Sydney Melbourne 2018 (Day 2)

Today, we started our self-drive proper! By that, I meant we finally drove out of the city to the Blue Mountain about 1.5hr drive away! Blue Mountain got it’s name because of the water vapour from the eucalyptus trees. We arrived at Scenic World and eagerly bought our tickets to the various rides: Scenic Railway, Scenic Skyway, Scenic Cableway and Scenic Walkway.

Scenic Skyway

First, we queued for the skyway to see the Three Sisters. There was a short queue to the ride. The cabin has a glass bottom and we could get a very good 360 deg view of the mountain, minus the people in the cabin! Once we were at the other side of the mountain, we took a short walk to get a better view of the Three Sisters. Because of me and my 2 older sisters, I thought my parents had to take a photo with them (us!). Interestingly, they looked like a dinosaur, gorilla and frog respectively!!

Scenic Cableway

Next, we had a quick lunch and took the cableway to the Scenic Walkway! It’s like a huge cable car that can fit about 50 people! As we went down, we had very nice views of the entire place!

Scenic Walkway

The bottom station of the cableway leads to the Scenic Walkway. There were different routes, some longer and some shorter. We randomly picked one and saw art displays along the well-paved road and boardwalk!

Scenic Railway

At the other end of the walk, we finally arrived at the most exciting ride of all, the railway! It’s the world’s steepest passenger railway with adjustable seats. We could choose to tilt the seat to 2 different angles to our preference! Just nice, the 4 of us occupied the same row, so we could adjust the angle! We made it steeper so that it as more thrilling! Luckily, there were handle bars above us so that we could steady ourselves as it zoomed down! It was so fun, we took it a few times. We took it up, and down and up again since there was only a short queue!

Finally, I was satisfied enough and decided we should visit the Blue Mountains Chocolate Company for some chocolate shopping! As Easter was nearing, there were many interesting chocolate designs resembling Easter eggs. Dad couldn’t stop buying for his beloved grandkids at home!

Since hubby took the drive to the mountains, I decided to drive back. By the time we were back at the city, it was already evening. We decided to park our car at The Rocks which was opposite the Sydney Opera House to take a stroll along the Quay to the Opera House.

Crossing the Sydney Bridge!

It was a really nice and relaxing stroll with hubby and my parents. The sun was setting which made it a nice backdrop with the Sydney Harbour Bridge behind us. Oh and did I mention, I drove across that bridge on the way back! It was a pity we didn’t get to climb the bridge. We couldn’t leave them alone right?!

There were many restaurants along the quay. Too many and we did not know which to choose. So dad suggested we head back to our hotel and find some food nearby. But before that, we decided to make 1 more stop to the Royal Botanic Gardens to visit the Mrs Macquarie’s Chair. As the sky had already turned dark, I was expecting the place to be eerily quiet. Surprisingly, we saw staff who appeared to be setting up the place for some event. There was also a crowd at the Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, some with their tripods set up. The spot actually gives a very nice view of the Sydney Opera House against the Harbour Bridge! Despite the dark sky, there were very nice photos taken!

Finally, we were back at our hotel. We had a quick dinner at a cafe beside our hotel which served Singaporean/Malaysian delicacies. Surprisingly, it was good. I think it was owned by Malaysians. That’s why the food tasted very authentic. And we all laughed at my dad that he needed his rice fix shortly by Day 2!

After dinner, we took another 20min stroll to The Star Casino once again. Guess casinos are a good way for people like us who don’t like to return to hotel to sleep early. As we walked past Darling Harbour, I bought a jacket from the Hard Rock shop to replace the jacket I bought form Hard Rock Hong Kong 10 years ago.

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