Royalty Tours USA

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Royalty takes a tour to the Blue Mountains & sees more Australian Wildlife!‏

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. 

We made a number of different stops along the way as we got to attempt to see different attractions that Australia has to offer. Unfortunately mother nature didn't cooperate with us early on. As David said ‎& I quote "hopefully as the day goes on the sun will come out so we can see the Blue Mountains." It was wishful thinking on his part. 

Three Sisters World Heritage Plaza
Waradah Aboriginal Centre
Speaking of stops, we made our first one at ‎Echo Point, Katoomba where we got to visit the Three Sisters World Heritage Plaza. In addition, we also got to see a show at the Waradah Aboriginal Centre. By doing so, we got to experience Aboriginal songs & dances which are part of their unique culture.

Aboriginal playing an instrument
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

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