop was the local wildlife park to pet the kangaroos and koalas. This would have been a WHOLE lot cooler for my sister if she hadn't literally just petted two different kangaroos in the US in the past 3 days! She was shopping for slacks for the trip and mentioned she was heading to Australia to the sales woman in Chicos in Salt Lake City. The woman whispered "come with me to the back room". She had a 6 month old joey in a basket back there! Apparently they are useful as therapy animals and this woman raises them for that purpose. Again...who knew?
Then since they were on the inaugural Delta flight to Sydney from LA, Delta has flown in a kangaroo as well. Basically she'd been overrun with opportunities to nuzzle marsupials before she'd even arrived! Still it was fun and the bird life, wombats, wallabys, crocs, etc were all worth the stop.
We drove up through the 'burbs of Sydney, through historic townships, to the mountains. Since this was "adventure" touring we went off road in a national park. Mike dropped us on a dirt track and we walked down to meet him at the truck. Got the full skinny on how bush fires work to regenerate the shrubberies and got to see my first active termite mound up close. It stood about 4 feet high and was hard as a rock.
We visited Kings Botanical Gardens for lunch then wandered around and got to interrupt a very erudite looking TV host filming a documentary. Would love to go back since it's all temperate gardens - great variety and the rhododendrons were almost in bloom. They also have Wollemia nobilis - an ancient pine/palm cross tree reputed to be a remnant of the days of Gondwanaland. The story of its discovery is pretty cool. Find out more here: Wollemia nobilis
Then it was off to Govett's Leap and Bridal Veil Falls as pictured above. Scenic vistas abounded!
Our final stop of the day was Scenic World! I'm still giggling about the name. Scenic World!
Suffice it to say, Scenic World is indeed VERY scenic. And also overrun with large busloads of Chinese and Japanese tourists. Fortunately our trusty guide Mike knew the best way for us to see what we wanted to see was to take the reverse route of the hoards, which we did. I would actually love to go back earlier in the day some time to beat the crowds and browse the rain forest, mines, waterfalls, vistas, and bird life. We got to ride the Scenic Cableway, Scenic Railway (steepest incline in THE WORLD!!!! With Indiana Jones music to add an extra thrill), and walk the Scenic Walkway. The cheese was knee deep but they had managed to find genuine cool stuff to exploit. We got to hear the story of the rock formation The Three Sisters and watch the birds as well. There are four birds in the photo below.
Our adventures concluded with a brief drive and stop at the Sydney Olympic Park. Most impressive! A fun day and we all really enjoyed Mike, Henry, Henri, and the Blue Mountains.
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