Day 24 was for us justifying the rental of the car. That meant getting the heck out of town. Let me first say, driving in Sydney sucks. The roads are generally narrow, and they squeeze three lanes in where in the U.S. it would be only two. Also, there are lots of directional issues where you can only drive one way or unable to turn right (the tougher turn) when you would like. We did finally get out onto the open road, and only had a couple of minor heart attacks. Like all of Australia, driving is on the left, which means a left turn is the easy one and the right turn involves crossing a lane of oncoming traffic.

It was about 130 KM to reach the Blue Mountains. We liked the idea of getting out into the mountains. There were tours, but then we couldn't have come and go as we pleased, and it would have made renting the car even more useless.

We tried to follow some directions that we got on-line from a site similar to mapblast, etc. They were hardly accurate, and in fact at one point had us driving on a dirt road like we were going to drive to the base of the mountains or something. In the end, I found a route full of tour busses, and we got to Echo Point and the Three Sisters. It was gorgeous, but of course my fear of heights was in full effect. Colleen was a trooper and took all of our photos. Katoomba was a quaint little town, and we had lunch and wandered around. The city was a bit over 1 KM high. That's only significant because it was raining and foggy over most of the trip until we actually got above the clouds. Katoomba was warm and sunny.

The drive back was also just as scary. Well, once we got into town proper. Our planned route got us to a left turn only where we needed to make a right turn. Argh! That meant finding a roundabout and getting back heading the direction we wanted. We both breathed a heavy sigh of relief as we got the car back into the car park.

Dinner was at a Greek restaurant. Colleen figured it was close enough to the Lebanese I wanted to have in Katoomba, where she didn't find anything appetizing on their bill of fare. It was very good. I had stuffed peppers (I must remember to ask why they insist on calling them capsicum.) Colleen had a pasta dish that was outstanding. We tried to go back to V Bar, but this time they had a bouncer, and the dress code, which is posted on the door, is apparently more subjective when they have a bouncer. They wouldn't let me in with shorts. As we were walking back, it started to rain, and Colleen and I decided a quiet night in the room with a few beers would likely be better anyway.

I watched some cricket. The VB One Day series is going on, and the contest if fairly hot. Australia lost to Sri Lanka early in the series, and there was talk that Australia wouldn't make the finals. Their demolishing of South Africa last night pretty much assured they'd be in the final. Cricket is an interesting game, and I only understand about half of it. Still, I am interested in the game. Too bad there's none of it on cable in the U.S.

Hello! It's Colleen. The view from the Blue Mountains is gorgeous! We'll have to put the pics on our website when we get back to the states. We're having a blast, and tomorrow is our relaxation day. No plans, just bumming around. G'Day!

Cheers!