Blue Mountains

Hi crew,

So today was another early day.. Headed out to the Blue Mountains and did a 3 hour and a 1 1/2 hour hike.. now these we not slow gradual inclines and declines.. they were steeeeep.. my knees really love that .. not. There were 901 steps on the second decent and it felt like just as many in the first one (though there wasn't).. and then we took a trolley train up the "steepest train incline in the world"! I bet it was 45 degrees steep or even more!

So the Mountains are not like the Rockies, they are green and full of trees.. there is a rain forest there and lots of waterfalls, but because of the season they are not free flowing, mostly sprays of water. It really was beautiful and if you take out the hikes, very relaxing! A person could spend days there rock climbing, going caverning, horseback riding.. a ton of things.. a good vacation spot.

So the highlight was the views, really all over.. But the Three Sisters was pretty cool and there is an Aboriginal story as to how they were formed. In a nutshell an Aboriginal man was told by his wife to care for the three girls for the day. He wanted to hunt, so he had they go to the ledge of the mountain to play while he went into the valley to hunt. He was a witch doctor with his magical kangaroo bone... so he left the girls to play while he hunted in the valley. The girls were fooling around and accidentally threw a rock over the edge that hit a Yeti like animal... the Yeti got upset and decided they were good prey to eat, so he started climbing the mountain to get them. the father saw this and tried and tried and tried to freeze to Yeti with his witch craft, but it wasn't working, so in a last effort he turned his three daughters into stone... then the Yeti went after him, because the girls were not edible anymore... After a chance and in a last chance effort to save his life he turned himself into a bird. The Yeti left him alone when he escaped through a small hole. When the father went back to find his magic bone to turn everyone back to human, it was gone. Now he searched the valley floor looking for it...

something like that anyway.. I forget the name of the bird..

We had a very good guide, but it was a tiring day.. so I must go pack for I depart Sydney at 6:30 tomorrow morning.. again... ugg...

I will likely be out of touch for a few days, so will write when i can..

Later..

I got some photos on the facebook page.. but will keep trying here on another day, today was unsuccessful as well.. I'll get it eventually..