Sydney Day two Tuesday 8/11/11

Didn't sleep too well and at 7:15 we had the routine monthly fire alarm test... so that got us fully awake. Set off to the station to catch the 9:09 train up into the Blue Mountains.  Two hours in a doubledeck train through suburbs then out into the country. Spotted a couple of wallabies in the wild. Had a coffee break when we arrived at  Katoomba to let the train load squash onto the london double decker which ran a circular hop off tour. We caught the next one and were able to get upstairs prime viewing seats.  Our first venture off took us down some cascades and along a path to the far end of a cableway. It was listed as an easy grade 20 minute walk suitable for strollers (pushchairs) but in the event it took us nearly an hour up and down long stairways. Although it was poorly marked I'm sure we took the right route. An awful lot of the walk was through the aftermath of a bush fire a few weeks back - still quite smelly in places and acres of blackened vegetation. We had now an hour wait for the bus so lunch was the next item at the centre where a tramway, ropeway and cablecar system all converged. We didn't go on any of them but it was an excellent spot to lookout over the mountains and across to the three sisters rock stacks. Back on the bus to the next venture into the bush along the Prince Henry Cliff walk. Again it wasn't as easy as implied in the brochure and took us longer than planned. Maybe we stopped too long at the lookouts which gave stunning views into the canyon like features with hundreds of feet sheer drops. The blue effect was clearly visible today and the weather was very kind whilst we were up there. Arrived at the next bus stop to see the bus pulling away. Enforced tea brek for half an hour! Onwards to Leura cascades where we got off and began the descent but decided that the dismal amount of water dribbling down wouldn't make the main cascades worth the scramble down (and back!). So we caught the next bus on into the town where we looked at the teapot museum and wandered around the now closing shops until it was time for the next train back to Sydney. As we approached the city it  got dark and began pouring down and coming out of the station by another entrance proved disorientating and we walked in the wrong direction for a while. None of the roads were on our map  - eventually decided we'd walked off the edge of the map so retraced our steps  and eventually some names matched our now soggy map. Diverted into a likely looking chinese restaurant, slightly expensive we thought for the level of scruffiness. Carol had sweet and sour pork which turned out fine but their idea of 'fresh tomato' and mine were clearly at odds since the slices of some green fruit which appeared were bitter and pretty inedible! Back to the hotel with one or two false turns on the way to dry out and have a belated g&t and a rest after so much walking.