Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Sydney, Australia. Excursion: Discover the Blue Mountains.

Mum and baby koala

I know that I have had little motivation for writing and keep promising myself that I will do so. Another day goes by ... and still no more writing. I am getting behind with my blogs now and will need to do some serious catching up, and in date order. I was going to make a start today but I got a call from shore excursions last night, asking if I would like to go on a tour - they needed people to make up the seats otherwise the tour couldn't run. So I said I would go (I went on the same tour about 2 years ago but I didn't mind going again). I needed to get off the ship for a bit.

Anyway, before I get started about today's tour...

Yesterday was a sea day and a day for me to relax. Last night We were due to go to a body weight bootcamp held by one of the gym staff but unfortunately Paul had to be up early this morning for the ship's arrival in Sydney and headed to bed early, so he cancelled. When Paul went to bed before 8pm I attended a variety show - music by a pianist (Bernard Walz), and a ventriloquist. Both gave a good show, even though they had about 20 minutes each on stage. The ventriloquist is a young chap of 21 who has been performing ventriloquist shows since he was 14. It was a cheeky act and targeted a guest in the audience. Poor woman, she was the butt end of the jokes for most of the performance but took it with good grace and humour - to the delight of the audience.

We arrived in White Bay, Sydney, without any hiccups and soon the ship was a flurry of activity with guests and crew departing, new crew arriving, cleaning, loading of goods and groceries, and much more.

Wombat

The tour group I was assigned to - all of 8 guests along with Grace (the Captain's wife) and Liz from Shore Excursions - boarded a 50 seater bus for the trip towards the Blue Mountains. The route out of White Bay/Sydney was very busy with lots of major roadworks. Our driver negotiated it without breaking into a sweat. At least traffic heading out of Sydney was flowing relatively smoothly. Traffic heading in towards Sydney was at a standstill and we were glad that we weren't in it!

Echidna

Our first stop, en-route to the Blue Mountains, was the Featherdale Wildlife Park. I know last time I visited Featherdale I didn't have much time to get around the site. Time was limited again but I managed to go through it at a fairly rapid pace. I wouldn't really call it a wildlife park because animals and birds were in cages or enclosures. It was mainly kangaroos and wallabies that were roaming quite freely and visitors could feed them. I did manage to see the wombats, dingoes and a Tasmanian devil - which I didn't get to see at the same park 2 years ago.

Story of how the Aboriginals found the didgeridoo

Unfortunately a guest kept us waiting so we were a bit late for our next stop - a show at the Waradah Aboriginal Centre in Katoomba within the Blue Mountains. We were about 7 minutes late which, for me, spoilt the beginning of the show because it involved a smoke cleansing ceremony - which I know is rather interesting. Anyway, we were still able to see the rest of the half hour show. Aboriginal staff talked about culture, art, weapons and dance of their people; as well as explaining the meaning of their body paint. They told the story of how the didgeridoo came into being and how it is played. Towards the end there were a few short dances, depicting e.g. a kangaroo or an owl, etc., and they played the didgeridoo too. It was enjoyable and their efforts were appreciated by the audience.

The Three Sisters

After the show we had time to browse around the Centre's shop and then walk down to a viewpoint to see the rock formation known as the Three Sisters, the Jamison Valley, Mount Solitary and and another rock formation - the Ruined Castle. There is a walkway along the cliffs, part of which one can visit the Three Sisters, but unfortunately I didn't have time to walk there as I had done in the past.

The Blue Mountains is described in a tour brochure, as "a UNESCO World Heritage Site area of breathtaking views, cascading waterfalls, rugged tablelands, sheer cliffs and deep, inaccessible valleys covering more than 2.5 million acres".

Interior of the Mountain Heritage Hotel

Time was marching on so we headed on to the Mountain Heritage Hotel for lunch. The hotel has a lovely view over the Blue Mountains - the dining room and lounge windows all facing the escarpment over towards the Jamison Valley. The hotel inside is decorated very nicely - oldy worldy. Lunch was either fish or chicken with vegetables, and pavlova afterwards. Yum.

Back on the bus we headed to the ship. Traffic on the way to White Bay wasn't too bad and we were well in time to get back to the ship. In view of this Liz (from Shore Excursions) asked the tour guide if we would have enough time to visit a scenic point and take photographs. Both the driver and guide discussed the viability of taking us to a viewpoint vs traffic but in the end they decided not to. Traffic coming out of Sydney was at a standstill and we would not be back at the ship in time if we ventured into the city. Apparently, as it was, coach drivers took 2 hours trying to get ship's departing guests to the airport from the ship. We understood our driver and guide's predicament and made do with going back to the ship. In fact, I was glad to get back because I was tired from the long day.

I had enjoyed the tour and would like to visit the Blue Mountains one day, on a personal level, to explore them further.

Soon after we left the dock I went outside to take some photographs. Just as we were heading around a corner in the bay a ferry, full of passengers, came into sight. It decided not to sail in front of the ship but instead reversed and waited until we passed by - a nice viewing for the ferry's guests!

The Maasdam has set sail on her new cruise voyage: Pacific Exploration Cruise, getting back to Sydney in about a month's time. Our first stops will be Tauranga and Auckland in New