Blinded by the Light

So my mom told me to update my blog. Here I go. After a particular crazy Saturday last week, (involving some of the funnier Australians I've met) my girlfriend arrived Sunday in the early AM. I picked her up at the airport at 7 AM and we came back to the Village, dropped her stuff off, and then took off for the Blue Mountains.

Having already visited the mountains during my prior visit to Australia, I was put in charge of our trip. This didn't bode well, as I had neither the patience for it or the itinerary planned. I had initially thought it was going to be just Sarah and I going, but a few other from my building (Artee, Janelle, Gail, and David) joined us because of the lack of quality provided by Colourful Trips. Dave proposed a stop off at Featherdale Wildlife Reserve to see some Australian animals up close and personal. I had no problem with this, seeing that I had little planned for our trip to the Blue Mountains. We caught a bus to Central Station, hopped on a train towards Doonside, and after an accidental detour (we didn't know we had to get off the train at Blacktown) we made it to the Wildlife reserve.

The reserve was an interesting place. They let some animals (Kangaroos and an Emu) roam around the park at certain points, and had others behind cages. They had a couple of Cassowaries (really large birds that resemble dinosaurs with fur) behind cages as well as Koalas. While the Koala is one of the most underwhelming animals I have ever seen, it was slightly different when they had a station set up to "pet the koala". After spending a solid portion of our day at the Wildlife reserve, we moved on.

The next stop was Katoomba. Unfortunately, we arrived at about 4:30. Lacking knowledge of the town, I didn't know if any bus/trams existed that would take us to Echo Point to see the Three Sisters. We ended up walking and catching the sunset. It was a beautiful sight! After watching the sunset we left and made it back to the city at around 9 PM.

The rest of the time here with Sarah was awesome. On Monday we went into the City, saw the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and the other famous Sydney sites. Tuesday we walked from Maroubra to Bondi Beach, a gorgeous but strenuous walk along the Pacific Coast, Wednesday we went to Manly, home of our teammate Ashley Curl, and then yesterday climbed a part of the Harbour Bridge and had Pancakes on the Rocks. Last night we parted ways (for now) as she takes off for a year in Taiwan. All in all a good trip.

Outside of that not much is going on. I have some reading to take care of and stay on top of and I'm waiting and praying about a job opportunity that I am waiting to hear from. Til next time, Cheers.