Sydney Eye and Maritime Museum Day 4

On day 4, we decided to get a 360 degree "bird's eye view" of the city and surrounding area by going up to the 250 m (820 ft) Sydney Tower Eye.  On our way we walked passed the Anzac memorial.

 Here is where we are headed!

 Walking through Hyde Park.

 In the Tower.  The views were great.  Here are a few samples.  You can see why ferries are such an important part of their transportation infrastructure.

After the Eye, we decided to head back to Circular Quay and walk across the Harbor bridge.  We had more great views of my favorite site in the city!

 From there we jumped on a ferry to head back towards Darling Harbor.

We decided to check out the Maritime Museum.  We toured three boats on the water in this picture.

 We started on the submarine.

 I wonder what she sees through the parascope?

 Ah, where we started the day!

 Then we headed over to the Vampire.

 Finally, we went on a replica of Captain Cook's ship that he used when he discovered Australia. 

 I am not sure Cory could have spent years on this ship hunched over like this!

 So much to see and do!  We only have a couple more days before we have to head home (but the last day will be a relaxing beach day!).

Pretty Bird!

While eating lunch and watching snow fall today, we saw a flock of finches in our front tree.  I think there were 7 or 8 of them.  They were very pretty - so I took a bunch of pictures!

 

 

 

 

Blue Mountains Day 3

On our third day in Sydney, we decided to head two hours west by train to the Blue Mountains.  The Blue Mountains are appropriately named: the scattering caused by high amounts of particles from the many Eucalyptus trees give everything in the distance a blue haze.  We spent a good deal of time hiking along the ridges.  It was nice to be out in nature and not see too many people (and luckily no spiders or snakes, either!) along the way.

We came across many waterfalls (or "leaps").

 

See the blue haze?!

 The cable running behind us is what the "Skyway" went across the gorge on.

Speaking of. We decided to hike rather than ride.  Though I am sure this also would have been very cool.

 We saw several parrots in the wild.  This was the best picture we got.  So colorful!

 Cockatoos, too.  All of those white birds below...and, man, are they loud!

 Witches Leap!

 Katoomba Falls.

Here are the "Three Sisters" from a distance.

  Another view of the Skyway

 Selfie!  We didn't see a lot of people while we were hiking.  It was very peaceful!

The drop-offs along the edge were very steep.  Apparently, this is their equivalent of the Grand Canyon.

We were able to walk right up to the Three Sisters by descending the Giant Staircase.  It was incredibly steep.

Kaylynn really enjoyed the legend of the Three Sisters.  She was pretty convinced the wizard was still in the valley looking for his wand to turn them back from stone.

 Leura Cascades.

 Bridal Veil Falls.

 

 The views were spectacular.

 

We did a lot of walking and were exhausted on the way home.  It was a great day trip.