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Old 2 Dec 18, 05:18 PM  
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BONZO
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Reef, Rivers and Rainforests – September/October 2018 - Day 9 - Sydney and Blue Mountains

Day 9 – Sunday 30th September 2018 – Sydney and Blue Mountains


Link to trip report index – including pre trip report:
Here

I woke up after another good sleep for me and another bad one for Alison, I think this pattern is going to last for some time and I really do feel for her. (Alison here: I was awake between midnight and 4am, but then slept til 9!)

We packed our things up before having our last breakfast in the lounge, really going to miss this place as it was something special. We arranged a late check out then did most of the packing before heading out.

We thought that we’d explore some of the areas close by and wandered around the base of Sydney Opera House which was actually quite busy with tourists taking the obligatory selfies.






Next door was the Botanical gardens and not normally our sort of thing we thought we’d pop in and take a look round.



We paused to look at the park map when we noticed one of the small “dotto” land trains that was taking people on a guided tour around the park. Well, it was only £10 AUD each for a 25-minute guide around the park so we thought “why not”.



The driver made this trip with her funny comments about the park and her asides to the other tourists on the park that were getting in the way. One of the highlights was Mrs Macquarie's Chair. She was the wife of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. Folklore has it that she used to sit on the rock and watch for ships from Great Britain sailing into the harbour.

The view from here was outstanding and the parks people make sure that nothing is planted in front to ruin the view. We saw a number of trees and plants that are usually confined to the likes of Kew Gardens if I wanted to see them back home. Overall, a very pleasant way to spend the morning before going back to the hotel for one last time.

We had a couple of drinks (including a lovely ginger beer)



and cakes in the lounge and in the lobby we checked that our final bill worked out ok before walking along to catch a train from Circular Quay to Central and on to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

One thing that surprised me was that on a Sunday anyone with an Opal Card can travel for almost 24 hours for $2.50. Or 23 hours, 59 minutes to be exact, from 4:00am Sunday morning until 3:59am on Monday morning. You can zip around on trains, ferries and buses, and everything is included except the airport train and private ferries like the Manly Fast Ferries. Absolute bargain for this 2 hour and 20 stop train ride.



I’m certainly going to have to remember this tip for any future trips!

The 20 stops went by surprisingly quickly with very few people getting on or off the train apart from the occasional mountain bikers. The trains had specific bike racks that meant the bikes could be stored easily without getting in anyone’s way, it was only our large luggage that was doing that!

Interesting countryside, although mainly gum trees, as we sped past along with some outlying settlements before arriving at Katoomba.



We made our way to The Carrington Hotel and first impressions of the town weren’t that impressive. The whole place looked a bit “down at heel”, I thought surprising for a high tourist destination. A number of shops had closed and the ones remaining were a bit of a mish-mash of coffee shops and tourist bits with a couple of restaurants thrown I for good measure. Bizarrely, it even had a hat shop just selling..hats! Well, we’d explore fully later after we’d checked in and settled down.

I’d chosen The Carrington Hotel as a heritage-listed former spa, hotel and power station for its turn of the century quirkiness and we weren’t disappointed.






Entering the hotel was like finding yourself in the game of Cluedo with Ballroom, Billiard Room and Library all clearly marked out.





We checked into our room and found it clean, comfortable and functional with some original features in existence and a huge bathroom / wet room combo.













We looked around the hotel and I made a note of the bar and Billiard room for future reference. It was funny that our youngest daughter was currently performing in the musical “Clue”, based on the board game so we sent some pictures back to her to view.



We walked along the main drag for a while before stopping in Momo & Pelmeni café for a coffee and cake. I was a bit surprised to find the coffee brand was Manki Coffee!



We noted some of the likely restaurants for later in the evening and went back to our room to sort out our bags and get some dirty washing together.

So, we headed out to the mean streets of downtown Katoomba and found the launderette that I’d looked up before. Well, as far as Launderettes go this was pretty swish and free Wi-Fi…if you share your love of the place on Facebook – oh the shame!



Whilst Alison got through a fist full of dollar coins with washing and drying I went for a stroll along the high street to look for somewhere suitable to eat. The local Korean place was rammed and standing room only and the others were tiny like people’s front rooms. We thought about eating in the main hotel but it was a bit expensive for what we wanted.

All the washing done and extensive use of the wif-fi we were finished here for the night and walked back down the high street to see what wasn’t too busy with a chance of us eating before 9pm when everything appeared to close.

We settled on the Casiinsamut Thai Fusion restaurant, told you this cuisine was a thing for us. Once inside it was a real eclectic mix of decor, a bit like a house clearance or charity shop where nothing actually matched. We placed our orders and sat back and waited and waited, unfortunately a couple of large groups where in front of us waiting for their orders.





Time continued to pass as the Thai version of Julie Walters waitress in the two soups sketch, fun to watch but were getting hungry by now. I’d ordered a spicy dish as always as my taste buds are shot and I have a cast-iron constitution. My meal arrived which was basically a Thai soup and my goodness it was like rocket fuel! It really hit the spot and then some – phew!



With my mouth pleasantly on fire we ambled back to the hotel



and decided to check out the Billiard Room. With people only playing a game of pool on the small table we racked up the balls and had a couple of games of snooker on the full sized table. It’s been a long time since I’ve played on a table of this size but the old magic soon came back as I thrashed Alison soundly across all games





We settled down for the night but somewhere nearby a local band was playing and we just couldn’t “tune out” so sat up and planned things for the next few days. Luckily, the band packed up at about midnight which meant that we could finally settle down.



Transport count (running total!):

Flights: 4
Ferries: 2
Trains: 9
Trams: 2
Tubes: 1
Ubers/Taxis: 3
Coaches/Buses: 7
Step Count today: 11798
Total step count for the trip: 94410
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Edited at 05:59 PM.
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Old 2 Dec 18, 06:50 PM  
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Melbatb
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That certainly was a bargain train ride! The hotel looks lovely as did dinner when you eventually got it!
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Index of my trip reports
2016 Quebec - Kuala Lumpar - New York City 2017 Dubai - Eurocamps France - Ontario and Quebec - So-Cal 2018 Montreal - Bangkok - New England 2019 Argentina - Quebec City - Hong Kong - 2020 Switzerland 2022 Arizona - Costa Med Cruise - Oslo 2023 Hong Kong - Gothenburg
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