Nice Chris. 
Some of the boys: Spencer, Ben, Keith, Robin and Jack (aka Jackie) in the front.
Fake-looking view, but oh so real.
Ridin' the Scenic Railway.
Again.
Before the Scenic Railway -- so excited.
WaterfallToday: 9:00AM bus take off to the BLUE MOUTAINS for a weekend excursion. We hopped on a bus and headed to the botanical gardens near the Blue Mountains and a man named Allen (a self-proclaimed ecologist, communist, politician, and Santa Claus because of his giant white beard and beer belly) showed us around the gardens explaining different plants and their uses – very neat. Throughout the tour he would give us various leaves to rip up and smell (sarsaparilla, a lemon one, a black licorice tasting one, etc) and we also got to try this tiny fuscia colored fruit that tasted delicious. It’s solely in Australia and he joked about us taking seeds back to the US. Sometime after this we ran into a SNAKE, a brown snake to be exact. I think it’s the fourth deadliest in the world and could kill you in 45 minutes. Good thing no one got bitten, but Keith (one of the guys on the trip) looked like he was about to cry. He’s reallllly afraid of most reptiles and spiders and insects. That was enough excitement for that side trip so everyone hauled back onto the bus and we drove to the Scenic Railway.
The Scenic Railway is a tourist attraction that takes people down into the rainforest part of some canyon in the Blue Mountains. Well, when we were getting close to the place a huge storm started coming in from inland Australia (not the coast), something that hadn’t happened in the last ten years apparently! So we were lucky to watch this pouring rain, thunderstorms, lightning and hail from the safety of our bus in the parking lot of the Scenic Railway. Yay. Eventually the weather subsided and we trekked to the entrance. To get down to the rainforest level we had to go through a mine shaft (the place used to be an old mine) on a railway contraption. Before we did that there were Cockatoos (the big ones) flying EVERYWHERE. I think six would be on the ground at one time. Also, before we got on, we were told the waterfall to our left was the biggest it had been in two years because of the drought they’re in. Luckily, the storm we experienced made all the water bountiful. Walking around in the forest level I was SO GLAD to have my hiking shoes. Everything was muddy and unstable, so thanks mom and dad. Not much to say about the area that you can’t get from pictures, so look at those.
Upon arriving back on the bus, Nat and Howard warned to check for leeches. In the end we garnered seven leeches…but I was safe. Because it had rained the leeches were out in force and mostly got into people’s shoes and socks and were sucking around their toes. Sorry, but that’s creepy.
As a troupe, we would be spending the next two nights at the Jemby Rinja Eco-Lodge which was very swanky, in a camping lodge sort of way. Dinner was catered to us both nights and the first night we had chicken with a tasty sauce and chips (fries) with salad and dessert (a gourmet brownie with whipped cream). The second night was lasagna and potatoes in a sweet buttery sauce with a passion fruit meringue that was delicious. As for sleeping arrangements, I slept in a room with Anna and Kaitlin which was a great experience and we got a lot of girl talk in. I think we called it a night at around 11:00pm.
The Scenic Railway is a tourist attraction that takes people down into the rainforest part of some canyon in the Blue Mountains. Well, when we were getting close to the place a huge storm started coming in from inland Australia (not the coast), something that hadn’t happened in the last ten years apparently! So we were lucky to watch this pouring rain, thunderstorms, lightning and hail from the safety of our bus in the parking lot of the Scenic Railway. Yay. Eventually the weather subsided and we trekked to the entrance. To get down to the rainforest level we had to go through a mine shaft (the place used to be an old mine) on a railway contraption. Before we did that there were Cockatoos (the big ones) flying EVERYWHERE. I think six would be on the ground at one time. Also, before we got on, we were told the waterfall to our left was the biggest it had been in two years because of the drought they’re in. Luckily, the storm we experienced made all the water bountiful. Walking around in the forest level I was SO GLAD to have my hiking shoes. Everything was muddy and unstable, so thanks mom and dad. Not much to say about the area that you can’t get from pictures, so look at those.
Upon arriving back on the bus, Nat and Howard warned to check for leeches. In the end we garnered seven leeches…but I was safe. Because it had rained the leeches were out in force and mostly got into people’s shoes and socks and were sucking around their toes. Sorry, but that’s creepy.
As a troupe, we would be spending the next two nights at the Jemby Rinja Eco-Lodge which was very swanky, in a camping lodge sort of way. Dinner was catered to us both nights and the first night we had chicken with a tasty sauce and chips (fries) with salad and dessert (a gourmet brownie with whipped cream). The second night was lasagna and potatoes in a sweet buttery sauce with a passion fruit meringue that was delicious. As for sleeping arrangements, I slept in a room with Anna and Kaitlin which was a great experience and we got a lot of girl talk in. I think we called it a night at around 11:00pm.
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