Sydney day 2

Since we turned off the lights early last night, we were up early this morning. Bob was up at 4am and I made it till 5.   We dressed and headed out for breakfast. Starbucks was still closed so next stop was MacDonald's. Here in Australia they have a limited menu. No egg white deluxe so I had to get an egg McMuffin instead. Bob tried the Aussie Brekkie.  Lots of meat and no egg.  Interesting.

After eating, we walked to the Quay and watched the Carnival Spirit dock.  We walked up the stairs to get a better view.  And then we headed back to the hotel.

Our hotel is in the center of this picture.  The Four Seasons.  Our room has a view of the city.  Not the best but if we wanted a water view, we would have had to pay an additional $200.00 per day and we are not here to look out the window.

On the way back to the hotel, we got a great view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.  When we were here several years ago, Bob walked the bridge tour.  But not this year.  When he did it, it cost $85.00 and today it is about $300.00 to take the tour.

We have a tour today. We are going up to the Blue Mountain.  We were bus number one.  The bus was not full so Bob and I spread out.  The ride to Blue Mountain took about two hours.  Our first stop was at Echo Lookout.  Here you can see the valley and the Three Sisters.  We only stayed here for about a half hour and then on to Scenic World.

 The Three Sisters are the three rock formations behind me.

 A better view of the Three Sisters.

Here we took the Scenic Railway to the bottom of the valley.  It is a ride at 52 degree incline.  It is the steepest passenger train in the world.  We walked the boardwalk in the valley and then took the Scenic Cableway back up to the top.  This is Australia's biggest cable car.  It carries 84 persons and travels 545 meters up or down.

The Scenic Railway travels at a speed of 5 MPH or so.  A slow ride but steep.

The tracks of the railway.  You might get an idea of how steep it is.

And then to get back up we took the Cableway.

The outside of the hotel.

The dining room of this hotel.

We then headed to the hotel for a lunch.  We sat with Phil and Naomi from Park City, Utah, Dawn and Mike from Pittsburg, PA, Ken and Ann from England, and Ira and Bobbie from Hilton Head, SC.  Lunch was okay but the conversation was great.

After lunch we walked about the town of Katoomba. Bob and I visited a church.  St. Hilda anglican Church.  Here were three very nice ladies to talk to us about the church.  Now we need to research St. Hilda.

On the ride back to Sydney we took a different route and this time crossed the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

We headed back to the room for a short nap and then out for dinner.  The restaurant the hotel suggested was Wolfies at The Rocks.   So we walked over to this area and while we were walking, the Carnival Spirit blew its horn to let us know it was leaving.  So as we sat at this outdoor restaurant, we got to watch the Spirit leave.  This is a fairly big ship and it looks like it takes up the entire harbor as it turns around.  A little while later, the P&O Dawn came from under the bridge.  It was docked where we will be docked.  Our dinner was okay.  Prices here in Sydney are really high.  Will be great to get on the ship and not have to worry about how much we are spending, having already spent it.