Koalas, Kangaroos, Krazy

Today I pet some koalas. And I fed some kangaroos. I have now become a koala and kangaroo whisperer as all of us bonded very well today.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Yesterday we went to Hunter's Valley, the oldest vineyard valley in Australia. We went to 4 different wineries for wine tastings and it was great! They were all smaller boutique wineries, so we got to meet and talk with the owners and tried about 7 wines at each stop! Quite generous if I may say so. And our driver was amazing. He was super informative and went out of his way to make sure our day was great. I saw my first kangaroo! Well, the first one was roadkill.. sad. The second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth ones were hanging out in the fields by one of the vineyards which was nicer to see than the roadkill.

Today we headed up to the Blue Mountains. On the way we stopped to make friends with the koalas and kangaroos and saw some amazing birds as well. Then we learned how to throw boomerangs. Apparently I throw like a girl. Good thing, since I am a girl after all.

The Blue Mountains are absolutely beautiful. Stunning valley as well. And the rock formations are breathtaking. stopped at a few different viewpoints, and then went to see the Three Sisters and took a cable car into the valley and then came up the steepest railway in the world. Pretty weird, especially since we were in the front. :)

Went to the Olympic Park/Village as well, and in light of having the Olympics in Vancouver recently, it was quite interesting to see the differences. Some amazing structures though!

Then took a ferry back to Sydney Harbour at sunset. A little windblown, but beautiful!

And on the way back to our hotel, we passed our friend Russell Crowe's house/apartment. We passed it yesterday and the lights were on and tonight again. Pretty sure I saw his sillouette at the window, waving at me as we passed by. We'll go there for lunch tomorrow-should be good to see Russ again.

Tomorrow we are headed to New Zealand! Where I will be driving on the left side of the road (eep!) and where the roads will take us who knows where. I can't wait. It will be random and fun. Perhaps we'll even sleep in the car a night or two.

That's all for now. G'day!