Sunday 2nd December 2007

We got up nice and early this morning and rushed down for the free breakfast - only to find that the check out at the Big! hostel is 11am and not 10am like most other places. Poor Steve wished he known that earlier - he went out last night with the guy who he's going to be living with in Sydney and had quite a sore head this morning! When it was checking out time, we got our things together and walked round to the train station.

The journey to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, took about 2 hours. First we had to catch a bus to a place called Black Town, where we changed and got on a train to take us the rest of the way. We'd already booked our accommodation for our stay, so as soon as we jumped off, we walked round to the YHA. The hostel is amazing! It looks like a posh country manor, with massive rooms and amazing views from the patio balcony out the back.

Once we were settled in, the first thing we did was rush out for pizza - we were all absolutely starving... so much so, we had a large pizza each! When we'd scoffed down our food (Nikki and the Beave' were kidding themselves when they said they were going to save some for their tea - and then ate the lot. I knew all along it would all go), me and Nikki went out for a walk. The Beave' decided to stay behind because he said he needed to rest... the wimp. We spoke to reception and decided we go to visit the Scenic World, which includes the steepest railway in the world.

Rather than catch the train up and down, we got to the top and walked down. We didn't have long because the last train back up was at 4.55pm - and it was about 4.15pm now... we'd have ran if we had to - there was no way we were walking back up the thousands of steps! I'm glad we did walk down though, because the view was fantastic - right through the rainforest, and because it had been raining before we arrived - everything looked really lush and green, with waterfalls running across the rocks. When we eventually made it to the bottom, we had a look around at the mining sites that are down there and then boarded the train for the ride to the top. The train was crazy! When it's sat on level ground you sit tipped right back in your chair - but when it starts to climb you're suddenly sat upright and it's the train that's running at an impossible angle... 52°. We made it safely back to the top and walked back in the glorious sunshine (even though the weather reports said there were going to be thunder storms) to the YHA.

The Beave' seemed to be feeling better when we got back - so we all sat outside on the patio, and read our books in the sunshine. When the sun had started to set we all came inside and sat by the fire - where the Beave' and Nikki fell asleep.

The Blue Mountains are a MUST for anyone visiting Sydney!