Sunnies - AUS Day 4

Today was a really fun experience. Brian and I booked a trip to the Blue Mountains in Australia. The Blue Mountains are about 1.5 hours west of Australia and are absolutely beautiful! The bus picked us up at 7:40am. For all of you out there, the latest I have slept in has been 9am....unbelievable! The bus was small (like what a metro mobility bus looks like) and had only 10 people. The bus driver gave us commentary to the first stop which was Featherdale Wildlife Park. The driver told us all about the history of Australia which was actually very interesting.

Featherdale Wildlife Park was such a neat experience. You walk into this little park and there are Kangaroos and Wallabies jumping all around you. They are not in cages, they are actually jumping/walking all around. We were able to pet and feed several kangaroos and wallabies. They are so cute!!! Both of them are very soft to the touch. When you feed them, they tend to grab at the food with there little front hands. They way they jump are so cute. We also got to see Koalas and there was one you could take a picture with and pet. Koalas are also very soft. They sleep all the time (my kind of animal!), but have very strong claws. You weren't able to hold one here, but it was really cool just to see one up close and touch it. The park also had wombats, birds, dingos, etc that were in cages. Brian and I absolutely loved petting the animals. We were only there for 1 hour (tour's choice), but we could have stayed there for hours. It was such a fun, cool experience and we loved it.

After the park we headed to the blue mountains. The blue mountains are still mined for coal. Coal is a huge industry in Australia. The mountains are named because in the distance they actually look blue. They look blue because Eucalyptus plants gives off gases that mix with the air and cause the blue hue. We stopped at several different viewing spots and saw a bunch of different, historic views of the mountains. The mountains are actually made out of sandstone and were created by two tectonic plates hitting and causing upward movement. The best way to describe the Blue Mountains are vast valleys and canyons - like the Grand Canyon, but green with trees. During lunch we went into the blue mountains and found this path that lead to the Katoomba falls. We walked into what looked like a rain forrest down and saw a beautiful waterfall. It kind of reminded me of the scenery in Twilight :) Afterwards we stopped in a little village and then took a ferry back to Circular Quay. From there, you guessed it, we walked home. That night we helped Emily and Ian put up there Christmas Tree. It is really hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it is so hot here!!!