The Fellowship of the Ring of Fire, Part 10: Blue Mountains and Manly

Another thing that makes Sydney such a great place to visit is that there are so many things just outside of Sydney to do. At Sydney Harbour, there are ferries that take you to so many places.We went to Manly where there are beaches and scenic walks. The walk was very nice. There some very scenic view points. People live here too, so we get to see some of the very fancy housing in this area.

Another tourist spot close to Sydney is the Blue Mountains. It was about 1.5 hour train ride. It was awfully windy that day, so my video sounds like it was shot behind a jet engine. The main attraction is the 3 sisters. According to legend, 3 sisters fell in love with 3 brothers from another tribe. This was against tribal law. The 3 brothers refused to obey the law and captured the 3 sisters. The tribes began a war. To protect them, a witchdoctor transformed the 3 sisters into stone. However, he was killed in battle.

Further across the mountain is Scenic World. They have cable cars with glass bottoms that take you across and down into the forest at the bottom of the mountain where miners used to work. Another way down is a kind of slow roller coaster. It's one of the steepest railways in the world. Stephanie and I were lucky enough to sit at the front. The seats are angled back so that on the way down, you're not leaning forward out of your seat. It is really really steep. Almost straight down.

The food was also very good in Sydney. Being close to Asia, there are tons and tons of Asians (in New Zealand too). We ate Thai food just about every city we visited, and it was tasty. We tried very hard to resist sushi since we were going to Japan later.