Catching Up Once Again--Sydney and Blue Mountains

So once again, its been a while since I last updated. I know I said I was going to update you on how Sydney went. It was amazing! We got to Sydney and spent the afternoon shopping around Bondi Beach. The roommates had never been there so we went back. It was gorgeous as usual. The shops there are so fun. Then we went to the Opera House Bar for dinner with Catherine. We literally sat on the harbour and had a fantastic view of the Bridge and the Opera House. The next morning we went to climb the bridge. That was amazing. We learned a lot about how it was built and some interesting stories along with it. We got to climb to the very top.. up by the flags. You could see all of Sydney and even the Blue Mountains. We got our picture taken up there but we couldn’t bring cameras. After that we went to get lunch and then headed to the Opera House for a tour. We learned a lot about how that was built and got to go into some of the rooms. The inside was surprisingly ugly. They had purple velvet floors and walls… in the same room! Gross. Um after that we went to the German Bar. We always manage to end up there in Sydney. It’s a nice atmosphere and they have really good beer. The one I really like is a regular beer with mango juice added. It sounds disgusting but it’s really good there. Then we went back to the hostel for the second night. The hostel Catherine booked for us was awesome. It was a railway one because it was right next to the train tracks (which kind of sucked at night) but was really cool because the rooms they had were old cars from trains. The next morning us girls got up early and headed back because we all had papers due a few days later.

My eyes look a bit creepy here but this was where we ate dinner. The opera house is in the background.

Heres the Harbour Bridge. You can see the two flags on top.. we walked in between them.

Other than that I have just been writing papers nonstop and keeping up with school. We’ve had a few good weekends and Wednesdays (student night) out at the bars. It’s finally starting to warm up here so its fun to get dressed up to go out now. Us girls can wear dresses and not get chilly on the way home. It has been in the 80s for the past week and I know this last Saturday was 77 at night. That was great. We saw heat lightening off our balcony across the harbour.

This is us girls hanging out with PJ at the bars

And then there is Sam. Typical Wednesday night.

This past weekend was great tho (even tho I have a 2000 word paper due tomorrow—thank god I finished it a few hours ago). My flatmates and I went on yet another trip that was included in the program costs. We got to spend the weekend at the Blue Mountains in Katoomba Australia. It was so beautiful there. Very outdoorsy. We stayed in a hostel that was very old fashioned, that was fun. We arrived Thursday and left Saturday. It sucked because it took 5 hours to get from Newcastle to Katoomba. They were doing track work on the trains on Thursday too. So we had to catch a train from Newcastle to Morrisset then get on a bus for a half hour to Gosford, then get on another train to Strathfield in Sydney and then get on another train to Katoomba. Thank goodness on the way back the track work was finished so we only had to switch at strathfield. We arrived Thursday night and grabbed some dinner then headed to bed. We had to get up early to meet Catherine. We grabbed some breakfast at Fresh (a coffee shop that apparently hates Americans). We got tickets for a day trolley pass to take us from one site to the next. We took a bus to Blackheath and went on a tour through the bush. We had a tour guide (Janelle) who taught us about the Aboriginals and their beliefs (kind of like the native Americans of the US). It was great. They use rocks to make paint for your skin. We found some on the ground and mixed them with water and we all got to paint our faces. That was fun. Then the tour was over and we were at Govetts Leap. One of the most beautiful sites I’ve ever seen. We were staring over the Blue Mountains. There was a waterfall to our left and mountains in front of us. After that we went back to katoomba and shopped around a little. Then we walked to the ever-so-famous three sisters. There is an old story that goes along with them. Something about 3 sisters were running away from this man and their dad was a sorcerer of some sort. In order to save them he turned them into stone and then he lost his baton with the magic and could never turn them back into humans. That was the shortened version. Obviously. We watched the sunset over there and walked back. It was absolutely amazing.

Tater and I painted each others faces

Me standing at Govetts Leap... still with the paint. oops.

The three sisters... Gorgeous!

Sunset!

The Blue Mountains. If you take the last 3 pictures (all taken from the same spot and at the same time), imagine standing on a platform looking over the mountains. The three sisters was on the left, the mountains were straight ahead, and the sunset was on the right. Just giving you an idea of what it looked like.

Then we got super lucky and found some Chinese food. We have all been craving it for ever because Newcastle only has thai or Indian. After that we went to a bar called Carington Hotel. It was the fanciest hotel I have ever seen in my life. We went there and got a cocktail. After that we went to bed for an even more eventful day in the morning. Once again we woke up early (6:30) to check out of the hostel and meet Catherine after breakfast. Saturday was the day we got to go Abseiling otherwise known as repelling down a mountain. It was amazing. We started at 7 meters just for a warm up and to see how it feels to lean over backwards over a cliff. We got sweet helmets and harnesses. Next we got to do 12 meters. That one was difficult because the mountain concaved in so you kind of had to leap while dangling from a rope. It was terrifying because when you looked over the edge you couldn’t see anything except for a pile of trees that were just on a plateau in the mountain. After that one we got to do the big one. 35 meters. 5 of which were rock and the 30 other meters were you swaying in the wind. That was absolutely crazy. We got to do that one 2 times. The first time was so scary. The rope was extremely heavy that I had to hold behind my back and the wind was crazy! I got all hooked up and leaned backwards over the edge. I started walking myself down the rock and a gust of wind came. Next thing I knew I hit my side on the mountain and had to use my feet to balance out again. I made it thru the 5 meters of rock then cruised on the way down. I wanted to reach ground more than anything. I actually got rope burn on my side from sliding down so fast. The guy at the bottom thought he was going to have to catch me.. thought I wasn’t going to stop. The guy at the bottom was crazy. He tied himself to one of the trees on the plateau and leaned backward over the mountain to catch us coming down and push us to the plateau. I don’t even know how much mountain was below him. I know we didn’t even repel down half of it tho in the 35 meters. My second time going down was completely opposite from my first. There are 2 ropes when going down. You are connected to one and the other one was there for some odd reason. Well once again I was super scared and the wind was crazy. I didn’t fall this time tho. I made it through the rocks and then on my way down I wanted to go slower. Well a gust of wind came and swung me so rather than facing the mountain, I was facing everything else. All the other mountains. Due to the spin, I got tangled up in the spare rope and could barely give enough slack to make it to the bottom. It was an amazing sight tho when I was turned around.

After that, we made it to Scenic World. We took the steepest railway car in the world to the bottom of the mountain and then walked along a path around the mountain. It was cool being surrounded by the bush and walking through it. Then we took the steepest cablecar back to the top. Then basically headed home. It was a wonderful weekend. Full of adventure and beauty. I loved it! Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

Other than that, we have been hanging out on the beaches on the really warm days. Its fun going out there and watcing our friends try to surf. I've been in the water a couple times and its a struggle just to make it through the waves. They are huge! Once you get out so far you have to start diving underneath the waves so you dont get pulled back to shore. The pictures below are from the beach on the first warm day in Australia. It was wonderful! It was about 84 degrees and all our friends from the halls and around town met us there. It was a good time.

Krysti and I at Nobby's

Ben, Jack-attack, and Adam watching friends surf

Ethan took Nicole and I out for the first time in the water. It was freezing by the way.

Now I just have 2 papers due this week and I am free for spring break! We leave Friday and come back 16 or 17 days later! Its going to be amazing! I will post the itinerary so you can all see what I’m doing each day. I’m excited because my birthday will be in Cairns. We were told to go to the woolshed, one of the most popular pubs in Australia. Its going to be a good time! I’ll update you all when I get back!