The thing about a great, long night, is that when you get up in the morning you wonder why past you hated future you so much. My alarm jarred me out of my peaceful slumber this morning. So rude that alarm. The clock was now ticking against me. I stumbled out of bed, grabbed my shower supplies and headed off to get ready. The shower helped a lot to shake off the Jameson and Dry's from the night before. I went downstairs to grab breakfast and sure enough there were already people sitting here but thankfully they weren't the social kind. The six of us sat in silence and ate breakfast. I then went across the street to board a mini bus for the Blue Mountain tour that I had booked.
Blue Mountain was one of the things on my list. When I got to Sydney and couldn't figure out what I was doing here so I looked back at my notes from when I first booked the trip and saw the words "Blue Mountain" written there so I booked an inexpensive tour to see it. Now that I was on the bus I had no idea what it was that I had booked. I just sat on the bus and started to doze off almost immediately, which didn't seem to please my driver/tourguide Adam who called me out over the PA which woke me up. Soon enough we were at our first stop, I don't even know what it was called but Adam told us to hop out and head up the trail.
At the top of walk was just a cliff off into nothing. No guard rail, no warning (due to the massive amount of fog). Just a huge forest valley in Katoomba. A giant hole in the world filled with trees and fog. Adam told us that there was stuff on the other side that was interesting or worth seeing but since we couldn't see it I didn't really make note of what it was. After the foggy giant hole, tour guide Adam gave us a lesson on the history of the Aboriginals in the area. He said that to prevent sunburn they would spit on rocks and then rub the clay on their skin. It came in all sorts of colors and he even demonstrated on his hand by painting each section a different color. It was so fascinating.
Our next stop was lunch. Hurried because there were maybe a dozen other tours all on the same schedule as us so if we were going to get anywhere in a timely manner then we'd have to hustle and not dilly dally between stops. I picked up some cash first to pay for the next part of our tour - Scenic World - then headed off to find food. At the end of the main road in the small town of Leura was the only restaurant not completely overrun or looking like it would take a million years to grab a bite to eat. They also had kangaroo burgers! Finally my exotic animal meats of Australia would be crossed off the list. I stopped to buy a bottle of water and then hustled to make it back to the bus on time.
The next stop was to see a waterfall, which someone in the group fell down the day before. I should've learned from this visit that Tour Guide Adam's "short walk" is the same as Eric's "short walk" which is to say that it's not very long but it's either downhill on rocks or massively uphill. This one was downhill, way downhill. There were steps so it wasn't too bad but the walk up made me wish I was crippled so that someone could just carry me up the rest of the stairs. It was really beautiful. The water trickling down the rocks and going further downhill in a small stream.
Our next stop was the big event - Scenic World. There were four people that stayed behind and didn't opt to buy the $30 ticket. I thought that was a little ridiculous. You've already spent $90 to be on the tour and now you're not going to spend a bit more for the main event and you'd rather sit in a bus for 2 hours? So absurd. Anyway I bought my ticket and we boarded a tram that passed through the center of the valley. Then it was a walk through the forest where Adam "Darling of the Bush" Tourguide pointed out specific vegetation, swung on a vine like Tarzan, and explained the history of the area to us. By the time we got to the vertical railroad it was clear that this guy not only spent all his free time hiking in the wilderness but also enjoyed teaching everyone about it. As we stood on line for the railroad he mentioned time and I said what I usually do, that it's a construct used by the wealthy to enslave the masses to the capitalist machine. The boy from Edinburgh said that was depressing and Adam and I started down a conversation path I'd been on many times with my friend Shawn and ended with us talking about Crypto Currency, just like it has with Shawn.
The railroad was absolutely insane. Adam had told us to set it to "Thrill Seeker" and it was so crazy to be pulled back up to the top of the mountain and go from sitting to nearly standing because of the vertical incline. The ride was short but a lot of fun. I shared my seats with an older Irish couple who thought it was insane. We got off the ride and did a quick trip to the toilet before once again getting back on the bus. This time we were off to the last part of our tour a "short walk."
Adam dropped us off and said just stay on the shoulder til you get to the trail and turn onto the trail, don't walk in the street. I happened to be the first one out so I lead the pack. Soon enough Adam was shouting my name from the back, reminding me to turn in so I did and kept going for a minute before he was shouting at me to stop. He caught up to the front and starting showing us the flora and fauna again - a flower that snaps to throw pollen at the wasps, a leaf that smelled like delicious lemon, another kind of eucalyptus, and on the walk back Australian sarsaparilla that the Aboriginals apparently would use to give them a little pep in their step when walking through those woods. The walk was long and a bit hard at times. I was scared of the smoother stones where there were no clear footholds but the old Irishman was happy to lend me a hand to help me be confident enough to climb down the stones and the boy from Edinburgh was behind me at one point holding my other hand to make sure I didn't fall off the side. The walk was hot and I was so sweaty and tired but soon it opened up to a massive valley, with the cool air whipping through it. I was glad to feel the coolness of the air and the view was amazing.
The climb back wasn't as long as the climb down but hurling myself up the rocks with my little corgi legs was exhausting. I was drenched with sweat at the half way point and despite being the first person to leave the rest of the group had managed to catch up and pass me. Adam then showed me and three girls from Central America the sarsaparilla trick with the leaves and then we make a long trail back up to the road and along the edge til we got to the bus. I thought I was the last one but when I got on the bus, soaking wet, we realized that the Danish couple and the older man from the Netherlands couple was missing. Adam went back for them and came back with only the Dutchman. The Dutchman told us he tried to call to the Danes to get them to follow him but they didn't hear him or they don't know enough English to realize he was calling to them. Adam, frustrated, went back into the woods to find them. Minutes passed and everyone was speculating how they could have gotten lost. Finally Adam came back with them and now we were in jeopardy of missing our boat back to the city.
I was told by the Irish couple that Adam really raced down the highway. I was sleeping the entire time but when I woke up for the last couple minutes of the ride I did notice that he was in race mode. Then one of the French women, who also didn't speak English, asked if he could pull off so she could use the bathroom. The look on his face was priceless. Of course we couldn't stop, and this is specifically why at every opportunity Adam told us to use the toilet, but since they don't speak English they probably didn't understand why. We ended up making it to the boat, but only with exactly 2 minutes to spare. Adam and I shared a hearty handshake and he said it was a pleasure talking and I reciprocated before hustling to catch the boat. The boat was lovely, pulling into Sydney harbor and providing an amazing view of the city, the bridge, and the opera house.
Climbing off the boat I was exhausted and overwhelmed. Again I was alone and I felt it. I sat on the bench outside the dock for a few moments and thought about what to do next. There is still so much trip left to do which, thinking about it, only overwhelmed me more. I took a deep breath and raised my face to the setting sun, and remembered that in the end everything is going to be fine. I started my trek back to the hostel, walking 15 minutes to the bus where I found out that the train ride from the airport cost $18! What a rip off. The buses in Sydney are about 100 steps below even the grungiest route in NYC. The bus smelled of mildew, was dirty, and dark. An experience to say the least.
Back in the area of the hostel I headed to the mall again to grab something small for dinner and some more water. A night of packing and writing laid ahead of me so I started with the writing. Sitting here in the common room the friends I had made the night before started to filter in as well as some new faces (entirely male). Dan and Lauren, my friends from the night before, came in to the common room and were so happy to see me. We were catching up on their day when the obnoxious girl from Montreal interrupted and made the conversation all about her. Dan ignored her and continued talking to me, leaving his girlfriend to deal with her. At the end we hugged and Lauren said she was so sad that we wouldn't be traveling together anymore and we wished each other luck. I felt very rejuvenated by catching up with them again. I only hope in New Zealand that I can meet more people who are at least as friendly as they were.
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