Day 2 in Brisbane:
The previous night’s broken sleep and the day’s walks and go–around had made us so tired to get up at 7! We had to get ready and take the breakfast before the pick-up bus turns up at our hotel at 7:50.
After been picked up at 7:50, our real trip started by 8:45. We were out of the city in 15 mins! Big buildings gave way to houses which were raised above the ground with logs! There are two reasons for this: one, to escape from the floods, and two, keeping away from the heat (coming from the ground) in summer. But in another half an hour, we were completely out of the suburbs (if you can call that villages suburb). We travelled through Pineapple plantations, Strawberry farms, and took an exit to drop a few people in the ‘Australian Zoo’. This is the place of our famous Discovery Crocodile Hunter - . He is in the effort of making this one the best in the World, raising money through television shows and documentaries. He inherited this flair for loving animals from his father who started the Zoo.
The Australian Zoo trip is planned in such a way that our Sunshine coast bus will drop them in the Zoo and on the way back, we will pick them up on our way back.
We went on, through sugarcane, mango trees and a lot of pines too, our destination was the so-called ‘world’s largest ginger factory’! The ginger farms, were surrounding us entering the factory premises. A big shop selling their products which are already in the market, welcomed us. A small train taking us around the premises, and some more shops, looked like making a good business out of it J. A tour in to the factory’s working, processing, and products constituted our 1 hour stay there. There was a coffee factory just, but the prices of coffee beans were as same as the stores back in the city.
During the tour there was a mention that volcanic soil is suitable for ginger and that is why it is so suitable here. But I couldn’t find any volcanos nearby!
Our next destination was Noosa, one of the main beaches in the Sunshine coast. It was fully crowded with people enjoying the Sun, and packed with resorts filling the coasts. A walk through the coast, and the busy Hastings Street; the street was full of people walking after the Sunbath to their rooms in the resorts. Had a lunch in one of the restaurants sitting outside – a Margeritta pizza with some basil flakes on it.
Sunshine coast is actually full of beaches; it would count to some 30 plus in all. The law goes like, you start from one end and keep walking till you find a lonely beach. Once you find it, the beach becomes yours for the day!
Started our journey back by 2, and stopped at the underwater world which is one of the replicas of Sydney Aquarium. We started from there by around 4 after the Seal show. It was heavy traffic and we could manage to enter Brisbane back by 6, late by about 5:30.
There was another surprise waiting for us in the Parkland gardens in front of our hotel - a multicultural Festival! It was just happening for a day, and we were in! There were some 10 stages where art forms from different countries were happening (stages segregated by dance, folk music or instrumental – not by country)! We had a chance to see a sitar recital and bhangra. Three girls took the whole crowd to dance on their will and the huge crowd dominated by Aussies were dancing in full! We happily went to try some Indian stalls for supper and they were closing down and dumped us with whatever they hadL. Mostly Sri Lankan people making all dosai and all saying Indian food, and it was junk. We could eat some that night, and threw away the rest next day morning as it was doneL. In between an old guy came with a receipt and managed to pull a 10$ note from my pocket for renovation of a temple in Brisbane! Who knows! Another Sri Lankan!
That ended our time in Brisbane.
Day 3 :-
We started by morning train, my intention was to travel and see the places in daylight. The train left Roma Street by 7:30. There was another mother who came off to see off her son( this son is around 35 plus), and she was just not ready to leave him J, going out of the train and coming back in. The guy got a bit embarrassed seeing us watching them, and said ‘she is not always like that J’. Anyway, as soon as the train left the station, he started his making of cigarettes with some powder and jumped out at every stop to smoke, it smelt horrible!
Farmhouses, horses, hell lot of huge cows, the countryside was beautiful. Lunch didn’t go well, we both got some roasted Pumpkin ravioli in cheese sauce! I could eat it somehow, but that was the only vegetarian dish available in our lunch car.
We reached Sydney back by around 9:40. We got down at Strathfield, a station which is more nearer to Parramatta and took another train home. That was a long journey in deed as Krithi was not enjoying sitting the whole day in the train.
Tailpiece: I think Aussies are one of the most tolerant people in the World as far as I have seen. I will start putting some events, one-by-one in the tail piece from next week onwards.
Information: Most of the railway is not electrified here in Australia. The local trains and suburban one are all electric lines, but the long distance trains run with Diesel engines!
People don't care how much you know; they want to know how much you care !
Friday, October 28, 2005
Friday, October 21, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 15
Day 1 in Brisbane:
The sleep was not great. Anish and others got down at Casino at 3:30 without waking us up. Though I was getting up often, I was sleeping when they left.
The seat in front of us was a family with some 5-6 kids. The middle-aged fat mother was keeping herself awake providing sleeping space to her kids, giving them the seat spaces, making some space under the seats and the gaps in between the sets as a results of some seats turned around. They were also going for holidays. As I had written in my South African weekenders, I will think twice before saying that parents in the West don’t love their kids. And anywhere in the World, mothers are special creations!
The Sun was up and running by 5 AM itself! The light disturbed my sleep, the atmosphere was misty and in the mist, the farm houses, the trees and the meadows all looked glamorous. My intention to take the camera and take some shots was badly struggling against my sleep, but eventually won after a struggle of an hour! I started taking pictures (hope you have seen some misty pictures), and it continued till we started entering the urban areas and then slipped to sleep again.
The train reached Brisbane Roma Street Station by 6:30. We had another challenge to spend the day till noon efficiently before we check in to the Hotel (check-in times are 1PM normally).
Got fresh at the station, had a good breakfast with hash browns, pan cakes, and coffee in the food court just above the rail station. The hotel was told to be near to the station. We grabbed a map from the station and walked through the road to go around the station, climbing the hill behind it, to the hotel. The Jacqeranda picture (if you have seen the Brisbane pictures in my link) was taken during that time. A man picking up the flowers early in the morning was a bit surprising for me there. The brick red ‘taxis waiting at the stand’ (Brisbane Taxi stand) was also taken during that time.
The hotel was on the top of a hill, on the other side of the station. Later we found that we have a way through the station to the other side which is very short! There is a ticket machine which issues a free ticket to cross the tunnel to the other side through the station.
We reported at the hotel by around 8 and they normally keep our luggage till we check-in, if we need. That relieved us from roaming around with the bags. We checked some leaflets in the hotel and they booked a half day site seeing trip for us, with the pick-up from the hotel too! The charges are the same if I go to the site seeing company and book or I ask the hotel attendant to book it for me. We waited outside the hotel to be picked up by a small bus by 8:55. We had ample time before the pick-up came, so roamed around to take some pictures( posted as Roma street – Parkland) of the spring beauty from top of the hill keeping the Roma Street station in the background. The pick-up came to the main office and the trip started by 9:30.
Brisbane - the capital of Queensland State, is a small city, built around the Brisbane river. The river takes a U-turn in the middle of the city. The city got its name itself from the river, whose old name was Moreton Bay. Queensland itself was first suggested to name as ‘Victorialand’. Then the Queen Victoria was not keen going with this name as there is already a state in Australia called Victoria( Melbourne as its capital). So they made it Queensland. All streets facing north- south takes the name of Queens of England( Victoria St, Elizabeth Street etc), and the street cutting them – that is the streets from East to West are named after the King’s of England( Albert Street, George Street etc.).
Brisbane is basically a flood prone city. We can see the levels marked up about 4 metres from the ground, which was the level of water during one of the worst floods caused during late 19th centuryJ. They had floods some 10- 20 years ago which also was a destructive. Every year the level rises anyway, during the rains and the low lying areas will go under water. The place is dry and a bit hot too (it was 36 in the next week, when Sydney was still only getting warm), but the rains are also worse.
That was some highlights of what we learnt about the city during the trip. We stopped at a place called ‘Kangaroo point’ for taking some snaps (Brisbane-upon-River etc). That is where you can see the city downtown on the side of the river viewing from a hilltop on the other side.
Now, the Kangaroo point has got names because …there are two stories here. The first is interesting one. The aboriginals in the olden times use to chase Kangaroo’s to a point where they have no other choice than jump and die or face the spear (or whatever). So the brave kangaroos will splash jumping down, and others will get the death from man. Anyway, the aboriginal guy will get his meal. So the name came as ‘Kangaroo point’.
The problem with this story is, there is a river underneath this pointJ. Actually, if the kangaroos jump down, they will land in the river safely and will swim across comfortably. So I will leave that story as a tourist guide’s story to entertain his audience. The actual story goes like a British surveyor came to survey Brisbane, and he saw Kangaroo from this point and was thrilled with the sight that he named this place ‘Kangaroo point’ (hope you realised that meeting a Kangaroo other than in zoo, is very tough in this part of the continent though we have a lot of warning road signs for Kangaroo. I have to explore places where they are seen in lots.
We, then, passed Gabba cricket stadium( which got its name from the name of the suburb ‘Woolloongabba’. We moved to a century old pub named ‘XXXX’ for a breakfast (second one!), which was included in the trip. That was around 11:00. The trip was over in 2 hours, and what we have to pay for that was $48! He dropped us for the river cruise.
A river cruise with the city on both sides, and still, the houses and apartments were simple and elegant on the banks. We crossed the Storey Bridge, which was Brisbane’s answer to Sydney’s Harbour Bridge. In fact, the architect for this one was the same person who designed the harbour bridge!
We walked back to the hotel from the site seeing company office as the bus picked us up back till that after the river cruise. The heat was on it was making us really tired. We bought a pizza on the way back, for lunch. We were really tired with the sleep in the train, and the irritation of being in yesterday’s costumeJ. Had a good sleep after lunch, and by the time we could get up it was 5 in the evening. Went out for a walk with the map, just walked aimless, through the river side for sometime, then peeped in to a Casino and tried our luck spending 1 $ ( I have not changed at all, eh ?) as Krithi wanted to see how the machine works J.
Walked back home by around 8:30 to have a pizza dinner in the restaurant attached to our Hotel. That ends the first day in Brisbane.
The sleep was not great. Anish and others got down at Casino at 3:30 without waking us up. Though I was getting up often, I was sleeping when they left.
The seat in front of us was a family with some 5-6 kids. The middle-aged fat mother was keeping herself awake providing sleeping space to her kids, giving them the seat spaces, making some space under the seats and the gaps in between the sets as a results of some seats turned around. They were also going for holidays. As I had written in my South African weekenders, I will think twice before saying that parents in the West don’t love their kids. And anywhere in the World, mothers are special creations!
The Sun was up and running by 5 AM itself! The light disturbed my sleep, the atmosphere was misty and in the mist, the farm houses, the trees and the meadows all looked glamorous. My intention to take the camera and take some shots was badly struggling against my sleep, but eventually won after a struggle of an hour! I started taking pictures (hope you have seen some misty pictures), and it continued till we started entering the urban areas and then slipped to sleep again.
The train reached Brisbane Roma Street Station by 6:30. We had another challenge to spend the day till noon efficiently before we check in to the Hotel (check-in times are 1PM normally).
Got fresh at the station, had a good breakfast with hash browns, pan cakes, and coffee in the food court just above the rail station. The hotel was told to be near to the station. We grabbed a map from the station and walked through the road to go around the station, climbing the hill behind it, to the hotel. The Jacqeranda picture (if you have seen the Brisbane pictures in my link) was taken during that time. A man picking up the flowers early in the morning was a bit surprising for me there. The brick red ‘taxis waiting at the stand’ (Brisbane Taxi stand) was also taken during that time.
The hotel was on the top of a hill, on the other side of the station. Later we found that we have a way through the station to the other side which is very short! There is a ticket machine which issues a free ticket to cross the tunnel to the other side through the station.
We reported at the hotel by around 8 and they normally keep our luggage till we check-in, if we need. That relieved us from roaming around with the bags. We checked some leaflets in the hotel and they booked a half day site seeing trip for us, with the pick-up from the hotel too! The charges are the same if I go to the site seeing company and book or I ask the hotel attendant to book it for me. We waited outside the hotel to be picked up by a small bus by 8:55. We had ample time before the pick-up came, so roamed around to take some pictures( posted as Roma street – Parkland) of the spring beauty from top of the hill keeping the Roma Street station in the background. The pick-up came to the main office and the trip started by 9:30.
Brisbane - the capital of Queensland State, is a small city, built around the Brisbane river. The river takes a U-turn in the middle of the city. The city got its name itself from the river, whose old name was Moreton Bay. Queensland itself was first suggested to name as ‘Victorialand’. Then the Queen Victoria was not keen going with this name as there is already a state in Australia called Victoria( Melbourne as its capital). So they made it Queensland. All streets facing north- south takes the name of Queens of England( Victoria St, Elizabeth Street etc), and the street cutting them – that is the streets from East to West are named after the King’s of England( Albert Street, George Street etc.).
Brisbane is basically a flood prone city. We can see the levels marked up about 4 metres from the ground, which was the level of water during one of the worst floods caused during late 19th centuryJ. They had floods some 10- 20 years ago which also was a destructive. Every year the level rises anyway, during the rains and the low lying areas will go under water. The place is dry and a bit hot too (it was 36 in the next week, when Sydney was still only getting warm), but the rains are also worse.
That was some highlights of what we learnt about the city during the trip. We stopped at a place called ‘Kangaroo point’ for taking some snaps (Brisbane-upon-River etc). That is where you can see the city downtown on the side of the river viewing from a hilltop on the other side.
Now, the Kangaroo point has got names because …there are two stories here. The first is interesting one. The aboriginals in the olden times use to chase Kangaroo’s to a point where they have no other choice than jump and die or face the spear (or whatever). So the brave kangaroos will splash jumping down, and others will get the death from man. Anyway, the aboriginal guy will get his meal. So the name came as ‘Kangaroo point’.
The problem with this story is, there is a river underneath this pointJ. Actually, if the kangaroos jump down, they will land in the river safely and will swim across comfortably. So I will leave that story as a tourist guide’s story to entertain his audience. The actual story goes like a British surveyor came to survey Brisbane, and he saw Kangaroo from this point and was thrilled with the sight that he named this place ‘Kangaroo point’ (hope you realised that meeting a Kangaroo other than in zoo, is very tough in this part of the continent though we have a lot of warning road signs for Kangaroo. I have to explore places where they are seen in lots.
We, then, passed Gabba cricket stadium( which got its name from the name of the suburb ‘Woolloongabba’. We moved to a century old pub named ‘XXXX’ for a breakfast (second one!), which was included in the trip. That was around 11:00. The trip was over in 2 hours, and what we have to pay for that was $48! He dropped us for the river cruise.
A river cruise with the city on both sides, and still, the houses and apartments were simple and elegant on the banks. We crossed the Storey Bridge, which was Brisbane’s answer to Sydney’s Harbour Bridge. In fact, the architect for this one was the same person who designed the harbour bridge!
We walked back to the hotel from the site seeing company office as the bus picked us up back till that after the river cruise. The heat was on it was making us really tired. We bought a pizza on the way back, for lunch. We were really tired with the sleep in the train, and the irritation of being in yesterday’s costumeJ. Had a good sleep after lunch, and by the time we could get up it was 5 in the evening. Went out for a walk with the map, just walked aimless, through the river side for sometime, then peeped in to a Casino and tried our luck spending 1 $ ( I have not changed at all, eh ?) as Krithi wanted to see how the machine works J.
Walked back home by around 8:30 to have a pizza dinner in the restaurant attached to our Hotel. That ends the first day in Brisbane.
Friday, October 14, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 14
The weather change is really explicit. It is pretty warm and all plants are trying to be as beautiful as they can, looks like they are competing for creating the best flowers!
So this is the best time to plan long trips, I was more anxious to see the Australian countryside in spring. Some research gave me the information of this so-called backpacker ticket provided by Country Link rail, which is only given to foreigners (you have to present your foreign passport). It comes in different durations from 3 weeks to 6 months, and enables us to travel throughout the state of New South Wales (which is actually bigger than the Great BritainJ) plus Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. That is we can do unlimited trips within these limits for the availed period. We decided to take the 6 months ticket as it is 60 bucks more than the 3 months pass! It cost us 386 per person!
Now, all we need to do is to plan a trip, looks at the timetables, tell Country Link of the details and they ill book the tickets for us and we can collect it from the office near our home. The only limitation is we will get only the chair car, and can book for 1st class (which only contains sleeper) paying the difference.
A long weekend was coming our way in the form of ‘Labour Day’. We planned it for Brisbane, and then started the next trouble – accommodation. Web is full of sites which offer accommodation, but all needs credit card. I am still keeping away from credit cards (as most of you know my story in South Africa), they just hang up if I say I am looking for a bank transfer or cheque. Moreover, Australia is becoming notorious for credit card frauds. So that is a problem.
We started checking with many sites, and then, started looked for the trave agents. Some were looking for a big amount as commission. It went on for a couple of days. The old trick I played in Scotland may not work as I am not a bachelor anymore. I can’t just go to a strange place for the first time in a new country, and look for some accommodation after an overnight 14 hour travel J.
We had almost lost the hope, had already booked the train tickets too. Krithi just gave a try at the Country Link counter if there is any hope. There we go…. They had accommodation booking through a travels with no extra cost than what the hotels offer (the commissions may be from the other side) and we got the advantage of getting the hotel near to the railway station on top of a hill!
Then we went for making more plans. Brisbane has two coasts across the North and South: Sunshine coast on the North and Gold coast on the South. Gold coast has more of the theme parks, rides, and some sea world and water world sort of stuffs, more of a commercialised place than a peaceful countryside which I was looking for the spring. Sunshine coast on the other hand, not famous as Gold Coast, and contains good beaches, most of the lonely! Both the places are approx. 1 hour away from Brisbane in the opposite directions. That is all I knew about these places. We made it simple, go by the overnight train and roam around in Brisbane for one day, spend the next day in Sunshine coast and the third day take the day train which will give us a glimpse of how the route looks like J. The last part was a risk as we have to fully depend on the train’s cafeteria.
Day 1:
We had packed up all we want in to two shoulder bags, for 3 days. We started 2 hours early so that we can validate the backpacker tickets at the central station. And there was a clause in the 10 page ticket book saying that if we were travelling in conjunction with a country link service with backpacker ticket, we don’t have to pay for the City Rail trains for going to the station where we have to catch the train. The CityRail guy at the counter was not aware of this. I had a tough time convincing him that we can travel without any other ticket. I had to make my point clear at Parramatta station with City Rail guys, country link people, and the policemen who do the checking in the train. I was clear that I am not going to pay, and at last they agreed.
That took some half an hour, and we reached the Central station by 3:30. We have one more hour to go. The validation got done quickly. We had ample time to have a coffee in ‘Hungry Jacks’
And the Brisbane XPT came to platform No1 by 4. This train would leave us in Brisbane by 6:30 tomorrow morning.
We had another batch of TCSers travelling in the same train, but their destination was Gold coast. Their plan was to get down at Casino at 3:30 in the morning, take the connection bus to reach Gold Coast by around the same time as we reach Brisbane. I was too pessimistic with getting up early in the morning J and so didn’t change my plan. So Anish, Muruganand and Divaker joined us with their wives by 4:15. We were in continuous seats, with a swap we were together and turning around a pair of twin seats (all of them will be turned in the direction of the journey) we were sitting together. Train started by 4:30.
Most of the people turned up with pillows and bed sheets! And, as I had mentioned earlier, most of the Aussie families still have 3+ kids. The Sun was still there and we could take photos. The Hawkesbury River was a good spot to take some photos, only problem being our reflection on the window. Hope I will be able to send across the link of Brisbane photos to all (be patient, it is around 200 pics but as you know I won’t bore you with we standing in the middle).
As the Sun set, we had nothing to do. They started playing cards and we two were just joining them as learners. We had a multi cuisine dinner all trying all dishes each one has got. The lights went off by 10 and we turned the seats back to normal and to sleep, try to sleep J !
So this is the best time to plan long trips, I was more anxious to see the Australian countryside in spring. Some research gave me the information of this so-called backpacker ticket provided by Country Link rail, which is only given to foreigners (you have to present your foreign passport). It comes in different durations from 3 weeks to 6 months, and enables us to travel throughout the state of New South Wales (which is actually bigger than the Great BritainJ) plus Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. That is we can do unlimited trips within these limits for the availed period. We decided to take the 6 months ticket as it is 60 bucks more than the 3 months pass! It cost us 386 per person!
Now, all we need to do is to plan a trip, looks at the timetables, tell Country Link of the details and they ill book the tickets for us and we can collect it from the office near our home. The only limitation is we will get only the chair car, and can book for 1st class (which only contains sleeper) paying the difference.
A long weekend was coming our way in the form of ‘Labour Day’. We planned it for Brisbane, and then started the next trouble – accommodation. Web is full of sites which offer accommodation, but all needs credit card. I am still keeping away from credit cards (as most of you know my story in South Africa), they just hang up if I say I am looking for a bank transfer or cheque. Moreover, Australia is becoming notorious for credit card frauds. So that is a problem.
We started checking with many sites, and then, started looked for the trave agents. Some were looking for a big amount as commission. It went on for a couple of days. The old trick I played in Scotland may not work as I am not a bachelor anymore. I can’t just go to a strange place for the first time in a new country, and look for some accommodation after an overnight 14 hour travel J.
We had almost lost the hope, had already booked the train tickets too. Krithi just gave a try at the Country Link counter if there is any hope. There we go…. They had accommodation booking through a travels with no extra cost than what the hotels offer (the commissions may be from the other side) and we got the advantage of getting the hotel near to the railway station on top of a hill!
Then we went for making more plans. Brisbane has two coasts across the North and South: Sunshine coast on the North and Gold coast on the South. Gold coast has more of the theme parks, rides, and some sea world and water world sort of stuffs, more of a commercialised place than a peaceful countryside which I was looking for the spring. Sunshine coast on the other hand, not famous as Gold Coast, and contains good beaches, most of the lonely! Both the places are approx. 1 hour away from Brisbane in the opposite directions. That is all I knew about these places. We made it simple, go by the overnight train and roam around in Brisbane for one day, spend the next day in Sunshine coast and the third day take the day train which will give us a glimpse of how the route looks like J. The last part was a risk as we have to fully depend on the train’s cafeteria.
Day 1:
We had packed up all we want in to two shoulder bags, for 3 days. We started 2 hours early so that we can validate the backpacker tickets at the central station. And there was a clause in the 10 page ticket book saying that if we were travelling in conjunction with a country link service with backpacker ticket, we don’t have to pay for the City Rail trains for going to the station where we have to catch the train. The CityRail guy at the counter was not aware of this. I had a tough time convincing him that we can travel without any other ticket. I had to make my point clear at Parramatta station with City Rail guys, country link people, and the policemen who do the checking in the train. I was clear that I am not going to pay, and at last they agreed.
That took some half an hour, and we reached the Central station by 3:30. We have one more hour to go. The validation got done quickly. We had ample time to have a coffee in ‘Hungry Jacks’
And the Brisbane XPT came to platform No1 by 4. This train would leave us in Brisbane by 6:30 tomorrow morning.
We had another batch of TCSers travelling in the same train, but their destination was Gold coast. Their plan was to get down at Casino at 3:30 in the morning, take the connection bus to reach Gold Coast by around the same time as we reach Brisbane. I was too pessimistic with getting up early in the morning J and so didn’t change my plan. So Anish, Muruganand and Divaker joined us with their wives by 4:15. We were in continuous seats, with a swap we were together and turning around a pair of twin seats (all of them will be turned in the direction of the journey) we were sitting together. Train started by 4:30.
Most of the people turned up with pillows and bed sheets! And, as I had mentioned earlier, most of the Aussie families still have 3+ kids. The Sun was still there and we could take photos. The Hawkesbury River was a good spot to take some photos, only problem being our reflection on the window. Hope I will be able to send across the link of Brisbane photos to all (be patient, it is around 200 pics but as you know I won’t bore you with we standing in the middle).
As the Sun set, we had nothing to do. They started playing cards and we two were just joining them as learners. We had a multi cuisine dinner all trying all dishes each one has got. The lights went off by 10 and we turned the seats back to normal and to sleep, try to sleep J !
Friday, October 07, 2005
AUSSIE WEEKENDER 13
Continuing with the Blue mountain trip, the whole show there is around a set of three rocks called ‘Three Sisters’. They form a part of the , in the shape ‘∩∩∩’. The funda is, they have formed through millions of years by nature.
We had a lunch of Garlic bread, which was the only stuff available in the Scenic World. We were done, and ready to move to the main view point for Three sisters and the landscape, called ‘Echo point’. We had some 20 minutes for the double-decker expected by 2:45. Just took the time to walk down to have a look at the waterfall viewpoint.
The bus dropped us in Echo point in another 5 minutes. We walked down the viewpoint to get a better view. Then a walk of 2kms to the ‘Three sisters’ through the stone pathway created between the woods.
A steep 900 steps climb would take us to the bottom of the rocks, but we chose to be safe J. Back in to the main street, some shopping in the information centre-cum-shop. As in UK, these information centres facilitate accommodation bookings.
Wait for the bus to the next stop. We had had a good experience of the view, and the other viewpoints were not that interesting as these two places. We got down at Leura village centre and it was 4:30. The driver reminded us that the next bus at 5 will be the last bus. He was also suggesting that if anyone is planning to go back to Sydney, they can board the train from Leura itself.
We just walked through the main street taking some snaps. Back to catch the last double-decker, the sky was getting cloudy and it started raining. By the time we reached Katoomba, it has become a heavy rain.
The main street has most of the shops extending their roof to cover the footpath also. We went in to an Italian restaurant nearest to the bus stop. A big vegetarian pizza followed. We had to pack half of it back home and had to finish it for supper. These pizzas costs a bit sometimes, but they make it from the scratch after you order! So that makes it really tasty.
A long wait for the train back in Katoomba station, it was still raining. On the return journey, the rain vanished after Penrith and back in Parramatta, there was no rain at all !
Tailpiece:- Why is the Blue mountain blue ?
There is wonderful similarity coming up for Blue Mountains with our Nilgiris. Nilgiris also means Blue Mountains ! Then how come they are blue. Why is this similarity in naming, across the continents? What is common there? There comes this Eucalyptus. The theory says, the vapours from these trees float in the air giving the landscape a bluish look ! They refer some gum tree vapour also are responsible for this, I am not sure our Ooty has got them
We had a lunch of Garlic bread, which was the only stuff available in the Scenic World. We were done, and ready to move to the main view point for Three sisters and the landscape, called ‘Echo point’. We had some 20 minutes for the double-decker expected by 2:45. Just took the time to walk down to have a look at the waterfall viewpoint.
The bus dropped us in Echo point in another 5 minutes. We walked down the viewpoint to get a better view. Then a walk of 2kms to the ‘Three sisters’ through the stone pathway created between the woods.
A steep 900 steps climb would take us to the bottom of the rocks, but we chose to be safe J. Back in to the main street, some shopping in the information centre-cum-shop. As in UK, these information centres facilitate accommodation bookings.
Wait for the bus to the next stop. We had had a good experience of the view, and the other viewpoints were not that interesting as these two places. We got down at Leura village centre and it was 4:30. The driver reminded us that the next bus at 5 will be the last bus. He was also suggesting that if anyone is planning to go back to Sydney, they can board the train from Leura itself.
We just walked through the main street taking some snaps. Back to catch the last double-decker, the sky was getting cloudy and it started raining. By the time we reached Katoomba, it has become a heavy rain.
The main street has most of the shops extending their roof to cover the footpath also. We went in to an Italian restaurant nearest to the bus stop. A big vegetarian pizza followed. We had to pack half of it back home and had to finish it for supper. These pizzas costs a bit sometimes, but they make it from the scratch after you order! So that makes it really tasty.
A long wait for the train back in Katoomba station, it was still raining. On the return journey, the rain vanished after Penrith and back in Parramatta, there was no rain at all !
Tailpiece:- Why is the Blue mountain blue ?
There is wonderful similarity coming up for Blue Mountains with our Nilgiris. Nilgiris also means Blue Mountains ! Then how come they are blue. Why is this similarity in naming, across the continents? What is common there? There comes this Eucalyptus. The theory says, the vapours from these trees float in the air giving the landscape a bluish look ! They refer some gum tree vapour also are responsible for this, I am not sure our Ooty has got them