Blue Mountains

In contrast to yesterday's free-form sightseeing, today I took a guided tour of the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney.  A tour bus picked me up at 7:30 am.  After our group was gathered, we made our way to the Featherdale Wildlife Park in the Sydney suburbs.

WTF?

On our way there, we saw "Rubber Duck" in Darling Harbor by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.  According to our guide, Hofman's intention was only to make people smile.  It worked.  I chuckled when I saw the giant rubber duck.

The major appeal of the Featherdale Wildlife Park is the ability to interact with koalas and kangaroos.  The koalas were way more interested in munching eucalyptus leaves than hanging out with the human visitors.

I do admire their devotion to sleep.


















A black-necked stork gave me the evil eye.

The kangaroos were very friendly (food handouts foster good behavior).

After seeing the dingoes (which are wild dogs), all my thoughts went to Seinfeld:

Emus!














A hungry croc.












After checking out the wildlife, we drove to the Blue Mountains.  The mountains were formed from eroded sandstone.

The most famous rock formations in the area are the Three Sisters.  According to Aboriginal legend, three sisters named Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo, who were turned to stone by a tribal elder to protect them after they were captured by a rival tribe.  The elder was killed, but no one knew how to change them back.  Too bad for them...

We took a couple of tram rides down to the forest floor below.















We explored the forest floor.  The trees provided a welcome respite from the summer sun and heat.

I made friends with tourists from France and Argentina.  Communication was a bit of a challenge.

Before leaving the Blue Mountain area, we stopped in town.  One of my grandmothers would have appreciated the local teapot museum.  A museum devoted to teapots! 

The town is also quite proud of its candy store.  The Jelly Belly flavored soda caught my eye, out of disgust.  Jellybean flavored soda?  My sweet toothed sister will hate me for not bringing her back some.

We drove past Olympic Park and the Olympic Stadium.  It's a terrific venue for sport, and the Australian government had maintained the facilities well, which is fitting, since Sydney residents are devoted to sport and fitness.

 Our tour bus dropped us off at a ferry terminal for a boat ride back to Sydney

See how the other half lives -- we were able to spy on the fancy homes overlooking the water.  Cate Blanchett lives around here:

After a long day, back to the hotel for a good night of rest.