Thursday, December 21, 2023
This was our last full day in Sydney. Went down to breakfast at 6:30 a.m. and had to be in the lobby ready to go at 7:15 a.m. Today's itinerary included a visit to the Featherdale Wildlife Sanctuary, followed by a drive up to the Blue Mountains to experience a walk through Scenic World, followed by a lunch at Echo Point.
The drive to Featherdale took about an hour. Skies were still gray today and it was a little drippy out, but that worked in our favor because many of the animals on display at Featherdale are marsupials that generally hide out in bright sunshine. We entered the sanctuary and almost the first thing we saw were lots of wallabies all walking (I guess hopping is the better term) about amongst all the visitors. It was very cool.
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| Wallabies at Featherdale |
You could actually buy food (a mix of grass and seeds) to feed the animals (Wallabies, Kangaroos, and some of the birds that wander around/aren't caged). Since they aren't 'caged' and are well fed by the tourists they are all pretty tame and will come right up to you.
Kangaroos come in all sizes, but the biggest 'Roos are pretty darn tall. There's a display at the sanctuary so you can see how you measure up to a large kangaroo.
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| Carl measures up to a Roo |
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Anne is much shorter than a Roo or Emu
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Other creatures we saw included wombats, a Tasmanian Devil (looks nothing like in the Warner Bros. cartoons), Koalas, lots of beautiful birds, and an albino wallaby!
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| Wombat at Featherdale (they bite) |
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| Tasmanian Devil at Featherdale |
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| Koala at Featherdale |
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| Albino wallaby at Featherdale |
Just, FYI, Kangaroo is an aboriginal word meaning "big foot" or "big feet" and Koala means "no water" or "no drinking" because Koalas do not drink. They get all the moisture they need from eating eucalyptus leaves.
We left Featherdale and then headed up to the Blue Mountains to Scenic World. They get their name from all of the eucalyptus trees that grows there, which from the air looks very blue. Scenic World is a series of walkways and cableways in an area of the Blue Mountains built around some sheer cliffs that were mined many years ago. It's got a very lush rainforest/Jurrasic Park vibe about it.
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| Map of Scenic World |
The first cableway is Red and with a 52-degree incline is the steepest passenger railway in the world (much steeper than the Duquesne incline in Pittsburgh, which is only a 30-degree incline).
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| Looking back up the Red Railway |
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| Coming down through the tree canopy on the Red Railway |
Descending down through the tree line (that was fog enshrouded) really did remind me of Jurassic Park! Our walk through the walkway path at Scenic World took about 20 min. and we got to see the remains of mining operations and look at some pretty impressive ferns, and acacia trees!
We left Scenic World and went off to Echo Point (only about 5 min. away) for a lovely lunch consisting of pumpkin soup with fresh bread and butter, beef brisket with root vegetables and chicken with roasted corn, salad, and chips (aka french fries) and finished with a lovely piece of orange cake. Then it was back on the bus for a 2+ hour ride back to the hotel. On the way, we got to watch a 50-minute DVD all about kangaroos in the wild. Did you know that a group of kangaroos is called a "mob"? I learned something new today!
Tonight we pack up and put cruise tags on our luggage which has to be outside our door and ready to go
at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Our 4-tour of Sydney starts promptly at 8 a.m. and should finish just in time to drop us off at the ship terminal at 12 noon. Oh boy - the cruise part of our trip starts tomorrow!!!
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