Natural Blues

It was another early morning rise for a tour pick-up of 7:30a.  There was plenty of choice to take a tour up to the World Heritage site and National Park just an hour outside Sydney, ranging in cost from $55 to $200 for a day trip. 

 

Once again after devoting time and effort into choosing a tour operator, I opted for Sydney Tours R Us that was priced in between the range provided above.  The company had an extensive 20yr history as an operator possessing a lot of favourable reviews and accolades.  

Originally I had opted to take the tour on Friday, but weather conditions postponed the journey until Saturday.  The company was very good at updating me on the status of the trips via email, which helped reinforce my decision at the time.

We were a full lot of tourists on the mini coach with 21 in total including 7 Danes, 6 Singaporeans, 3 Brits (Londoners), 2 Yanks (from NY) and a couple from Toronto (actually Thornhill).  I was seated near the front in one of singles that led me to have some interesting conversation with our guide John throughout the day.

John was a very engaging gent far better than Dave from my last tour.  He was a spirited individual who was born in Belgium, but has been residing in the Sydney area for past 40yrs.  He possessed a lot of great knowledge about Sydney and our destination from cultural history to infrastructure growth.  His dry sense of humour allowed me to forgive his disdain for cyclists.  

Larry, Curly and Moe?

Our first stop was to Sydney Olympic Park.  It was a brief stop and go that would become a sign of things to come. This part of the tour could have been skipped as we were there a mere 20min to take a couple of images of the stadium and have a bathroom break.  Nevertheless, it was a destination I wanted to get to and I’ll return by ferry with bike in tow as there is ample space to cycle around the grounds. 

We then headed over to Featherdale Wildlife Park, which is really a mini zoo.  This place was originally a bird sanctuary, so there were an abundance of winged creatures to view.  Unfortunately, they were all in cages, which I often have a problem with; however, many of the other animals were in open air areas.  

Wallaby

There were a few species that I hadn’t seen in person yet including wombats, dingoes and other variations of Roos like Big Reds and Albino.  The Big Red Roos weren’t full grown adults so it was a little less impressive as they get over 2m in size. Albino Roos are quite rare since they are easy prey for predators and at times attacked by other Roos to avoid being spotted themselves. 

Albino Kangaroo

The attraction was certainly a domesticated environment for the animals as you could pet the Koala’s that weren’t sleeping like this fella.  There was also a walk in enclosure where you could feed Kangaroos, Wallabies and Emus.  Having been conformed to human contact these creatures were basically begging for food and petting to anyone and everyone. Pshaw, I didn’t give in to their cuteness knowing their treacherous ways.  

I made my over to the reptilian pavilion to witness the crocodile live feeding.  The beast was an impressive creature over 4m in size that was far too large for the small pond they had created for it.  

There was an interesting tale for this once wild salt water crocodile.  He was captured from the Northern Territory after creeping into the Aboriginal village and eating a few dogs.  Initially another wildlife sanctuary claimed the overgrown lizard saving him from a bullet in order to breed.

Saltwater crocs are a very territorial creature, so our captured prisoner killed off his first mate. Heeee.  He was then presented with another alluring lass, which he quickly disposed of in the same manner.  Ha!  Finally, Featherdale laid claim to him offering a dedicated area all to himself. 

As with most wildlife in captivity they quickly adapt themselves to human interference especially knowing they are being fed on a daily basis, which is extremely atypical for a crocodile that can go more than a month without a meal. 

Before

After

Staged on a balcony about 5’ above the pond, the park attendant dangled a dead rabbit carcass at the end of a rod.   The lazy sot hardly moved a budge, so the attendant egged him on by splashing the daily feed into the water to engage its senses, which finally got the croc astir.  After a few more moments of teasing the beast, the reptile made an impressive leap out of water to snatch the prey.  Check it out!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see any Tasmanian Devils (Tassies) as they were in hiding due to the excessive heat and humidity the day brought with it.  I did see a Dingo, which looks like a lean Lab/Husky cross.  Obviously they were caged beasts given their feral ways.  Nevertheless, I grabbed some good photos before we set about our trek to the Blue Mountains. 

Beware of the sleeping Wombat!

The moniker to this area is due to the oil that seeps out from the gum trees throughout the rainforest and Jemison Valley which the sun reflects off of creating a natural haze with a blue tinge.  As we approached the tourist laden Scenic World the skies opened up for a good 45min for a healthy downpour of rain.  This was both a good and bad twist of fate.

Katoomba Falls

The good was that the overcast that ensued allowed us to witness the blue haze over the valley as well as witness Katoomba Falls in full force along with other waterfalls along the cliff side that wouldn’t typically be visible without rainfall. The unfortunate part was this act of nature curbed our time slotted to take walks through the rainforest.  Regrettably I only managed to take a 30min hike as opposed to the 90min journey I intended.  

I did fork over some extra cash at Scenic World to take all three ‘rides’ being the Cableway, Cable Car and board the world's steepest railway down to the valley. 

The Three Sisters

 The Cableway provided an excellent overhead shot of Katoomba Falls and the Cable Car enabled a view of the famed Three Sisters rock formation.  We were able to get better pictures of these formations from our next vista at Echo Point.

Jemison Valley

I felt like our time at the feature destination was cut very short and was merely a pit stop in our day’s activities.  I realize in large part this was due to the unexpected rainfall, but it was disappointing all the same.  I certainly didn’t feel as though I got my money’s worth although John was a good guide. 

We were also on a tight schedule to get back to Olympic Park to catch the ferry ride back to Sydney along the Parramatta River for the 5:20p boarding as opposed to the originally intended 6:40p time.  This was due to accommodate our young American couple that had performance tickets for the early evening, who interestingly enough were late for every bus rendezvous.  They also initially opted out of Scenic World only to change their minds part way though causing John to double back to pick them up.  Of course, they didn’t seem to care as to the ripple effect it caused all other parties and you wonder why our neighbours to the south get a bad tourist rap internationally. 

The trip down the Parramatta River was nice a ride providing scenery to the shoreline homes and good panoramic views of downtown Sydney, The Harbour and the Opera House.  

Still some of the tour itinerary could not be satisfied including Wentworth Falls, town of Leura and Boar’s Head Rock as well as the brief stop in the Blue Mountains themselves.  Overall I give the tour a rating of 2.5/5.  Maybe I’m too subjective given my hospitality roots, but I think I’ll try to avoid other tours in favour of self-guided expeditions for the rest of my time away.