Australia: Days 2-3
I'm sore and hungover. Shoot me in the face.
The Blue Mountains were fantastic. Absolutely beautiful. I wish I got to spend some more time there. I may have to go back again before I leave.
Saturday we were up bright and early to head to the Jenolan Caves. It was a nice scenic drive there. Lot's of farm land and nature crap. I saw a bunch of kangaroo and wombat warning signs but I didn't see any. =(
The caves are amazing. I've always been a big fan of caving and I'd say these were some of the most impressive I've ever visited. We did a detailed guided tour of the Lucas Cave which is the largest in the 10 cave system. The tour was awesome. The only problem was that there are over 1,000 stairs just leading in and out of the cave. Hence one of the reasons I'm sore. The rest of the afternoon we just explored and "bushwalked" aka hiked around the area. We left in the early afternoon to head off to another national park which is home to a famous rock formation called The Three Sisters.
The park in Katoomba was very nice as well. I was able to get a "flat white" for some energy so I could climb the "Great Staircase". I don't know what's up with Australian's and their stairs. Seriously, is it necessary to have 10,000 stairs to climb? Good thing I'm in pretty decent physical shape or I wouldn't have been able to see anything. The Great Staircase goes up and down one of the "sisters". I wish I could better explain it in writing but I can't. I'm not that creative today due to my massive hangover. I'll just have to post pictures at some point. That hike would have been amazing if it weren't for my fear of heights. I had a total panic attack on the way down the stairs. You look down and all you see is a loooooong drop. I swear if you were to trip you'd go right off the cliff. I did end up making it but not without almost peeing my pants/hyperventilating. I did manage to take some crazy pictures though. I can't wait for everyone to see them. Oh, and mental note to self...don't climb down a cliff with a cup of coffee in your hand. Not good. Not good at all.
On the way back to the house one of the coolest things ever happened to me.....I saw a kangaroos in the wild!!!! I literally flipped my shit. I made them pull over so I could get some pictures. I was amazed by how close the kangaroos let me get to them. I took a bunch of pictures and then chased them. I find it funny watching them hop around. I also saw a dead wombat on the side of the road. I made them pull over for that too. I probably won't get the opportunity to see a live one so I figured a dead one would have to do. It was a little gross but I took some pictures anyway.
I was exhausted by the time we got back to the house. We hiked for over 8 hours and climbed over 5,000 stairs when all was said and done. However, I did manage to make a delicious Italian meal for 5 people. Immediately after dinner it was time to get ready for a night out on the "town". And I use the word town very loosely. It's more like a little village with a few shops and bars.
We had trouble finding parking but when we did it was right in front of a bar that was having an 80's dance night!!! Score!!! I felt like I was at home again. I won't get into the details but I will say the night was a total blast and Julia and I ended up getting very, very drunk. They don't get too many Americans in the mountains so people just kept on buying me shots. How could I say no? What's better then shots and 80's music?
I'm pretty sure Julia's friends were not amused by how hammered we managed to get. When we got back to the house and for some reason unknown to both of us we decided to hide all of our stuff. So this morning we were forced to play a game of "where's my shit". I swear I'm the Sherlock Holmes of drinking. I not only managed to find all my crap, some of which was in quite odd places, but I also managed to find a bunch of other cool stuff. I win.
The drive home was miserable at best. I'm getting too old to drink like that. We stopped for an yummy chocolate breakfast and another hike. Hiking with a hangover is NOT recommended by me. But I did manage a 2 hour hike and another 1,000 stairs. I did have to stop a few times to keep myself from booting off a cliff. On one of my rests I saw 2 cockatoos fighting and some dude nail himself in the balls trying to jump over a rock pillar. So that was pretty cool.....
So here I am back at Julia's in Sydney. It's so pretty here at night. The view is breathtaking. We ended up going out to dinner because we were both too hungover to function. Next time I write hopefully I will be in better shape.
Overall I had a fabulous weekend. Minus this hangover from hell. Oh well, it's totally worth it.
Until next time....
The Blue Mountains were fantastic. Absolutely beautiful. I wish I got to spend some more time there. I may have to go back again before I leave.
Saturday we were up bright and early to head to the Jenolan Caves. It was a nice scenic drive there. Lot's of farm land and nature crap. I saw a bunch of kangaroo and wombat warning signs but I didn't see any. =(
The caves are amazing. I've always been a big fan of caving and I'd say these were some of the most impressive I've ever visited. We did a detailed guided tour of the Lucas Cave which is the largest in the 10 cave system. The tour was awesome. The only problem was that there are over 1,000 stairs just leading in and out of the cave. Hence one of the reasons I'm sore. The rest of the afternoon we just explored and "bushwalked" aka hiked around the area. We left in the early afternoon to head off to another national park which is home to a famous rock formation called The Three Sisters.
The park in Katoomba was very nice as well. I was able to get a "flat white" for some energy so I could climb the "Great Staircase". I don't know what's up with Australian's and their stairs. Seriously, is it necessary to have 10,000 stairs to climb? Good thing I'm in pretty decent physical shape or I wouldn't have been able to see anything. The Great Staircase goes up and down one of the "sisters". I wish I could better explain it in writing but I can't. I'm not that creative today due to my massive hangover. I'll just have to post pictures at some point. That hike would have been amazing if it weren't for my fear of heights. I had a total panic attack on the way down the stairs. You look down and all you see is a loooooong drop. I swear if you were to trip you'd go right off the cliff. I did end up making it but not without almost peeing my pants/hyperventilating. I did manage to take some crazy pictures though. I can't wait for everyone to see them. Oh, and mental note to self...don't climb down a cliff with a cup of coffee in your hand. Not good. Not good at all.
On the way back to the house one of the coolest things ever happened to me.....I saw a kangaroos in the wild!!!! I literally flipped my shit. I made them pull over so I could get some pictures. I was amazed by how close the kangaroos let me get to them. I took a bunch of pictures and then chased them. I find it funny watching them hop around. I also saw a dead wombat on the side of the road. I made them pull over for that too. I probably won't get the opportunity to see a live one so I figured a dead one would have to do. It was a little gross but I took some pictures anyway.
I was exhausted by the time we got back to the house. We hiked for over 8 hours and climbed over 5,000 stairs when all was said and done. However, I did manage to make a delicious Italian meal for 5 people. Immediately after dinner it was time to get ready for a night out on the "town". And I use the word town very loosely. It's more like a little village with a few shops and bars.
We had trouble finding parking but when we did it was right in front of a bar that was having an 80's dance night!!! Score!!! I felt like I was at home again. I won't get into the details but I will say the night was a total blast and Julia and I ended up getting very, very drunk. They don't get too many Americans in the mountains so people just kept on buying me shots. How could I say no? What's better then shots and 80's music?
I'm pretty sure Julia's friends were not amused by how hammered we managed to get. When we got back to the house and for some reason unknown to both of us we decided to hide all of our stuff. So this morning we were forced to play a game of "where's my shit". I swear I'm the Sherlock Holmes of drinking. I not only managed to find all my crap, some of which was in quite odd places, but I also managed to find a bunch of other cool stuff. I win.
The drive home was miserable at best. I'm getting too old to drink like that. We stopped for an yummy chocolate breakfast and another hike. Hiking with a hangover is NOT recommended by me. But I did manage a 2 hour hike and another 1,000 stairs. I did have to stop a few times to keep myself from booting off a cliff. On one of my rests I saw 2 cockatoos fighting and some dude nail himself in the balls trying to jump over a rock pillar. So that was pretty cool.....
So here I am back at Julia's in Sydney. It's so pretty here at night. The view is breathtaking. We ended up going out to dinner because we were both too hungover to function. Next time I write hopefully I will be in better shape.
Overall I had a fabulous weekend. Minus this hangover from hell. Oh well, it's totally worth it.
Until next time....