More Friends Rolling Through Town

Nick, one of my old UK college roommates, informed me that he and his girlfriend would be coming through Sydney a few weeks ago and they hoped I would be free to show them around.  Caroline, sister of my friend Laura, joined us from time to time throughout the week since she was looking for things to do while her sister was out of town.

Nick and I have known each other for 10 years - wow.  Around this time in 2000 we were stumbling through the dorm halls in Lexington.  We lived on the same floor our first year (Haggin Hall), the same building our second year (Blanding Tower), then moved out of the dorms halfway through that year to live in a house with some other friends in a 6 bedroom house near campus for the next year and a half.  I saw Nick a little over a year ago when I spent a week in DC for work.  He went to grad school there and met Camelia, who I met at dinner during my trip.

It's funny... I've had just about as many people visit me in the past 4 months in Sydney as I've had in 5 years of living in Atlanta. KY friends, I'm looking in your direction.  Just because you're busy getting married and having babies doesn't give you an excuse.

Camelia came over here to Canberra for a work conference and Nick tagged along to see Australia.  They allotted a few extra days to see Sydney and came to stay with me for a few days.  I spent the next few days showing them the sights - pretty much everything I did with Tim and Erin.  We did the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk, walked through the botanical garden and saw the bats (check out my video documenting them from a few months ago), went up to Manly Beach on the ferry and walked through Hyde Park.  I finished the day with one of my favorite restaurants in town, a Taiwanese dumpling restaurant called Din Tai Fung.  They hadn't fully acclimated to the Australia time zone, so I didn't get to show them the full night life of Sydney.  I was kind of bummed about that, but I'm not sure how much they would've enjoyed it.  Maybe if Nick had come by himself, hahaha...

All of that walking gave us all a bit too much sun, but the next day the weather turned worse to even it out.  I had talked to Nick over the previous few weeks about going to the Blue Mountains, and the weather provided a good opportunity since we couldn't take advantage of the beach. I took the day off work on Monday (my first day off since I came on the project in April) and booked a trip through Dal Myles for $175 per person.  It seemed somewhat expensive, but Tim and Erin gave it good reviews in July so I figured it would be worth it. My friends Nat and Jenna went on an Aboriginal walkabout tour that looked pretty cool, but it was booked solid on Monday.  I might do that one eventually but it would have to wait.

We set out on the tour on a rainy Monday and first stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park. A lot of the animals there had been injured and rescued in the wild. I finally got to pet a koala, as we had breakfast in a private function room and one of the handlers came in and spoke with us.  I'm still on a mission to hold one, but will have to go outside of NSW because it is illegal here. There were also kangaroos, wallabies (see picture at left), emus, kookaburras, pretty much everything typically Australian.  We didn't get to explore the whole park, which I've heard is a lot of fun.  I'd still recommend Taronga Zoo and the World of Wildlife before this park based on my experiences, if only for the proximity to the city.  The one advantage is that you're walking amongst the animals most of the time and there is a much more limited amount of this at the other two venues.

From there we drove and drove and drove, out of the Sydney suburbs and into the rolling hills that lead to the Blue Mountains.  Our guide was almost constantly talking (some of it interesting), lulling Camelia and I to sleep.  Nick kept nudging her to wake up and enjoy the scenery... such a Nick thing to do.  The guide stopped the bus every now and then to view the scenery as we got into the Blue Mountains.  We pulled over at one point to see a troop of wild kangaroos.  Yes, a group of kangaroos is called a troop.  Now you know.  They weren't that impressive though - the rain was continuing to start and stop, creating a lot of mist that made it hard to see clearly.  The kangaroos were about a half mile off and weren't moving at all - they could've been dummies set up for our entertainment for all we knew.  We stopped for lunch at a golf course/country club and then made our way to the national park.

The Blue Mountains aren't so much of mountains as they are canyons.  You're driving along and you come up to these drop offs where you can see for miles.  The canyons are mostly filled with eucalyptus trees which emit a fragrant oil with a bluish hue (hence the name).  There are random outcrops that pop up here and there which give the appearance of mountains, but they are more like massive impressions in the earth.  At the start of the tour of the park, you take a cable car from one side of the ridge to the other, getting a good view of The Three Sisters, the most famous rock formations in the area (see picture at right).  My camera was pretty inadequate because of the contrast between the light sky and the dark terrain.  Add the mist to that and I didn't get very many good shots.  Nick had his heavy duty professional camera and tripod with him, so I'm looking forward to seeing those pictures soon on his website.

There are a few different stories of how the Aborigines explained the rock formation.  One says that three sisters were being pursued by three men from a different tribe so they were forbidden from marrying them.  A battle ensued, so a witchdoctor turned them into stone for protection.  He was later killed in battle and so they have remained in stone.

The other legend says that three sisters were in the area and stumbled upon a monster.  The witchdoctor turned them into stone temporarily to protect them from being killed.  The monster then turned on him, so he turned himself into a lyrebird but then lost his wand.  Now the lyrebird digs around at the ground, looking for his wand and the three sisters wait to be unfrozen.

Two tickets to that thing you love

The tour then takes you on a short hike through the ancient rain forest where people used to do mining in the 1800s. There was a horse and cart statue that they allowed you to get on and take pictures, so of course I took the opportunity to imitate the Old Spice Man.  Nick really didn't want to take this picture and I think Camelia was a bit embarrassed as the Japanese tourists walked by with confused looks on their faces.  Worth it.

We rode up what was supposedly the steepest rail in the world... it was pretty steep, I'll give it that, but not a lot different from the vernaculars I rode in Valparaiso.  These were proper rail cars and the Valpo versions were more like a gondola on rails.  The ride only lasted about a minute, so don't go there expecting this spectacular train ride.

The last thing we did was go to another lookout to have a glass of champagne.  There was a nice shot of Wentworth Falls, although I wish we were able to stay there longer.  There were trails that led down to the falls, but since we were on the tour and a timetable, we didn't have time.  I'd really like to go back there and properly explore the mountains on a full day hike when I have time... which will be never.  If you're going to do a trip to the Blue Mountains, this one was ok.  You get to see a lot, but not for very long.  I think all of the guided tours are probably like that, so it would be best to rent a car and explore at your own leisure.

When we got home, I took Nick and Camelia to meet up with Caroline and Laura since she was back in town.  We went to Darling Harbor to I'm Angus Steak House for the best kangaroo steak I've had in the city.  If you've ever wondered what country eats the most kangaroo meat, it's Russia.  Thank you, Blue Mountains Tour Guide.  Anyway, the meat is delicious and you should try it.

I had to return to work the next day, so I left Nick and Camelia to explore the city on their own. They made it up to the zoo and did some shopping on their last day before returning to the States. We had talked about having Thai all weekend, so I did some research and found a place called Longrain in Surry Hills. It was in an old warehouse and pretty trendy (i.e. expensive). I must say that it was the best Thai I've had in Sydney and I'm definitely going to go back.

Nick bought a 5.5 foot didgeridoo, so I expect him to be an expert the next time I see him.  It's surreal to think that we've seen each other twice in the past 6 years, but it's like we pick up where we left off each time.  I'm looking forward to the next time, for sure.