Blue Mountains Day Tour (Jan 30th)

Well the day started off with me sleeping through my alarm. I had to throw all of my stuff together in 5min to get out the door and make the cab. I met our tour group (22 of us) and tour leader "Ted" (that was her nickname, maybe because when she put on her little hat she looked like Ned Flanders). She's a real adventure explorer. Told us tons of stories on the bus ride up to the mountains. There was a good one about how the guy kangaroos become the head of the pack (it's like how lions do it). If a guy wants to be the all powerful one that gets to sleep with all the chicks he has to bark at the head guy (it's a challenge, barking). Then they'll have a boxing match. They'll both go back on their tails and kick each other with their hind legs. In doing this they're trying to cut eachother open with the long nails on their hind legs. I guess the guy that splits loses.

We actually got to see Kangaroos (Eastern Greys) in the wild at our first stop of the day, Eureka. Learnt that Kangaroo really means "I don't know." When explorers first came to the region they saw these animals and asked a local aboriginal what they were, the aboriginal answered with "kangaroo." They've been kangaroos ever since, because of a miscommunication.
At Eureka we also saw gum trees. These trees cut off nutrients and water to branches that their own branches that aren't doing so well. Once the branches completely die, they fall to the ground and the place where they used to be just covers itself up. Which was why there was so many signs around saying "NO CAMPING/PICNICING beneath trees." Another cool thing we learnt at Eureka was that Eucalyptus leaves were what made the blue mountains "blue." These leaves give off gases, so that when light shines through them it gives off a blue color. We also rolled up these leaves, tore them in half, and shoved them up our noses. Apparently, it's good for the sinuses. It was pretty strong smelling!

Our second stop of the day was Wentworth Falls. We did a 2.5 hike through bush to see the falls and lookout points. Ted taught us about the deadly plant life of Australia and how the aboriginals lived in this area. We got to eat leaves that are used to make North American drinks (can't remember the name of them, I'll put it on here once I do) and we got to smell tons of tea tree leaves (there are so many!).

The third stop was the Scenic Railway at Katoomba. We all hiked down the 1046 STEEP stairs to the base of the railway and checked out the mine. Then we all loaded into the caged railway to head back up the mountain. It was pretty sweet. Felt like I was going to fall out of the seat since were on such a steep incline (52 degrees, which is why it's the steepest railway in the world). It would make a cool amusement ride if they let it go back down the mountain full tilt once it reached the top!

The fourth stop was the 3 Sisters. Ted told us the aboriginal story that explained how they were formed. It went something like this: A dad had 3 daughters and one day they were all on the mountain. He had to go down the mountain to find some food so he told them to stay there. Of course they didn't and ended up being spotted by a bad aboriginal who wanted to eat them. The dad saw the bad aboriginal but couldn't get to his daughters in time so he took his "magic bone" and turned them into stone, so that they wouldn't be eaten. Crazy story!

Afterwards, some of us were dropped of here at the YHA in Katoomba so that we could stay a couple nights and do some more day tours. We went to a thai place for dinner again (yummy) and then I ended up coming back and making David a banana split. The night ended off with us watch a bad Jennifer Aniston movie (which most of hers are lately).

Tomorrow's another adventure day...we're going canyoning and abseiling!

**almost forgot to tell you guys...I learnt today that that the EAC (the one Nemo's dad went down) is the south going current that runs outside along the east coast. The north current (which runs right along the east coast) carries all the sand that makes up Fraser Island!