As I mentioned previously in my first post on our amazing journey
Down Under, we booked a day tour for Wednesday, March 26th when we
arrived at the Travel Concierge desk at Sydney Airport upon our arrival.
With
that being said, the King & I woke up early Wednesday morning so we
could meet the bus in front of our hotel at 7:10AM. Since we had to get
up early we didn't have time to sit down to have our hearty breakfast
that morning. Instead we were able to arrange to get a boxed breakfast
at the front desk at 6:30AM. I went downstairs after I got cleaned up
& I brought them up for us. It turned out to be a great meal. It
consisted of an apple, a banana, a juice box, a hard boiled egg & a
croissant. As a result, we still we're able to eat well & we didn't have to overindulge.
 |
| AAT Kings Bus |
After
we ate, we went downstairs & we waited a few minutes then the bus
showed up. It was an AAT Kings Bus which is a local tour company in
Australia. We gave our names to David who was our driver & host for
the driving portion of the tour. Since we decided to purchase the whole
package they offered us we got to stay with David throughout the day. Like
many native Australians we met along the way, David was a friendly
mate. He narrated his escape from the rush hour traffic as he took the
bus lane to pass numerous cars as we drove over the famous Sydney
Harbour Bridge as we headed West towards the Blue Mountains &
Katoomba which is the heart of the resort region of the area.
During
the bus ride we got to see some videos to help us better understanding
the different places we were going to see throughout the day. We also
had access to WIFI on the bus which made it easy to reach out to family
& friends too.
 |
| Aboriginal holding a boomerang |
 |
| Aboriginal holding a tray of fire |
 |
| Aboriginals doing a dance |
After we saw the show, we walked around the shops
at the Waradah Aboriginal Centre until it was time to reboard the bus.
When we got back on the bus, David proceeded to drive us to the Scenic World which was the next stop of our day long getaway. Unfortunately
mother nature failed to cooperate as David had hoped. As a result, the
King & I were unable to see the famous Blue Mountains & the
Three Sisters sandstone rock formation. However, we did get to go on a
walk around the rain forest which was interesting. In addition, we got
to take the railway, the cableway & skyway hoping to see all the
beautiful scenery they have there. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be that particular
day as we didn't get to see that much.
 |
| Scenic World |
 |
| Rainforest at Scenic World |
 |
| Loaves and Dishes Cafe & Takeaway |
When
we finished up we got back on the bus as David drove to the village of Leura, which is a suburb of the Blue Mountains where we had our lunch at a restaurant in the Leura Mall called Loaves and the Dishes Cafe & Takeaway. I wound up having spaghetti which came with
a brownie & a bottle of water. It turned out to be a really good
meal. As for the King, since he's so picky when it comes to eating, he
decided to order the Asian chicken. He picked at it but he barely ate
any of it. After we got done, we walked around the area as we checked
out the shops that were there. When we finished, we went back to the
bus.
 |
| Featherdale Wildlife Park |
 |
| Koala sleeping |
 |
| Red Kangaroo with baby in pouch |
 |
| Little Penguins |
 |
| Tasmanian Devil after eating |
David then
drove us to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. With being said, we got to see
more Australian Wildlife. This time we spent an hour or so there. In the
process, we got to see more animals which included Swamp Wallabies,
Koalas, Red Kangaroos, Little Penguins, a common Wombat, a Tasmanian
Devil, pigs, goats and crocodiles. We had the luxury of feeding the
Kangaroos as well as seeing the Tasmanian Devil eat which is a rarity.
It was fun to see these different creatures again.
 |
| Sydney Olympic Park |
 |
| Anz Stadium |
 |
| Allphones Arena |
We
then returned to the bus as David drove us back towards Sydney. Before
he dropped us all off at our hotels, he decided to stop off at the Sydney Olympic Park. By doing so, we got to see Anz Stadium which was
the centerpiece of the 2000 Olympics. This venue is a multi purpose
stadium which is home of many teams & sports such as cricket,
Australian Rules football & rugby. In addition, we also got to see
the Allphones Arena which was across the way. This arena hosted some of
the Olympic events as well. It's the largest entertainment &
sporting arena in Australia. It holds 21,000 people. After we got off
the bus briefly we got back on as we headed back to our hotel. We
arrived back there shortly after 6PM.
Stay tuned for a special post that will go into detail about what we did for dinner.
Thank you for reading & following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
No comments:
Post a Comment