Okay, morning came REALLY early today! That rock and roll train ride we are on is something that I will not miss. I much rather be on the sea which seems to have a pattern to its craziness than the sideways and up and down jerking of the train. Again, I felt like I was in a blender or a rock tumbler!
Our dining card indicated that breakfast was from 6:30 – 8:30 am. So around 7:45 am Andrew and I decided it would be a good time to get ready for breakfast and there was a knock at our door. It was Lily – the carriage attendant telling us that the train is arriving in Mount Victoria in 15 minutes and we need to leave what we want to have carried off the train for us in our room with a tag on it (which they provided the night before). That would be our roll aboard suitcase with our 2 days of clothes and various other items. Still in my night clothes we had to move fast! Andrew visited the bathroom/shower while I changed, took my medication and went to the next carriage to try and find something simple to eat like the chia pudding I had the day before. I ended up with toast for each of us (mine GF of course) and jam, coffee for Andrew and tea for me! They helped me carry it back to our room and we were able to have a quick breakfast before getting off the train. We said goodbye to our train compartment, and we got on the bus for our off-train excursion! Here are some pictures of the train and our bedroom that I took today –
Now that we have arrived in the beautiful station of Mount Victoria, we were ushered off the train and onto waiting busses. Once onto the bus and quite quickly onto a small highway, we had to stop for a “weight” check! While I have seen trucks having to do this in North America, I have never see busses do this before! We passed and the sign indicated that we could return to the highway – phew!
Today we are visiting the Blue Mountains, which are a World Heritage-listed area, known for their “soaring sandstone ridges wrapped in native flora”. Scenic World, which is where we are headed, includes four phenomenal mountain experiences – the Scenic Skyway, which takes you over ancient ravines, with 360-degree vistas and then onto the Scenic Cableway that glides over the forest to the valley floor and then up the Scenic Railway, the steepest passenger railway in the world! Once we complete that, we will go to Echo Point Lookout, which is perched on the edge of the escarpment in the town of Katoombah, for lunch and then be taken to the train station for a 2-hour private train ride into Sydney Central Station where our Indian Pacific Journey will end.
The Scenic Skyride was like the Grouse Mountain gondola but about twice the size – it went from one cliff to another in the National Park. It was a bit scary hanging between the two points however the view was phenomenal! It was like going from one edge of the Grand Canyon to the other in about 5 minutes (although the edges of this Grand Canyon were closer).
Panoramic view I took from Skyride
Once we were off the Skyride, we moved to an area in the building where a guide met us, named Warren, who had set out Aboriginal information and he did a talk for us. It was fascinating! He is half aboriginal himself and has spent a lot of time learning about the aboriginal people of Australia. There are over 200 different nation groups around Australia all with different languages or dialects. What intrigued me the most though was the gift that his mother gave him when he was in his 20’s which was a red kangaroo hide with his family “tree” drawings on it in the aboriginal language. He held it up for us and explained how it shows his parents, uncles, aunts and then him and his wife and two daughters. It also shows his aboriginal name, which is mother gave him and what his strengths are. The other interesting thing is that this belongs to him and when he passes away, it will be buried with him – it is not something that his family keeps. They believe that when the person’s life ends, so does their journey on the hide and so it is buried with them too.
There were other things on the tables that we talked about also – from eucalyptus leaves which smelled wonderful when you rubbed them, to different things the aboriginal people create and or use like blades or spear heads out of rock, wooden implements or plants which are very similar to the indigenous people in British Columbia.
Next, after visiting the ladies room and seeing a sign that is all so common in tourist areas these days, we went downstairs to get on the Cableway which would take us down, DOWN to the valley floor. Holy smokes – it was a good thing I was sitting down as when the car launched forward it suddenly went down a huge DROP and I am NOT a roller coaster type person! My stomach was in my throat! My mother would NOT have liked this either!
Now at the bottom and feeling much better, there was a wonderful boardwalk which we walked along and our guide, Warren, talked about the different features of the cliffs above us and how the nations would traverse down them at certain times of the year. He also talked about the different plants that we saw such as umbrella ferns. The floor of the valley did contain a mine many years back and while it has now been closed off, the entrance and the furnace where they burned the fire which pulled the oxygen through the mining shafts was still evident.
Then we came upon the “Scenic Railway” which I thought Andrew and I had seen on a railway show already on TV so I was expecting this “steepest railway in the world” to be an actual train with an engine. Warren, the guide said he would walk me back to the Cableway so I could ride back up, however I know how much Andrew likes trains so I said I would go down the 12 stairs and get onto the train – thinking it was a TRAIN. Okay, now, in all honesty, this was NOT a train ride. It was a reverse rollercoaster in my opinion, and it was NOT fun. There were signs about adjusting your “ride” to be laidback, original or cliffhanger. Warren took my walker folded up in a bench two rows in front of us however I was a BIT concerned when I saw the “train car” arrive and it was already on a slope and we had to get in over the edge and sit on the bench – the one that had different positions. I have NO IDEA what position our bench originally was in, however I am suspecting it was a cliffhanger situation and the train took off before we could figure it out and upwards and forwards we flung! I felt sorry for the man in front of me as I fell forward against the bar that was above the seat and put my knees into his back! All I could do was hang on while we were at a 50 degree climb upwards back up to where the Cableway originally left from. Holy cow (and a few other choice words) that is something I did NOT need and then I had to climb 20 stairs to get up to the building! Oh joy, I love it when people are up front and tell me what to expect. I think this is going to take me a few days to recover from! It was fun but my heart – yikes!
Now on solid earth, we got back on the bus – which I have neglected to point out is a wheelchair accessible double-decker bus, and we were driven to the Echo Point Lookout where there are some lovely restaurants, where we then had lunch, courtesy of the Indian Pacific Railway. We then were able to walk around the Echo Point Lookout and take pictures (and go shopping) and eventually our red double decker bus came to pick us up again to ferry us through the town of Katoombah to the train station. Oh wait. There were 2 red double-decker busses there and there were people on our bus that did not belong! They had to get off first. Then a couple of blocks later, a man from our group realized he left his jacket and wallet at the restaurant, so we had to go back and rescue it before getting to the train station! Good thing the train was delayed getting to the station!
Panorama view from Echo Point:
The train ride into Sydney was really nice. The train was a double-decker for the most part and really clean. We were able to sit on the entrance level where there was accessible seating and it was a very comfortable ride! I of course made use of the time and made a desk out of my walker and did some blogging now that we have re-joined civilization and my internet now works!
At the Central Station, we then caught a taxi to take us to the Pier One Hotel which is right under the Sydney Bridge. We had planned to stay at this hotel when we were coming in 2020 and I had booked it far enough in advance so that we were able to stay on points as it is a VERY expensive hotel! It is about a 10-15 minute walk to Circular Quay which is on the other side of the bridge and right in front of Circular Quay is the Overseas Cruise Terminal where we arrived on the Noordam!
We got checked in and they put the ramp out for me so I could get into the hotel and then they explained that the lift that normally is used to get up the 8 steps from the entrance into the hotel was out of service, so there was a different way I could enter the hotel from the other side of the pier, which we then used later that night. The service at this hotel was unbelievable. QUOTE. We were upgraded to a room with a Juliette balcony (I had booked a water view) which was wonderful as it was HOT in Sydney so being able to open the balcony door was really nice!
Andrew and I went down to the restaurant for dinner and as we had a fairly good lunch, we just had some appetizers instead. I had some octopus on potatoes with pesto which was awesome and Andrew had some shrimp toast and fries – which were also gluten free as they have a gluten free fryer in the kitchen! After dinner we went for a walk along the piers – one to stretch our legs and to try and get the pain in my hip sorted out and second, I had found a laundry service that was near the hotel called “Wash on the Rocks” which would do a bag or two of laundry for you! We wanted to see where it was located so we could drop off some laundry the next day!
We then retired for the night. I am really excited about tomorrow as we are going to meet my friend from Class Software in Manly Beach! Sarah and her husband moved to Australia in early 2000 as Sarah is part Australian by birth and they have had a family here. On top of that we get to take a ferry!