I Made it up to the Blue Mountains

Last week was a pretty exciting one for me in that I did more than just one activity outside of my schoolwork.  Though some of my plans fell through (I was planning to go to the Wildlife Zoo with a few friends), it didn't bring me down in the least because I still have so much time to explore.  Instead of going to the zoo we just went for a really delicious dinner in Chinatown.  I'm all about the new experiences while I'm over here.  I have never been for Chinese hot pot before and it did not disappoint.  My friends Zhouya and Christine and I met on campus and walked over to the hot pot restaurant.  For those of you who, like I used to be, have never tried hot pot,  it is more or less a broth-based fondue.  We each got our own spicy broth and flame to keep it hot, then we ordered different plates of vegetables, noodles, and meat to share and put into our broths to cook.  It was filling and a fun interactive meal.  The dumplings were my favourite!

This was only half of the plates we ordered but there was no room on the table. 

As a special treat, we also grabbed dessert from a hole in the wall.  Literally.  Around the corner was a little window that sold these cream puff type things that were fresh made, warm and so tasty.  Despite its small size, it was very popular with a line of people waiting to get their hands on the puffs.  For all of you concerned, I will certainly get to the wildlife zoo at some point.  I can't believe I've lasted this long without seeing a kangaroo!

That was my Wednesday night.  Then on Friday night I went (or at least attempted to) go to the Vivid Sydney light festival that is taking over different areas around Sydney for the next month or so.  It was an event with PhotoSoc the photography club that I joined.  However, I wasn't actually able to find the meeting spot.  If I am completely, honest, the organizers probably could have been a bit more specific than saying meet at the Royal Botanic Gardens, a large park, on opening night of the festival.  But, I guess I can't hold it against them. (I sincerely hope that the sarcasm wasn't lost there, it was really not a big deal.) In any case, I did go through the Botanic Gardens to see the different light effects there, but I was overwhelmed by people.  I really dislike being restricted to the slow pace of a huge crowd.  I only lasted about an hour before I headed home because I needed my own space.  But, here are a few snaps that I got before I retreated:

The beauty of it is that I still have several weeks to check it out and take better pictures.  I think perhaps a week night will be less crowded.

To top off the week I went on a hiking/camping trip in the Blue Mountains.  I met up with five other people from the Sydney University Bushwalking Society, including our leader Bruce, a very nice older gentleman, and four other twenty-something girls, and we drove up in two cars together to do some hiking.  In keeping with the theme of last week, our initial plans, as organized by our leader Bruce, did not end up happening.  The hike we were meant to do on the Saturday had been turned to private property so we could not do it.  But, Bruce was very knowledgeable about other options in the area and we chose to walk along the abandoned zigzag railway track.

We came to a clearing where this was the view, so naturally stopped to have lunch and take it in.

Photo courtesy of Bruce.  What do you do when you find an abandoned train, board it and play pretend of course!

After we headed back to the cars to drive to where we were camping, which was right at the start of the Sunday's hike.  To get there, we had to drive on a dirt road with the biggest pot holes I have ever seen.  It was an hour-long roller coaster with red dust flying everywhere.  But, we made it one piece and could only laugh about how near death we were.  I believe this means that I have officially been to the Australian bush.  We got campsite set up and the girls went for a short little walk before the sun completely set while Bruce made a fire.

Photo Credit: Bruce; L to R: Cathie, Nina, Bruce, Vic, Joyce, and yours truly.

We ate together and chatted around the fire.  There was also a spontaneous Waltzing Matilda rendition and a few lessons on how to be an authentic Australian.  I wish I took notes, because their instructions are eluding me at the moment, but I am sure I will have more opportunities to learn.  We also went on a short starlight walk before we headed off to bed.  There were so many stars that night, it was beautiful! 

Here is my second attempt at photographing the milky way.  I clearly forgot what I learned from my last trip about having a good foreground because the trees here are in the way.  But, it is a process, eventually I will get a glorious milky way shot.

We went to bed fairly early so that we could get started on the hike fairly early.  It got surprisingly cold overnight, to about to two degrees Celsius, but I put on a brave face as the representative Canadian.  In the morning, we had another small fire to warm up. But, the sun got warm pretty quickly and it was the perfect clear day that we needed for a hike.  We walked about 10 km on the Sunday as we did the Glow Worm Tunnel Circuit in the Wollemi National Park of the Blue Mountains.  There were beautiful views all along the way and we got the chance to see the glow worms before tourists started to arrive.  What was great about this tunnel was that it was horseshoe-shaped.  So, in the middle of the tunnel you couldn't see either end and no light could get in to obstruct your view of the glow worms.  It was almost like being completely surrounded by stars because they were all over the walls and the ceiling.  We made our way out the tunnel when the ghosts of old railway workers started talking.  Not really, but it was eerie when the voices of other hikers bounced through the tunnels.   

I wish that the pictures did the real view justice, but they really don't.

Another of Bruce's great pictures

Some of the areas that we saw were called the Rock Gardens, which is an accurate description, there were so many cliff faces.  Bruce had a lot of interesting facts along the way about the railways that used to run through the area and the different animals/birds that we saw, including a pair of rare glossy black red-tailed cockatoos and a few lyrebirds.  For a while we even thought that we were following a wombat based on some, how shall I put this, scat.  We did not see it though, as it turns out they are nocturnal.  It was a great hike, and we took it at my kind of pace.  Before we called it a day, we stopped for a coffee at a cute little cafe with a great view. It was a great weekend with some really nice people.  We headed back to Sydney, but not before we saw a rainbow.

Bruce took this one too

A double rainbow! What does this mean?

So thus concludes what I did last week.  I ate some food, saw some lights, and walked a little bit.  I spent time with friends old (not really, only by a couple months) and new.  Wouldn't it have been a boring blog if I was sour about plans not going right? Here's to having more misadventures!