July 11 - Blue Mountains, Opals, Darling Harbour

This morning we headed to the Blue Mountains. It was a two-hour ride from Sydney. Many of the students took advantage of the time to catch up on some sleep. The drive was beautiful and became increasingly scenic with the higher elevation. On the way we passed the Olympic stadium complex.

They are named "Blue" because the atmosphere surrounding them often appears to be blue. This is caused by the oil from the eucalyptus mixing with the air, dust, and water particles

The mountains contain a rain forest. We took a sky ride down to the walkway, which took us through the eucalyptus and gum trees. Part of the area was mined for coal many years ago. There were still remnants of the miners and the mine for us to see.

We also rode the steepest incline in the world. The system was once used to get the coal out. It's  a 50 degree angle down the mountain.

This range has such deep craters and mountains. Many of the cliffs rise straight up and seem to go on forever!! There are trees a couple of hundred feet tall. Deep within the forest are a group of pines known as the Wollemi Pines that date back to the Jurassic Period. They are so well protected that only a few people know their exact location.

Lots of photo opportunities,  including the Three Sisters formation. The story originates from an aboriginal legend about three sisters who were turned to stone in order to protect them. The elder who had turned them to stone was killed in battle and no one could turn them back.

On the way back to Sydney we popped in a video. There's nothing quite like watching "Finding Nemo" on a bus headed to Sydney. :)

It was fun learning about the different types of opals and then seeing the world's largest opal. The family-owned shop had a great variety of opals for purchase, from very reasonable items to way out of our price range.

We spent our last night in Sydney in Harbourside. There was a nice mall with plenty of shopping and eating choices.

Tomorrow we'll leave the hotel early to board our plane for Cairns.











Comments

  1. SusanJuly 12, 2017 at 5:15 PM

    I would have loved to see the opals. Fun. I'm enjoying your vacation.

    ReplyDelete

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