Sunday, June 5th Sydney

Happy Birthday Chris today! I thought of you all day!

The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains

Steep stairs!

Sydney Opera House from Harbor Bridge

I did my first coach tour today....first ever. I realize I am not a coach tour kinda person, being herded to and from things.  It was a good mode of transportion though. The bus driver, Angelo, was fantastic. I have no idea how he drives such a huge thing and talks at the same time. It was informative that's for sure. The tour  was to the Blue Mountains Region, about 2 hours West of Syndey.  I was the only person on a bus of at least 20 that was dropped off for a hike down Three Sisters Mountains. The rest of the tourists took cable cars up and down. What a hike it was.  I was glad to be dressed pretty warm (4,000 feet up) and to be wearing good shoes. The path had been carved into the mountain in the early 1800s so the actual stone steps were very worn and you had to watch your footing.  Parts of the stairs were replaced with metal stairs, much easier. I worked up a sweat doing that trail...it felt good. The area was covered with big eucalpus trees and giant ferns, it smelled wonderful. I met with only 5 people the whole 3 miles of the hike. I really enjoyed the peacefulness and hearing the  birds. At the end of the trail I took a steep railway (the steepest in the world a matter of fact) to the top, a fast trip and pretty thrilling. It's weird writing about my experiences in a few sentences when I was gone all day and had such a great experience. Anyhow, the tour bus did another  stop at a little town for shopping (I had a great cup of coffee). The town reminded me of Cedarburg...even looked like it and the shops had similar things in them. We did a quick tour of the Olympic site from the Olympics of 2000 then took a nice river cruise back to Circular Quay where I could walk back to the hotel. By now it was 6:30 so I stopped for a nice glass of red Australian wine (yummy!) and a little pizza. Tom and Anthony did lots of walking in Syndey today, Tom got some great pictures of the Opera house. Nice way to end my Australia trip! Tomorrow morning at 10 we catch a cab to the airport. I have a very long day ahead of me...the plane leaves at 1pm for a 14 hour flight to LA, then I catch a plane to Minneapolis and then Milwaukee....I'll hopefully get home at 9pm Monday night...it'll be Tuesday for me.  I have enjoyed writing this blog; it's been a good journal for me and I hope you all have enjoyed reading it. G'd Day Mates!