Oz - The New South Whales Trail

So we arrived in Sydney the fourth of December and have since done may things. Here is run down of the New South Whales. In Sydney we searched for a car, and ended up with Princess... she is a rented Outlander with 4wd that cant be taken on any unsealed roads. But we figure unless we break down and there is no possible way of pushing or towing the car off this unsealed road... then we will be fine. We Started our trip with the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. We only spent 3 days in Sydney though, after NZ it was a little crowded for us.

This is the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains an hr outside Sydney. We started the walk down the Giant Stairway, which consisted of 840 steps, through the rain forest at the bottom of the range, and up the Ferber steps that were another 1040 steps. It was great weather for it until a thunderstorm rolled in and soaked us within minutes. The small river we had to cross needless to say got bigger and we had to trudge across it.

This is me crossing the river... like a drowned rat... or a mouse

The next day we recuperated at the Jelonalan Caves. We went into three caves, these pictures were just a highlight. Apparently one of the men that found the caves lowered his 8yr old daughter down a cavern that he couldn't fit into with a rope and a candle. Pretty brave kid, no way would either of us do that.

This is Bald Rock in Bald Rock National Park. We walked up it for an amazing view. It is the largest granite rock in the southern hemisphere.

One of the many campsites we inhabited so far. Note : For the picture the camera is balanced on a tree branch. Tony is becoming an expert at it.

The Natural Bridge in Giraween National Park. We are wearing our matching fly prevention hats. Tony isn't wearing his face net, but maybe I will get lucky and get a picture to post.

The hike up this rock took a little more than an hour. From the top we could see everywhere.
Note: Granite is slippery when wet!!! On our way to the rock it rained for about 5 min. When we started climbing we noticed that when the rock was really wet our feet slipped a little. That is ok... except when there is nothing to stop your fall down a steep granite cliff about 200ft up. This picture is what we like to call "the place of death" where Tony slipped, landing on his belly, nearly spread eagle to prevent this fall from becoming something much worse.

Some of Australia's friendly marsupials seen in "the wild".

This is how we have been spending our nights. You can see Princess, much prettier than our last car but not as much charm. (but she does have air !!) The wildflowers below have all been out by the rain. Makes for a beautiful drive.

ITS A GIRL!!!

TO ALL THOSE WHO DIDN'T KNOW BIG SISTER WAS PREGNANT AND NOW SHE IS NOT. SHE HAD A BABY GIRL!!! HER NAME IS ALANA DIAN, SHE WAS 8 LB. 6OZ., 20 1/4", AND HEALTHY. Congratulations Laura, Ray, Adam, and Liam to your new addition!!!

Pictures.... http://picasaweb.google.com/spora0814/BabyAlana?authkey=sPU2doH7YiQ

The Town of Broken Hill is in the Middle of the OutBack NSW, where the temperatures average in the summer around 110 degrees. It was a good thing we decided to go there in the thick of summer. Outside of town there is a Cultural Hike you can take to explore the Aboriginal and White ancestry of the area. These are story poles, that where made by local artists that combined the ancestry of the Aboriginals their own Modern artistic flare. I think we took around 30 pictures at this one location, gotta love digital!

The town of Broken Hill is an Artistic Oasis, there are over 40 galleries in the area. The best of which is found atop this hill where the sunsets are amazing. The town had an international syposium and had 12 limstone sculptures created. The artists tried to include the areas history with a dose of their international background. This sculpture here is our favorite, and was done by a fellow from Mexico City. Can you see the Mexican influences?

And here we have Mundi Mundi lookout, it is one of the few places in the world where you can see the curvature of the Earth! Take a minute and soak in the wowness of it.....ok so we couldn't really get it all with the camera and so we decided to take a picture of us instead. As it turns out the town information center has this wonderful hadout about the area and in it is a panoramic view of the lookout. Woo hoo! At this spot if you look closely and have something flat to jundge the curve you can see the curvature.