"Keep spending most our lives living in a gangsta's paradise" - Coolio

Cos V is obsessed with this 'walk through the valley of the shadow of death' thing (in relation to our accommodation locale) - and I think when we were at the 3 Sisters today the bus driver mentioned something about going down to the valley, so he started singing that line which is the first line to Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio. Like that Sony ad said - we are all connected. Sort of.

Got up with the alarm at 9:30. Apparently, it was Sydney's coldest night in 4 years - like 6 degrees, or something. Doesn't seem that bad.... Anyway, I don't deny that it wasn't cold - but no real different to any other night. And I was prepared....

So left about 10:10. Had breakfast at McDonalds - that place isn't so bad mid-morning. Not SO bad. Then got some more H2Go from the convenience store. Boysenberry; it was nowhere near as good. But still OK.
So then paid $44 for the Blue Mountain explorer and went off on the train. Had to change at Central, and it took us a while to find it - but it was a much nicer train. As you'd expect, I suppose. And they go like once an hour, but it was due out in 10 minutes, which was nice.

So took the 2 hour journey up. Listened to my ipod for a bit (V kept going on about how he forgot to bring his) and then read more Unfinished Tales. The scenery on the way up wasn't much - just a whole lotta trees, really.
So we got there about 1:15, and the bus wasn't leaving for half an hour - that's like at exactly the wrong time. Walked around trying to find snack bar type food along the main street - and there were just like 25 cafes (no exaggeration) and 5 bakeries - it all was a bit too upmarket for what we wanted. So we ended up just having to go to a bakery. I had a sausage roll and a shepherd's pie. Just like that day in North Sydney, really.

So then caught the hop on, hop off bus. Got off at some cascades - they were pretty average. Then took the walk train over to some falls, and found a lookout with a view of mountains - finally. That was what I wanted to see - groovy.
Came out near the supposed waterfall, but didn't see it. And that was the next stop along the way, so waited for the bus which was like 5 minutes late - V was getting pretty edgy.

Got off at Echo Point at about 2:45. I was scanning the horizon for the 3 Sisters, and then they just appeared on the left (behind that crowd of people). From all the photos I'd seen, I was expecting them to be far more off in the distance and inaccessible - and here they are at the end of some town with a viewing platform like.....I donno.....really close. And, apart from those, there was a much better (cos it was wider) view of the same mountains we'd seen from near the cascades. Hence we could see 'Scenic World' which was just off the left at the other place.

So got back on the bus at 3:15 and went down to some lookout. But it turned out there wasn't really a lookout there. Then we walked down to more cascades, which weren't much, so we kept going hoping to find some other waterfall. But we walked for a long time up and down along muddy paths, which were overgrown and steps which seemed to be missing some. And finally V decided (and I tended to agree - it was like 4:10 by then) that we were kinda lost, so walked up some ridiculously steep and seeming endless stairs - to finally arrive right outside the Toy Museum, which was stop 19 just down the road from the falls which were stop 18 (although further away). But the museum was like $22 entry, and you could forget it if I was gonna do any more walking down to some waterfall which was doubtless to be pretty lame anyway. So we just sat and waited for the 4:20 bus.
"Outta my way, nature!", as Marge said.

So got back to the train just before 5. V went and sat down and waited, but I was insanely dying of thirst, so went and got a regular latte and a Mountain Dew. It really was quite cold, and I knew the train wasn't leaving for another 20 minutes, so I figured I'd get the hot for now and the cold for later. Then got back to the station and the train had just arrived and V was getting on. It still didn't leave for 15 minutes, but at least it was really not cold. Still - good coffee.

Got back at 7:30 and went down to good ol' Eating World. Had satay beef - I saw satay sauce at Chick 2 Go yesterday, so I'd been wanting a good satay. And it wasn't a good satay - but OK lor...

Then went down to the internet cafe at 8:30. I have now paid off my Amex and Visa - about $4500. Oh well. Its not as bad as all that, really. Left about 10.

Slept about 11:45. Have decided, after that Blue Mountain dirtiness, to change to my new jeans tomorrow.