We decided to see some of Australia outside of Sydney and booked a day trip to the Blue Mountains. The Grayline bus picked us up at 7:15 am and we drove about 1 1/2 hours to a sort of natural Disneyland in the mountains called Scenic World. Here the attractions are the rainforest and the amazing rock and mountain formations. They do have three "rides" that take you down into the rainforest, across the canopy and back up to the cafe and car park. The first ride was the Skyway tram, the highest cable car in Australia, that took us across the canopy of the rainforest in a glass walled and glass bottomed gondola. We were told we could see the Three Sisters (a rock formation) and a huge waterfall. That's on a good day--and our weather was not good. In fact, it was so foggy that you couldn't see 5 feet in front of you. It was like being in a fluffy white cloud. So, we didn't see much there. Next we took the scenic railway train down into the rainforest. This is the steepest passenger train in the world with a 52 degree incline and it was a bit like a rollercoaster, only much slower. We descended from the top of the cliffs to the floor of the rainforest and the visibility was a bit better here. Then we walked along an elevated wooden walkway to see the trees and vegetation of the rainforest. Our last ride was the scenic cableway that took us back up to the top of cliffs and the cafe where we had time for a bit of lunch before continuing our journey. Our bus driver told us that they guaranteed we would see the Three Sisters and if we didn't we could get another trip to the Blue Mountains for free. Due to the heavy fog, we didn't see the mountains, so we've already scheduled our next trip for next Friday!

Waradah Aboriginal Center was the next stop . We arrived early and had time for a beer in the very nice bar. Then we watched the show that introduced us to the aboriginal songs, music and customs of the native people. I was particularly interested in hearing a native man play a very long didgeridoo, a wind instrument developed by the indiginous people of Australia. The show was very good and we enjoyed the friendliness of the people.

Next stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park just outside of Sydney. This park has nearly all the native Australian animals on exhibit except for the platypus which apparently doesn't do well in captivity. We saw so many interesting animals, up close and personal. We saw the tiniest penguins in the world at feeding time, the koalas, and lots of kangaroos. You'll see many of the more interesting animals in our pictures.

The last leg of our journey was a river cruise back to Sydney on a ferry boat. We cruised on the Parramatta river that runs right into Sydney harbor and saw the many beautiful homes and buildings that front the river. As the sun went down, we floated under the Sydney bridge and gazed at the magnificent Sydney Opera House and commented that this must be the most beautiful bay in the world.

Enjoy the pics!