We arrived in Sydney Australia on April 17th. A milestone for us in a couple of ways as Australia is the sixth continent we have visited and the 72nd country. How blessed we are to have these experiences. Stepping off the plane put us into a whole different world than we had been in for the last few weeks. We were now in a city of 4 1/2 million people with all the modern comforts. That being said Sydney is a beautiful city situated on the harbour and so easy to get around in either by foot, train, bus or ferry. There is so much to see and do within the city and the surrounding area that we had to pick and choose. We started off our time as we often do in large cities doing a tour on the Hop on Hop off bus tour of the whole city. We got to see all the major sights with a good explanation of same. We got off and spent some time at Bondi Beach taking in the atmosphere and sunshine and enjoying a seafood lunch along the beach. We are here during a school holiday so the beach was crowded with teenagers having a good time. We did a historical walking tour of the rocks which is where the convicts from Britain first settled and enjoyed our first Australian meal there. The minimum wage here is 24 dollars so tipping is not the norm and on holidays they add an automatic 10 percent to your bill to help pay the overtime for the staff. A bit cheeky but good for the business owner. Our first tour outside Sydney took us to the Blue Mountains which are beautiful yet we would call them hills. While there we rode the worlds steepest railway from the valley which did give one great views. Our visit to the Jenolan Caves was spectacular. The caves are massive and it took 1 1/2 hours to go through just one section of them. The formations and twists and turns were incredible. Years ago the convicts used to hide out here and the authorities did not know they existed so they went undiscovered for a long time. The stalagmites and crystals within the caves absolutely sparkled. It was a 12 hour day but very worthwhile.
The view from our hotel room
The iconic Sydney bridge. A walk over the bridge gives you great views of the city and the harbour
The bridge from below
One of the most recognized buildings in the world, the Sydney Opera House
The Opera House looks different from every angle
Appropriate graffiti
The famous Bondi Beach with a very wide expanse of sand
Enjoying the sun and place
Did not swim but had to at least go wading
Waterfall and rock formations as we descended into the valley of the Blue Mountains in a cable car
Blue Mountains
The Three Sisters formation,famous in the mountains
Steep descent in the cable car
The tropical forest walk in the valley had many of these unusual to us, tree ferns
Looking over the valley on the ride up on the worlds steepest railway
Eric entering the caves
Narrow passages and wonderful formations
Impossible to capture the beauty
The break in this stalagmite show how the rock formations in the cave are shifting over the years
Felt like a wonderland
This picture shows some of the glittering that appeared throughout the caves. Simply beautiful.
Shows some perspective of the immense size as this was a very small part of the cave.
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