The roomies had the curtains closed tight, so I couldn't wake up with the sun. I kept hearing this CAW CAW coo, CAW CAW coo over and over again, seems like it was coming from the room next door. I thought gawd, are they ever going to turn their cuckoo clock off? Turns out it was cukaburras (and I KNOW I didn't spell that right!) I thought 'Oooh, sunrise.... BIRDS!' so got ready to go. Too bad I locked my room key in the loo! Had to wait till 6:45 for someone to show up at reception so that I could get a replacement key! As it was, I was out the door by 7, for a 2 km walk down to Echo Point. Saw and heard LOTS of birds on the way down... finches, kookaburra's, and my personal favorite, Cockatoos!! Big ones!
I had Echo Point completely to myself, and it was spectacular. Clear as a bell, not foggy like the day before. Barry, go back and read 'In a Sunburned Country' for a good description of Echo Point! My main goal for the morning was my first successful geocache, and I got that with 'There Is No Echo'. Most of you won't know what that means, but Ickster and Buddy S will! Came back through the residential neighbourhood, got a sausage roll for brekkie from an Egyptian take away, got back to the hostel around 8. My Pom roomie is much friendlier today! Our tour left around 10 for the Jenolan Caves. We had a great bus driver, who told me all about his holiday to Vancouver Island two years ago. It was a long drive out, but the driver made it great. The scenery is nothing short of spectacular! We stopped at a couple of viewpoints for the photo ops, then on to the caves. We were there for 3 hours, and had a 1 1/2 hr guided tour through just one of many caves. Not entirely sure that my camera problems were resolved, I spent the $12 on a fancy picture book. Good call on my part... after only 3 days, my camera thinks it's batteries are dead.
Wow, I only have 10 minutes left on my internet time! I better type faster!
The caves were good. They're limestone caves, and many of them exist here along this escarpment. They remind me very much of the Postonja Caves that I saw in Slovenia in 1986 (87?). Not much more I can say about those. The engineering feat to build the road down to Jenolan, though... wow. I held on tight to the armrests whenever we met up with another vehicle!
Back to birds... the crimson rosellas are EVERYWHERE. They were begging for food, and quite tame at the caves. I have a great shot of this young fellow trying to keep his sandwich safe. After leaving the caves, we stopped and saw about a dozen kangaroos and wallabies, that was pretty nifty! (I also saw one as roadkill, along with a wombat. Still haven't seen a live wombat yet!)
We got back to the hostel around 5, and then there was an info night on more things to do in the area. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow? ABSEILING! It's German for rappelling (which is French for slinging down a cliff!!) The fellow said I didn't need to commit, just show up before 9:30 and I'm good to go. He assures me they haven't had an accident ever, and they've been in business for 15 years. Looks fun! Hopefully I can follow through with it!
5 minutes left. If you see an unfinished sentence, you know what happened!
Tonight they had an $8 deal for dinner... steak, chicken, potatoes, salads, and it was nummers. The Pom is really friendly now. I think maybe it's just women she doesn't care for... yesterday evening she went to the loo in nothing but her nickers... maybe she's on the prowl for a new boyfriend! I think she's coming abseiling with me tomorrow morning.
Also met a very, very friendly family from Melbourne. Very friendly. They gave me tips on stuff to do up in Cairns. Had a lovely, lively, loud visit with them for about an hour, and it nearly exhausted me!
And now I need to shower and get off to bed. Hopefully my socks will be dry in the morning! I have to check out before I go abseiling, and won't be picked up till about 3 for my ride back to Sydney. I wish I didn't have to go back to Sydney. Next time I'll just come straight here!
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