Category: Trip

The To-Do List

January 2, 2014

I had some things I needed to do yesterday, so after a brief stop in the CBD for lunch…

…the boys took off for Pats party while I scurried around the city. I didn’t have much time so I made it quick (and made some purchases) before heading to meet them at the casino.

That’s a sculpture near Chinatown. It says ‘yuk’. Can you see what it’s filled with? Here’s a close up:

Yuk indeed!!

Here’s the city from Darling Harbour on the casino side:

When I found the boys in Star City they were quite tipsy and on the way to tipping over. Here’s Bernard enjoying a frosty margarita:

And here he is again, a while later, flushed with a win from a Michael Jackson pinball, enjoying dinner. This was his second fish’n’chips in two hours!

Tomorrow we’re heading to Newcastle. I’m looking forward to some R & R!

It Felt Like A Sheep

December 31, 2013

Both our hotels had fantastic breakfast buffets the likes of which I hadn’t seen since Hawaii. Apparently that’s a thing here. I should stay in more Australian hotels!

On the way back from the Blue Mountains we stopped at this place:

A ‘wildlife park’ is a small zoo, and in Australia they frequently prioritize Australian animals including birds. We were surprised to find Featherdale right in the middle of suburbia, but this didn’t affect the quality of this 40-year old park.

They’ve got about a billion birds, half a billion koalas and a wide selection of other Australian fauna including kangaroos, echidna, various reptiles, bats, wombats (active ones even!) and quokkas, like the baby shown above.

The animals are displayed nicely in large and well landscaped enclosures. The big draw of the park though is how close you can get to certain favorites:

In order, those are a wallaby, a bear, and a kangaroo. The bear was dense and immovable, and his fur felt almost exactly like a sheep. He’s also extremely old for his race, being almost 15.

Bernard was in bird-photo-heaven at the park, taking many snaps of everything with feathers. If he doesn’t do a blog soon showcasing some of the great photos he has taken, I’m going to destroy his birthday gifts 🙂

As I mentioned above, Featherdale has an enormous Koala population. I suspect one reason is they accept orphaned Australian animals and have a constant influx of Koalas. As a result you can pat one any time the park is open, which is very popular with the foreign tourists!

Here’s another shot of an Australian animal eating at the park:

And an interesting example of the difference in appearance between two animals of the same species:

After Featherdale we continued back to Randwick, and a lazy evening of eating, movie-watching (Pacific Rim and Kick-Ass 2) and falling asleep before the New Year’s Eve fireworks!

The Blue Mountains

December 30, 2013

The drive out of Jenolan – on the same perilous road as yesterday – was a very different experience since we woke early and got out before the traffic. Our destination was the town of Katoomba, tourist center of the Blue Mountains.

We arrived in Katoomba about 11 and headed to a place called Scenic World, which is perched right on the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley. Here’s a shot of the lines when we arrived:

Incredible! We would learn that the lines start even before the place opens before 9 am. What is here that is worth lining up? Well, after about an hour in line we…

Rode a cable car the 275 meters down to the rainforest before…

Exploring the rainforest walk. This was a ~45 minute stroll on a raised walkway around the dense rainforest that fills the valley below Katoomba. We saw two lyrebirds!

Can you see him in the middle of the picture displaying his plumage?

To get back to the tops of the cliffs we rode the world’s steepest train:

This was remarkable! A very fast and thrilling train set on an up to 52 degree incline with incredible views of the mountains. Highly recommended!

But the attractions weren’t over! After another line, Bernard and I rode this:

We even stood on the ‘electro-reveal floor’ which used liquid crystal glass to become transparent half way across:

The views were breathtaking. I was so dazzled, I even forgot to take a single photo of the famous attraction known as The Three Sisters. You can see them on a postcard if you’ve never heard of them 🙂

After visits to more lookouts we – after a long day – headed back to our motel for the night. We had eaten a kings breakfast back in Jenolan and actually skipped lunch, so we were famished when we headed to the local RSL for dinner.

The Chinese food was incredible! We ate like emperors! Bernard then demonstrated he still had the magic touch by turning $5 into $86 using His favourite poker machine:

As if this club couldn’t get better, I then wandered over to the tiny arcade and found this:

The Doctor Who pinball! Holy Christ, I’ve been wanting to play this forever! And playing it was like a religious experience 🙂

A great end to a great day! What would tomorrow bring?

Robot Claw