The Blue Mountains

Sunrise in Sydney

Our second full day started slow, but was a marathon. A few folks were up early, including Lydia, who wanted to see the sunset over the beach, and Justin and Sam, who took the surfboards that were left at the AirBnB for us and went out to investigate some early morning swells on Bondi Beach. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for sometimes, and, although they were both able to catch a few waves, Justin said the surfboards started sinking, since they were waterlogged. Gabby managed to get a quick swim in, and Tanner and I walked to the beach to see what was happening.

Bondi Beach

Our main destination for the day was the Blue Mountains, a couple of hours outside of Sydney by car. We had some options for the day, including watching a cricket game nearby, and catching a glimpse of some glow worms, but we eventually decided not to squeeze too much in, as Joe estimated, if we did, dinner time would be around 11:00 PM.

Blue Mountains

Driving to the Blue Mountains, I asked Joe which felt more familiar, Australia or New Zealand. Besides the country music from yesterday, which made us feel welcome, I thought the cars also seemed more American than European, and Joe said the topography felt more like home. Tanner’s car stopped at a 7 Eleven for some snacks, and Adam fumbled some of his navigating duties while filming and pretending to be an influencer.

The Three Sisters

Our first stop was Echo Point and the Three Sisters formation. This lookout reminded me a little bit of the Grand Canyon, except not quite as deep, and a lot greener. I went to chat with the park staff at the info station, and, after asking if we were hikers (I responded, “Yes.”), he recommended a “roughly three hour” hike down into the valley, where we might have the chance to see some wildlife. Meanwhile, Utah had met a UVA student from Salem. Apparently our Virginia universities have global reach. First Virginia Tech in Los Angeles, and now UVA in Sydney. Justin also pointed out a "sun dog" in the sky.

Sun dog

The hike started with a descent down 900 stairs to the valley floor. That was our first warning. Also, this was a canyon hike, not the mountain hikes we’re used to in Virginia. So, instead of going up and then coming back down, we went down first, and then would need to make up that elevation at some later point. Lydia said, as the hike was starting, she thought, "We're about to walk so far."

We took a short break about halfway down the valley and refueled with some of Lydia’s snacks. We had decided not to bring the sandwiches we had packed, since we thought we would be back for a late lunch. We eventually made our way back up the side of the canyon, taking in the views and enjoying the waterfalls along the way. Once we climbed back to the rim of the canyon, we had several more miles to make it back to the starting point. Along the way, we encountered a Lyre Bird (Glen Alice) that can mimic any sound that it hears.

Lyre Bird

Roughly six hours later, we finally made it back to the cars. Everyone tore into the lunches and refilled their water bottles. Tanner had some of my “Australian” goldfish (carried across the ocean) and decided they were gross. After a rest, Utah said, “So, glowworms?” and was surprised when I called his bluff. Unfortunately, I think the rest of the group would have rioted at that point, if we had added more hours of driving and walking to our itinerary for the day. We were on a quiet back street and one of our group members got to check “driving on the left hand side of the road” off their bucket list. Let's just say Tanner is a little more flexible with his rental car than Joe.

On the way home, we saw our third dead kangaroo on the side of the road, but still had yet to see a live one. Despite kangaroos being like deer to Australians, even around Virginia, you can go a month and not see a deer. I did some quick research and Reddit told us that Western Sydney University was a great place to see kangaroos. We took a short detour and pulled into the old, disused part of the university campus. Sure enough, immediately to our left when we pulled in, there were a dozen kangaroos just lounging in the field. Joe had to tell Lydia to calm down and let him get the car parked before she jumped out.

Kangaroos!

We got to watch this family group of kangaroos, which included a large male, some females, juveniles, and even a couple of joeys. There was some discussion about how dangerous kangaroos really are, and Utah and Tanner decided to see how close they could get. Gabby observed that kangaroos can’t really walk, they have to hop or shuffle forward. Eventually, after the first herd wandered off, we drove around the rest of the campus and saw a few dozen other groups scattered across the hillside.

We arrived back at the AirBnB and had a delicious spaghetti dinner, around 9:00 PM (not 11:00 PM, as Joe predicted). Gabby wasn’t feeling well, but was better after a nap. Once we finished dinner, I asked, “Okay, who’s ready for the next adventure?” Utah looked at me incredulously and said, “Tonight?” I said, “Yes, tonight! This is an adventure, not a vacation.” I told them there was an ocean pool (Bronte Baths) at the end of a nice costal walk. Nevermind that it was 11:00 PM at night and we had already hiked seven miles. When else are you gong to have the opportunity to swim in an ocean pool in Australia? Eventually, seven of us started out, but Utah, Tanner, and Adam went on to bed.

We set out on our walk to Bronte Beach from Bondi, under the moonlight. It was cool to look out over the ocean at the constellations and see them in a different orientation than we’re used to in the Northern Hemisphere. I could tell the group was starting to drag a little bit on the way there, and Joe stopped to inspect the ride share bikes for a moment. Emily told me later she was considering how much money would convince Joe to go back to the AirBnB and get the rental car to come back and pick her up.

When we arrived at the ocean pool, the tide was high, and the surf was breaking over the seawall pretty strongly. There were no lights, but the pool was open, and we didn’t walk all this way not to jump in! Sam joined me, and we swam hard to keep from being pushed into the concrete wall. We made it to the sea wall and managed to pull ourselves up onto it. We held onto the rope and tried to avoid being knocked off by the waves. A large wave eventually took me out, but Sam managed to hold on. I was trying to avoid being smashed into the wooden lane wall that was inconveniently in the center of the pool.

Bronte Baths

After our dip, I felt energized and alive. Meanwhile, Joe was booking an Uber home. Justin and Emily bailed alongside him, which left Sam, myself (both wet), Gabby, and Lydia to walk the mile and a half back. I was wearing my flops, which weren’t quite as effective soaking wet, but we made do. A spider dropped on Gabby’s head at some point, and she was so done. Sometime after midnight, we finally made it back to our AirBnB.