Aussie Day 2 - I'm Blue da ba dee....

10/09/05 Saturday
Woke up at 7am and the room was already flooded with warm sunshine. My roomies Charles and ZX had decided not to go to the Blue Mts (BM) as they had already been there once.
"But you should go," ZX mumbled half-asleep, " it's beautiful...zzzz"

I met GF, Di, and YH at the cafe downstairs and we discovered that our "Complementary breakfast worth AUD$9" comprised a bowl of cereal, coffee, juice, and a buffet of sliced-bread and accompanying spreads.

Mornings in sydney were generally cool, about 17 degrees celcius or so. Not exactly North-pole cold, except that the wind necessitates the use of a light jacket. The city is neat and extends its charismatic welcome.

We had arranged to meet PJ, FY and Shafiq at the train station. Also there we were introduced to Coles, the local NTUC where we could get supplies for reasonable prices.

At the station we opted for the Blue Mts explorer package, which included a return ticket to Katoomba station (~$11)and the BM explorer bus ticket (~$26).

The train ride there took 2 Hrs, which was fine with me cos I was seriously sleep starved.
Evidently, I was not alone.

Blue mountains? Where got Mountain? BM actually refers to a whole region but there are small towns like Leura and Katoomba, so no worries about ammenties. There is however, a significant lack of public restrooms, which explains the dour faces to the right.

We took the explorer bus over to the sightseeing spots, discovering also that one can actually get a ticket from a rival service provider over there for $11.

The scenery was truly breathtaking. We made our way from one lookout point to another, like ants on an molehill. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of smallness (no pun intended), infinitesimal, marvelling at the incomparable works of the creator.
Naturally we found our own Kodak Moments as the other tourists looked on, wondering if all Asians were as mad as us.
As I was saying.....

Looking retarded really is our forte.
Melancholic at our impending departure.

We were at the train station that looked more like a bus stop, waiting for our return train when it started raining. We were freaking freezing. Worse still, there was some problem and the train was delayed. The anouncement said 20 min delay but it turned out to be an hour and a half. The girls took out their arsenal of clothing as we guys amused ourselves. GF wanted to jog around to keep warm, at which point I thought he siao liao. Huddling in the cold, unrelenting wind, we formed the Fellowship of the Chinks.

But wait! what were Charles and ZX doing while the rest of us were away frolicking with nature?

1. They woke up much later.
2. They ate breakfast much later.
3. They travelled much later.
4. They went to Chinatown and Darling Harbour

At night we met up at a $5 steak house near The George (YH's hotel). They were sceptical of our claims of being over 21, and almost refused Diana entry (she didn't bring her passport)
Cold, tired, and hungry, I never loved cows so much in my entire life.