Blue Mountains tour

On Tuesday we went on a full day tour to the Featherdale Wildlife Park and the Blue Mountains. The shuttle picked us up at the school at 7am. After picking up other members of the group we then first rode around the Rocks. This is the oldest area of the town, where the first settlers, mostly family members of convicts, lived. These days it is an upscale neighborhood, with most expensive rents. Then we went north west of the city toward the wildlife park. We were supposed to arrive there 1 hour before the park opened and have it just for ourselves, but the driver missed the exist, and since we were already running late, we got there just 15 min before the opening. Even that little time made a big difference before a huge bus group arrived; we were able to play with the animals without the crowd. We first saw a wombat, and even though a sign said “we bite” he was letting me pet his belly. After that we played with koalas (which means “needs no water” and they virtually drink not water and can stay up on the trees for days just eating eucalyptus tree leaves. Those are very toxic, so in order to process that out, they have to sleep up to 19 hours a day). They had few koalas up on short tress, and gave them leave branches, so we were able to feed them and pet them. They are super cute, like a stuffed animal. Next were the kangaroos (which means “I don’t know”. Apparently, when first settlers came they had a guide explaining them different animals, and since he wasn’t from the region when kangaroos live, he didn’t know about them. So when they asked him which animal it was he said “kangaroo”=I don’t know, and that’s how they named the animal) Kangaroos were just walking and hoping around us. We had some cones with grass mix to feed them with, and they would just come up to us and let us pet them. One had a little baby in the pouch, super cute.We saw a dad come up and lick the baby, until mom got tired of it and simply pushed him away. After the park we went up on a 1 hour ride toward the mountains. We stopped at couple of sites to see the views, and it was very windy and cold. There was another kangaroo standing on his back lags, who let me scratch him under his arm, then belly and neck. When he then he started scratching his back, and I helped scratch him at that spot, he liked my hand as to tank me. I also saw several cool birds there, a dingo, and albino kangaroo, but those above were the highlights.
The weather is still fantastic, with no clouds. After taking pictures at three sisters, we went on 3 cable car rides over the falls and cliffs. Then of to warm and delicious lunch at a country club followed by a hike in a subtropical forest. At the end of the day, we stopped shortly at the Olympic Park and came back to the city via ferry. We had dinner at the Australian hotel pub; kangaroo and emu pizzas.
Our visit in Sydney is over. Tomorrow we go to Melbourne.