Blue Mountains

January 31st - Our weekend in Wollongong was a success and with nothing in our plans we made the decision to hop a train inland to Katoomba, where the Blue Mountains are located. I'm not sure what we were thinking going off the coast as this was right in the midst of the heatwave. The weather upon arrival was 97 degrees and they were saying it could go even higher the next day. Now, Katoomba is the type of city where everyone knows each others names, they have a carpenter, a policeman, a plumber, and well you get the point. It's small-town living at its finest. We said hi to one of the locals as she was getting her mail and we commented on the heat, she followed up with, "Us mountain folk ain't used to this heat." Hahaha. I guess hillbillies are universal. 

Kate and I decided to "splurge" and forego a hostel so we could feel air conditioning for the first time sleeping on our trip - with the weather this proved to be invaluable. We did the loop of Katoomba and after seeing the sights "downtown" we headed to Echo Point where the picture below will explain everything. The Three Sisters as they call it, is a the rock formation with the three pillars that is very sacred to the aboriginal people. The mountain valley looks like a green version of the Grand Canyon. 

As we took in the view, we met a group from America who was working on an educational video targeting college students. The company was called Education First, and they shoot around the world for promotional videos. A simple hello turned into an hour-long conversation. They interviewed Kate and me and gave us their information to do another video/photo shoot at the Sydney Opera House the following night. One of the girls named Lauren was the photographer who did all the Real World interviews and who also happened to be a Wisconsin graduate which was cool. That night Kate and I went to The Station Bar for what I would say is the best thin crust pizza I've ever had. We each ordered two small pizzas, one was roasted garlic and the other was macadamian pesto. F'ing delicious. We were back at our hotel by 9pm since we had an early wakeup call (5:30am) for a morning hike to beat the heat.