The cruise ended (disembarked) in Sydney. We really enjoyed our 3 days in Sydney even though the weather wasn't great. It was cloudy all three days and it rained on and off the whole time. Even with the poor weather Sydney is a really neat city. And besides the city there is plenty to do nearby. We spent a whole day far west of Sydney, at the Featherdale Wildlife Park in Blackstone, and at the Blue Mountains National Park near Katoomba.
Sydney Sights
Woolloomooloo - area of the city our hotel was located.
Nude in a Rocking Chair, Pablo Picasso. This was in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. (Note: New South Wales is the province Sydney is located in.) Overall the museum was not great, full of modern art that made me want to punch someone. This was a nice little surprise. The only reason we ended up in the museum was because it was raining pretty hard outside and we needed some shelter. The blue palm tree in the painting was an homage to Henri Matisse, who had died before Picasso painted this.
St. Mary's Cathedral. It is modeled closely after Notre Dame.
Sydney Opera House. Two things need to be noted: (1) this building is enormous, much larger than I would have guessed from pictures, and (2) the roofing is not white at all, cream or dirty white, call it what you will. Pictures and movies make it seem bright white, not the case. We were able to see it from two locations, the quay near The Rocks neighborhood, and across the bay at Milsons Point. Both were neat views, but I would have to guess the best place to see it would be from Harbour Bridge. We didn't have time to walk up there.
Opera House - from Milsons Point.
Opera House, City, Harbour Bridge.
Opera House - from The Rocks Quay.
Harbour Bridge.
The family.
Share a Coke with Matt. This was near Kings Cross train station.
The Rocks neighborhood.
The Rocks.
The Rocks - storefronts/restaurants.
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Our second day in Sydney we took an early train to Katoomba to go see the Blue Mountains. En route we decided to get off at Blackstone to see Featherdale Wildlife Park; we were in Australia after all and needed to see kangaroos and koalas.
Entrance
Blue-Winged Kookaburra. Great name-
kookaburra. Does anyone else grow up hearing
this song?
Swamp Wallaby.
Little Penguins. That's their actual name.
Red Kangaroo. We should note that we don't think they had adult kangaroos out in the open petting areas. Adult males can be over six feet tall and kick a hole in your chest. These were gentle.
Ashley feeding the little 'roos special food out of an ice cream cone.
Eastern Grey Kangaroo.
Hazel petting grey kangaroos. Hazel could get aggressive so we had to hold her back and tell her to be gentle.
The family with a koala.
Koala. Very noble looking.
Dingo. Looks no different than any other dog.
Tasmanian Devil. Pleasant little fellow.
Two kids.
Rooster. He was so colorful we had to take a picture.
Katoomba and the Blue Mountains
We spent the rest of the day hiking around the Blue Mountain National Park. It was very pretty. The forest is full of eucalyptus trees which release their oil into the air. This oil hangs pretty low over the forest creating the blue hue, hence Blue Mountains. The smell of the forest was the most pleasant smell we'd ever encountered. Ashley was pretty sure that the Wiesbaden spa must have used this oil because it reminded her of it immediately.
Katoomba Train Station.
The Three Sisters. These peaks are well known and make for very pretty scenery.
This angle shows more of the valley.
The family. Hazel napping on my back.
If you were to climb out to the top of that ridge you would be looking down at the Three Sisters. This picture really shows the blue haze.
Prince Henry Cliff Walk. We hiked this trail from the Three Sisters (Katoomba) to see the Leura Cascades. From there we walked/jogged to the train station in Leura, barely making the train.
Ewww. Millipede migration on the trail.
Ashley at one of the many lookouts.
Leura Cascades. Getting to this spot was confusing even with the trail maps. Brochure pictures of the cascades must have been taken after a 24-hour downpour, because it had been raining for a few days before we took the picture below, and they were still only this big. Still very pretty though. We are standing under a large cliff overhang to take this picture - the setting feels hidden.
