RTW: Exchange in Chile

A glimpse of outback in the Blue Mountains

.. well, not really. A guided tour that included hiking. I am embarrassed.. But that was the choice for little money and even less time. I can recommend Ozadventures to anyone with a tight budget but urges to see and learn a lot. It was a well spent 63 AUD for a full day trip including 1,5 hour trips (one way) and lunch.


Starting out early we headed for a wildlife area to see some wild kangaroos. I got loads of useless information from the guide, so I'll share some with you. The name kangaroo came to use when white men asked the aboriginals what the animal was called. They replied with a term that meant "I do not know what the hell you are talking about" (or something similar, free translation) and that term was "kangaroo". So that is where the name came from...

Also, the Blue mountains have their name since in their area there are lots of eucalyptus trees that contain a specific kind of oil which then reacts with fine particles of the atmosphere creating a kind of fog that bends blue light especially well. Hence: Blue mountains. They took us for two 2-hour tours in the mountains and the cool tempered rainforests there, teaching all sorts of stuff about the flora, fauna and aboriginal habits there.. Won't bore your with more of them, but here is a nice picture from a waterfall/rock by the name of Witch's face. Any idea where the name came from?


And here I stand at the end of the tour in a lookout where you can see the famous "Three sisters" -rock formation. It is said that a medicine man turned his three daughters to stone as they were threatened by a big monster with unrecognizable name -and later on running away from the same monster he lost his magic wand and thus can not turn the sisters back to life. This is the biggest tourist attraction in the area, and joined to it there is world's steepest railway up the hill, some 55 degrees incline or something. Those interested can check it out from Guinness.

The last times here I will probably just lay low, eat well and go see the aquarium and get myself mentally ready for the trip to Auckland!

posted by Kassu @ 2:01 AM