Day 1731: Blue Mountains

Another early morning and long drive via coach.  Left the hotel in shorts and t-shirt and nearly froze. Thank goodness for my emergency pants!

The Blue Mountains are like Australia's Grand Canyon, only the valleys are full of eucalyptus trees.  The oils emitted from the trees create a blue haze.  A cold wind and biting mist did not hamper the experience.  Our driver took us to a hidden outcrop of rock that overlooked the canyon.  No barriers, blocked,our view or contained the few visitors.  It was breathtaking.

Then we moved on through the historic town of Katoomba to see the famed Three Sisters rock formation.  This portion was even more rugged, but the trails were paved to provide easy access for guests.  Thousands of visitors, especially from China and Japan, were snapping pictures everywhere.

Ronan turns us loose in little town named Leura for lunch.  Dozens of other buses also disgorged their passengers at the same time, so the quaint village was crawling with hungry tourists with numb fingers.  After toasted sandwiches and hot chocolate we were ready to go.

Then we drove nearly an hour to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. It was beautifully kept and the animals had better accommodations than the park we visited near Melbourne.  We especially enjoyed teatime with an aboriginal woman who talked about and served traditional Aussie bush foods like vegemite, bully tea, Drover's damper and Anzac biscuits.

Tonight was our farewell dinner at a raucous Italian restaurant down the street.  It was not the best send off. But, we did visit with a Georgia couple who revealed their admiration for President Obama and support for Hillary Clinton.  They said they are just two blueberries in a sea of red.  Shame on me for making a different assumption.

Tonight Australia switches to daylight savings time so we are going to lose another hour of sleep.  Our flight is at 10:15 am and we are ready to say goodbye to our new friends and go home.