8-3-19 - Wildlife and natural beauty galore
/Day 48. We decided to employ a new anti-fritter the-day-away strategy. Leanne has booked us on a full day tour of the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney that requires us to leave the apartment at 7am. Nothing like the prospect of losing the price of the tour if you’re late to motivate us. We pile into the Uber XL and I put my can of Red Bull in the center divider. Yes, I know Red Bull at 7am is not on the Surgeon General’s top 10 list of healthy habits but hey, any caffeine port in a storm. I uber driver guns the engine and we lurch forward and the Red Bull goes flying into the back seat spilling all over the Uber. My only defense is that at least is wasn’t coffee, that would have been worse and required a detour to the ER to treat 5 burn victims.
Per Leanne, our pickup is at the Vibe Hotel. Google Maps tells us it’s a 25 min walk so we decide to Uber to ensure we don’t miss it. It seems odd to me that it the pickup would be so far from our location so I say “are you sure this is the right pickup address?” “The tour company said the Vibe Hotel,” she replies. Our Uber driver injects “oh dear, you better call them, there are a number of Vibe Hotels all over Sydney.” Sure enough, one call later, we determine that there is a Vibe Hotel one block from our apartment and we didn’t even need the Uber. I try to make the argument that the Red Bull spill is not my fault because if we had the right hotel, we wouldn’t even been in an Uber in the first place. I am outvoted 6-1 including the Uber driver who gives me the “you didn’t really think that was going to work did you?” look. At least we hightail it back and make it in time for the pickup.
Our first stop is the Featherdale Natural Wildlife Preserve Sanctuary Habitat or some variation thereof. It’s like the Port Douglas Habitat and Taranga Zoo on sterioids. There are animals and birds everywhere – I mean everywhere and not in cages or fenced in - just milling about as people feed them, pet them, take pictures with them. I become short of breath and have flashbacks of the Nara deer who still chase me in my nightmares trying to eat my last remaining pair of Bluffco shorts. Yes, I have already put it on my to-do list to make an appointment for hypnosis therapy back in the states so that I may one day again look at Bambi without breaking out in hives.
I conclude that these animals must be authentic Australian animals as they are so laid back and non-aggressive. But I can’t help but wonder if you put a group of kangaroos in Tokyo and came back in a year, would they have adopted the personalities of the Nara deer and subsequently eaten half of the tourist population of Japan?
At Featherdale, they have a lot of small furry animals and it becomes difficult to remember the names of all of them. After a while, when the kids ask which animal that one is, I just start responding “it’s the small, furry, brown, cute animal that looks like a squirrel.” We have definitely gotten our share of wildlife and animals in Australia.
In the afternoon, we go to the “famed” Blue Mountains. Well, the marketing brochure dubs them “famed” but I admit I’ve never heard of them before. I ask Leanne, who has been to Australia twice before, what makes them famous. “Well, they have these rocks called the Three Sisters,” she says. I reply, “ah yes, Aires Rock, right?” “No honey, that’s the Outback. Why don’t you just listen to the tour guide to learn more.” The tour guide tells us the Blue Mountains are the second most visited tourist attraction in Australia. My curiosity is piqued but I’m still unsure what the fuss is about until we arrive.
The Blue Mountains are actually a gigantic gorge / canyon with rock formations along the top as far as the eye can see. It is a wonderment of natural beauty. This would have all made more sense to me if the guide has said “this is Australia’s version of the Grand Canyon.” Except I already know the tour guide would tell me “we prefer to be the first Blue Mountains and not the second Grand Canyon.”
First, we get to ride it the Skyway which is Australia’s highest tram at 270 meters across the valley. From there, we get to ride the World’s steepest train which descends down to the valley floor at a 52 degree angle but feels like you are going straight down. After walking around the valley floor observing all sorts of cool trees, plants and formations, we take the Blue Cablecar, which is dubbed the largest cable car in Australia back up to the top. After the Sydney Tower incident, I haven’t independently Google verified the marketing assertions above. For all I know, the marketing department could have “accidentally” left off the asterisk that says they were true as of 1922.
For the return, as ferry drops us in Darling Harbor. It’s Saturday night and it feels like a gigantic party is going on. It’s the Sydney International Boat (aka Yacht) Show and there are people out everywhere, outdoor restaurants and music galore. One mate is doing a fire show that goes on for quite a while. At the end, we tells the crowd this is his only job and implores everyone to “donate” money for what we think the value of his show is worth. Justin is moved by his speech and donates his own money.
We end the night at the Hard Rock Café. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, another American chain restaurant? In our defense…never mind, we have no defense. It’s a 45 minute wait, but Justin points out “we’ve never not had a great time at a Hard Rock Café.” Sure enough this one doesn’t disappoint. We sit down and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” comes on. I am just finally getting the song out of my head from watching the movie on the flight to Australia and now I’ll be singing it for another two weeks. By the end of dinner, we are the obvious American tourists singing along to Grease and moving our arms to form the letters YMCA.
