So after a cruisy evening of catching up on all things from Sidcup (or Surrey as it is now for Laura and Ryan - they've recently bought a house together in Thames Ditton in Surrey. Anya is yet to see it as she left for her travels just a couple of weeks before they moved in) the excited group were up early doors for a day trip to The Blue Mountains. It is a must do day trip when you are in Sydney.
So, up and ready early (some taking longer than others) and down to the cafe to pick up some food. Anya's decision making skills still hadn't improved and she panic ordered an apple pastry when the woman asked what she wanted. It's not really what she wanted but she ate it anyway. And a coffee, which Laura was rather jealous about later as she watched her sipping on it on the bus.
Jimmy was their driver for the day. He was a in his mid 30's, with a huge head of blond dreadlocks and piercing blue eyes, and claimed that he was really random
"Ok guys when we get of at this stop" he ordered after driving for about an hour "you can go to the toilets and maybe pick up some water, and I want you back at the bus by 8:51am."
Little Jenny Allen laughed. Sarah did as well but more so at the french guy sitting next to her who was wearing white jeans and pointed black shoes. She wondered whether he realised that he was going to be walking around wooded mountains today, in which case the white jeans weren't a great choice. Laura and Ryan sat all excited about their first day of their holiday. Once all the toilet stops had been made and Ryan had eaten his second breakfast of the day, they were back on the bus, listening to Jimmy's stories about Austalia.
"This is one theory about how kangaroos got their name - when James Cook got to Australia he pointed to a kangaroo and asked a bunch of aboriginals what it was called. They looked at eachother all confused and whispered something aboriginal, and amongst that Captain Cook heard the word 'Kangaroo'"
The group weren't too convinced about this story, or the rest that he was telling but it was something interesting to listen to whether they were true or not! They got to the national park and hopped out the bus. Over yonder were some kangaroos so the group went on over and took some pictures. Then it was on to a viewpoint of the blue mountains. Up so high and the weather already so glorious, the views were stunning. Sarah and little Jenny Allen went and sat near the edge of the mountain which Anya was a bit nervous about but they got some great pictures. And then on to the start of 'the walk'. As they walked along the path, listenin to even more stories, Little Jenny Allen picked up a poo-like looking bit of wood and pretended to be doing a poo. Anya rose to her usual maturity levels and couldn't stop laughing. And took a picture.
"That's definitely going in the sitcom"
Jimmy Bush told the group that there was a long walk which took about 2 hours and had been branding medium to hard by actual mountain hikers. Little Jenny Allen wasn't sure if her little legs could take it on and Sarah had a doctors note about her exercise allergy, so it was Laura, Ryan and dubious Anya. She was only dubious about all the heights and thought back to a similar looking mountain hike back in Laos. So away they went, down hundreds of steps to get to the depths of the mountain. And what beautiful sights they saw. Ryan was simply over excited about it all and the trio had a good giggle and proper catch up about everything that had been going on over the last 7 months. Anya was so happy to have her best pal Laura with her. So giggles, and laughs, giggles and laughs. They soon stopped giggling and laughing when the upward steps began. At first they were fine but 45 minutes on and there was still some way up to go, it was flaming hard work.
"Can we stop for water?" Anya pleaded as she also regretted ever smoking any cigarettes. So they made a few stops. Then they heard voices! Yes! Nearly there! But it turned out to be Jimmy Bush who had come down to check they were all ok. Finally after another twenty minutes or so of upward steps, they reached the top. Anya could feel her face glowing like the sunshine on the hottest day. They were well satisfied about their walk. They were greeted by Little Jenny Allen and Sarah eating an ice cream. After a few moments and some splashes of cold water in the nearby toilets, they made their way to the van and were escorted to a spot for lunch. Pie and a salad.
And then relentlessly on to the next walk... back down in to the depths of the mountains. But this time there was a train to take them back up again.. 'The steepest train in the world' it was called. And it was. The group all trembled a little as they were taken up backwards at a vertical angle. Ryan even admitted that he thought about his actions if the whole thing had callapsed and the train had gone the other way off over the mountain. Luckily it didn't.
The journey home saw Sarah falling asleep whilst Little Jenny Allen and Anya continued to talk about their new sitcom and how ridiculously funny it was going to be. Before they got dropped off at the hostel, Jimmy Bush took the group to Sydney Stadium. Little Jenny Allen contemplated having a hotdog but got talked out of it seeing as they were about to go for some dinner. She still regretted that decision as she was going home two days later. Hotdogs were her favourite.
The evening awaited them and they all decided to head to Darling Harbour and have a quiet meal to finish their tiring day. And what a meal it was. Steaks all round, and even though the service was shite, the food was far from it.
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