Happy April!

Wow three updates in three weeks...
Umm so I guess I'll just go in chronological order. Everyone is out at the place I'm staying at for tonight so I should have loads of time to do this... Unless something comes up, like cookies

So the 29th (Thursday) was really a blah day. It was overcast and dreary and not very exciting in the least. I did manage to get my ticket changed so I am flying out of Delhi, but that was about as productive as I got... But there was a big accident the night before involving one of the passenger ferries and a yacht so there were police boats all over the harbour. I believe they have just recovered the final body today, and three people died in total. Most Aussies were of the opinion that they should have given up the search after one day, due to the high amount of sharks in the water. Supposedly shark attacks happen more frequently in harbours then on the beach... One other thing of note was I had a wicked steak lunch for six dollars... I just hope it was actually steak...
Friday was a pretty good day. I ended up walking for most of the day (making up for Thursday's lethargy) and generally just enjoyed the day. I went to St. Mary's Cathedral which is right in downtown Sydney and the biggest cathedral I've ever been in. Then it was off to all the other historic houses around the city like the Mint and Treasury and whatnot, but I got bored and wandered into the library, where I read a really interesting book on multiculturalism and Australia. Well really it was about the failings of multiculturalism and how the riots last Christmas were a direct result of too much with too little planning. You get the gist. Australia's problems seem to parallel ours in Canada, so it was a very interesting read. That night I met two of Rebecca's friends from the States, Katy and Karen, who were really friendly so we all went out for Mexican food (part of the American culture, you can't deny it!). Then it was off to visit Ellie who was at work bartending, and then multiple other bars. Highlights were the really drunk, really creepy Irish guy who was hitting on anything that moved including the wasted married woman. It was pretty sad watching them but it was entertainment for the rest of us (she eventually got kicked out for falling over twice). Yeah I felt sorry for her husband. After that bar (named Scruffy Murphy's - what sort of clientèle were we expecting with a name like that) Rebecca and I went to the Three Monkey's ( I know it had monkey's in the name I'm not sure what teh other words were... Three sounds good) and had a grand old time talking for over an hour before finally realizing it was probably a little late (as the bar was closing) and went back to the house.
Saturday hurt. After waking up at about midday I went with the American girls to Bondi and we pretty much just slept off the previous night on the beach. The only thing was that it was windy and sand was blowing everywhere so it wasn't all that comfortable. That pretty much sums up the day, as the night was quite uneventful (besides the bangers and mash that were really old hot dogs and mash).
Sunday I decided I would go to the Blue Mountains for a couple of days so after packing up hopped on the train for 2 hours to Katoomba. I had been planning on going to Jenolan caves, but was horrified to find out they charged at least 75 bucks for a tour or something like that. So instead I went down to Echo Point, which overlooks the Three Sisters, and was totally teeming with tourists. Kinda sad, although the views were completely breathtaking (check facebook or Photobucket for some pics).
The next day I did some day hikes throughout the area, which were much better than Echo Point. The Blue Mountains are really more like ridges with huge gorges and valleys cutting through them. Katoomba is on top of one of the ridges, so you have to walk down to get into the bush walks. Well, it's a far way to get down, like 1000 steps kind of a far way, so that took a while to do (and that doesn't even get you right the way down to the bottom of the valley). So I did the steps down, then hiked over to where they have a little place called Scenic World. It's your typical trashy tourism attraction, but they did have a pretty cool train that is one of the steepest in the world (52 degree incline) and a huge cablecar that allows you to travel up and down the very steep cliff faces. There was also a mini rainforest (in a nook in the cliffs that was sheltered from the western drying winds) complete with lirebirds and huge vines leading up into the canopy. It was actually pretty cool! To end the day I declined to pay the 10 dollars for the 2 minute trip up the train or cablecar, and hiked all they way up another set of stairs (called Fubar steps or something like that) cut into the side of the cliff. Tough going but it's good for the heart!
And that brings me up to today! I caught the train back to Sydney in the late morning and then managed to update a lot of pictures on facebook on photobucket. We're having spaghetti for dinner (on a total tangent, peanut butter and gnuttela in a sandwich make a snickers!) and then tomorrow I am going to train up to Newcastle where I'll hopefully get in touch with Colby and Patsy. Happy Easter (if I don't update before then)!