Berthed in Sydney
Buongiorno amici miei! Our second day in Sydney. Stuart and Chrissy disembark today and being their tour of Australia. We will be heading off to the Blue Mountains. We almost decided not to last night as the excursion today is eight and a half hours and begins at 7:30 in the morning. Having stayed up late it seemed like the prudent thing to do would be sleep in. Fortunately, we made the decision to go.
The Blue Mountains are a World Heritage designated area. While it is often compared to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, it isn’t the same. The Grand Canyon is much older than the Blue Mountain area, it is therefore a deeper cut in the earth. The Blue Mountains do have a canyon. It is a kilometer wider. One other major difference is the foliage. The Blue Mountains covered in a lush green semi-tropical rain forest.
There are the awe-inspiring rock formations in Jamieson Valley such as Mount Solitary, the Three Sister and the Ruined Castle. There are breathtaking waterfalls in the Burragorang Valley such as the Katoomba Falls. It is not just its geological history that makes this sight interesting. There is also the bird life. We saw several species of birds, and an entire flock of white cockatoos, just spectacular.
It’s human history is also interesting. European discover coal here and in the 1880s did their best to extract as much as possible. This scared the land as you might imagine. Easier coal deposits were found and the sites were abandoned in the 1890s. The amazing thing is that from the top of the canyon wall you can’t see any sign of the mining. Everything is green and breathtaking.
Today there is commercial enterprise that offers what they claim is the “world’s steepest perpendicular railway”, which drops some 700 feet down into the valley. It is similar to what the miners used to get to the coal in the valley walls and to get it out of the valley. A 52 percent degree ride into the valley. If they added a few bumps it would pass for a roller coaster.
The lower station allows you access to the scenic walkway. The 2.4 kilometers walkway is the longest elevated boardwalk in Australia. Here we walked briefly below the rainforest canopy. Peace and tranquility just abound. We then walked though the forest and could see where the miners had scared with hillside. We walked to the A brief walk at the “Scenicscender” cable car, the biggest cable car in Australia carrying 84 people 554 meters back up to the top of the escarpment.
The obligatory gift shop was at the top of the cable car ride. Here we waited a little while, probably so we could shop, to ride the scenic skyway to the other side of the Jamison Valley where our motor coach was. This skyway at one point is 545 meters over Jamison Valley. The neat trick is it has a glass floor! It was really totally cool.
There was an afternoon lunch stop in Katoomba. The guide with us suggested the Leura Café & Deli for lunch. As a group nearly everyone on the motor coach made a beeline for the Café & Deli. At lunch we shared a table is a couple from the cruise whose primary language was French. They spoke a little English but it was fun. Back on the motor coach and a ride back to the Mariner we zipped through Sydney and got to see a little bit of the city.
The enjoyable thing about cruising is seeing a little bit or getting a little taste of each port. Then you can decide if you want to return and see more. Sydney would be a good place to return to. There is a lot here we didn’t get to see or experience. The only “issue” with Australia is how long it takes to get here. The trip needs to be planned. Funny, thinking about it it seems like such a first world problem – how long it takes to get here. A hundred or a hundred-and-fifty years ago it would have taken months. Here I am complaining about 20 or 22 hours travel time.
Tomorrow is Newcastle. Then the next two days are at sea. It will be nice to take a break from sightseeing. Will miss being on solid land. There is laundry to do, cards to play, books to read and blogs to write. Maybe I can catch up before we get to Townsville. Hope so, there are three days of sightseeing in a row starting with Townsville. Townsville, Carins, and Cooktown.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico
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