Next couple of Days...

Tuesday
What a busy day! Looking back to yesterday it seems like soo long ago (writing this Wednesday). Tuesday morning we were up early.. down to breakfast at the Travelodge in down town Sydney.. and then off to the Opera house for a tour. Fantastic! The tour guide was a (Jodi please fill in this word.. the guy from the book you were reading on the way to Kenny Chesney??).
The opera house is actually in two sections.. there is the opera/ballet stage and then there is the concert stage. Our tour was just prior to the Australian ballet doing a full dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker. I was VERY tempted to just hide under my seat quietly for an hour or so and wait for THAT to come on.. talk about missing out by days.. it starts on Friday! From there we walked around the wharf to the ferry terminal and hopped on the most crazy ferry ride I have ever been on! Apparently where the Sydney harbor meets the ocean.. there are some big waves.. HUGE.. so huge.. that when you are standing outside on the ferry you get soaked! Talk about a blast! Mom and I were giggling like crazy while some of the more mature ladies in our group were not so impressed. I would sooo pay to do that “ride” again. Anyways.. the ferry was to Manly Beach.. cute little town.. with a beach.. yay! Where it was pouring rain.. boo! But there were still people surfing! So neat that there are just little bays with beaches right beside such a huge city!
From the beach all of us drowned rats went to the prerequisite quilt store for the day.. it smelled like fresh waffle cones outside here so going to the quilt store instead of for dessert was difficult! The fabric is starting to all look the same.. so similar in fact that there are ladies that have found out after that they have bought the same fabric twice.. in one case even three times!
Back to the hotel for a freshen up and then back down to the wharf for our dinner cruise. This boat was much smoother sailing and we all stayed dry.. well aside from champagne and wine consumption. Haha! The champagne they served was super yummy. “Tyrell’s Brut” (can someone maybe tell me if they sell this at home? Otherwise I will bring back a bottle..) – I will always love the Martini Asti.. but this stuff was really going down good! After the dinner cruise and right at my usual early bedtime we went to this lady’s house where she showed us a bunch of antique quilts.. I swear mom was pulling an umpa and totally nodding off beside me.. and yes.. it was kinda boring.. zzzzz
Wednesday
Up and on the bus this morning by 8. Goodbye Sydney. First stop – wildlife park.. stay tuned for pics from here. We saw every Australian animal imaginable.. cept for this echidna thing.. my favorite was the little fairy penguins! They were SOOO cute.. they were totally playing in the water.. rolling around and splashing like little kids!
On to Mount Victoria.. cute little heritage town where we had lunch at the Imperial hotel. Welcome to the Blue Mountains. Very pretty mountains that are more like hills/rimrocks.. highest altitude is about 1000 metres.. and it’s a big rainforest. Views very much like Costa Rica – and foggy like that was too.. Then the land just sorta ends.. and you are on the tops of these cliffs.. and you can see the edge of the cliffs all around. Google “three sisters + blue mountains” and you should find something about them. We went to two different viewpoints for pictures as well as to “Scenic World” where we took a railcar thing down an old mine shaft tunnel to the bottom of the cliffs and then walked a boardwalk through the rainforest.. we picked the 30 min walk.. on the slippery wood.. I being the clutzy one on this trip ofcourse fell on my ass.. again.. LOL – at the end of the walk we were able to take a cable car (like in Jasper) back up to the top of the “mountain” again. Unfortunately they cram you into those things like sardines so so much for taking pictures of the scenic views..
Our hotel tonight is in Leura, which is near Katoomba (I think).. we went to the “RSL club” (legion equivalent) in Katoomba for supper.
Tomorrow we are going to tour some caves and then tour on to Hunter Valley. Crossing my fingers for no more rain!!

Thursday..
Sorry no pictures.. I have taken a ton but this internet cant even login to facebook let alone upload photos!
And ps. as of now it is pissing rain - hope its nicer where we are going today!