the blue mountains were lovely

we've fallen a bit behind... sorry 'bout that. on the 28th of january we left sydney and caught a train to katoomba in the blue mountains just west of sydney. we were really happy to find that the train ticket only cost $12.20 for a 2 hour ride. this was in comparison to the $14.80 we paid to get from the airport to the city... about a 7 minute ride. we were pretty impressed with the train service as a whole. trains were frequent, on time, clean, and all on electric lines even to a town as small as katoomba.

on arrival we were also really happy with the yha. we keep saying that, but this one was especially good. it was originally built as a guesthouse and was "the place to be" in its heyday. it still had all the old art deco style in the ballroom and grand dining room. the kitchen was big and cleaner than most. there was a koi pond and fountain on the balcony. we could go on...

the impressive thing about the blue mountains is the sheer vastness of them. cliffs, and deep valleys covered in eucalyptus trees for as far as the eye can see. we did some hiking on well traveled trails and saw our first big spiders. they weren't just 'wussy girl big.' they were big enough to eat your house cat if they wanted to..... or at least a small bird. yeah, big. and hairy. anna almost touched one by accident and it took a while to calm her down after that.

the next day we did some of the touristy stuff in the area.... went to scenic world and took the world's steepest passenger railway. it used to be a line used only to transport coal out of the mine. it has an incline of 52 degrees. it was kind of like riding a roller coaster in slow motion. once we got to the bottom we did some more hiking around on the valley floor. then took the gondola back to the top. yep, we love ourselves some gondola rides.

before leaving on the 30th we woke up at sunrise and walked back to the lookout point and watched the sun rise. the valleys were filled with fog and from above it just looked like a few peaks and plateaus sticking up out of a sea of clouds. it was a good way to start the day.

we took the train back to sydney and then went straight to the airport to catch our flight to brisbane. we were pretty happy to be boarding a plane for $79 rather than spending the next 17 hours on a bus or train. the flight was good... security everywhere outside the u.s. is a breeze. they have the same rule about liquids but they laughed at us when we asked if we should take our shoes off. they also never actually checked our i.d.s at all. we still felt safe. also, not one of our flights has been delayed or cancelled since we've left america. (knock on wood)

brisbane has been nice. yesterday we did the river walk loop and went to the gallery of modern art and the brisbane art museum. both were free. way to go australia! the river walk also included a man-made beach, a market, and some cafes and malls. we're impressed with how family friendly everything seems to be. maybe we're just seeing people on vacation but we've noticed how whole families seem to spend a lot of time together... and like it.

last night, being a saturday, we thought we'd go out on the town, so to speak. we put on our pretty new dresses and went in the direction that seemed the most fun. we found a street of bars that were actually filled with aussies rather than backpackers. in our first bar we met quite the pair. mark and brian were maybe their names. mid 40's, australian, and really really drunk. one told us a story about how he'd gone from vancouver through seattle on his way to barbados and the nurse he met on the bus who was sure immunizations were a government conspiracy.... three times. the other told us about how he spent australia day. he put on a green toga and got really smashed. smashed enough not to realize when the green toga fell off. they were great for a laugh but we decided we needed a bathroom break and escaped through the back door. sorry mark and brian. we went to a couple other places and chatted with a few more aussies and a few irish lads and then turned in.

today is a bit of a dithering day as we call it. we slept in and are now trying to figure out our next steps. we were planning to head north tomorrow to get some quality beach time. turns out there's a tropical cyclone named ellie that has some other ideas for us. we had made reservations at the magnetic island yha for the 3rd-8th. the whole island is closed as the cyclone is supposed to hit it pretty directly tonight sometime. we'll see how that goes. maybe holding koalas on a tropical island is not in the cards for us. we still have high hopes though. we're thinking we'll stay around brisbane and try to find a beach where it won't be raining. we're almost a month into our trip and we've yet to put on our bathing suits or feel sand between our toes. we're getting a bit itchy to get sun burnt again. tomorrow is our day. it may just not be where we had planned on.

cheers.