One more before I head back to Sydney.

I'm still in Katoomba and it's bloody freezing here! I've had to buy some shoes for God sake!

Having woken up late and just got to the kitchen in time to make some breakfast before they shut it down for cleaning, I figured it was about time I stopped being a lazy bastard actually went and made the most of my time here. So I walked down the road to the Explorer Bus place and tried to see what I could do for the day. The Explorer buses are two ex-service London routemasters that run an hour long circluar route round all the main sites in the mountains. One ticket means you can jump on and off as and when you like, all day, but it costs $34! I'm still not entirely sure how I managed it, but I got one for $13 and a half price voucher to go on the skywalk, scenic trainline and cable car. Plus I now had a plan for the day, which is always nice.

I got on the bus to the skywalk and arrived just as it was pulling up and boarding. It like a cable car but erm... well it is a cable car, they've just called it the Skywalk to make it sound better. It takes you right out over a gorge-thingy and you get some pretty spectacular views, obstructed only by posing chinese tourists. Once you arrive, you have the choice of either the world's steepest railway or the (actual) cable car ride down to the bottom. Naturally I chose the railway and like they said it would be, it was pretty damn steep! 52 degrees at its steepest point. I was lightly disappointed that it was all done by winches and counterweights though - I was hoping for an old steam train that would struggle to stop in time at the bottom ala Polar Express (how gay am I???).

At the bottom there was an elevated walk throught the rainforest with boring signposts stuck to trees and weirdly, lots of carpeted sections. Ever a cleaner, I couldn't help but wonder if they ever got hoovered and if so, how...

This circluar route took half an hour or so and I headed back up the mountainside in the cable car for lunch in the café.

Next on my list of things to do today were the Leura Cascades and they were only twenty minutes away on the next explorer bus. It was a popular stop and the whole bus emptied out. I ended up walking with an old couple from Geelong (on the south coast... I went there with the Oz tour) and a Chinese guy who seemed permenantly lost.

Will finish this later.

...


It's now later - two days later - and I can't be asked. It wasn't that exciting, don't worry.