We are a little behind in our blogging so pictures will follow

We made it to the mountains and it was spectacular!! Sasha, Norman, Richard and I took the train from Sydney up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. This is about a 2 hour trip filled with lovely views of trees, valleys and hillsides.  Once at Katoomba, we walked through the town to see the canyon and the Three Sisters. The legend of the Three Sisters is that according to Gundungurra Dreaming three sisters fell in love with three brothers from an enemy tribe. War ensued and the Kurajuri (clever man) turned the three girls into stone to keep them safe. Unfortunately, he was killed in battle and the spell has never been broken. The views of the Three Sisters, the valley below and the mountains surrounding are magnificent. Our pictures will not do it justice. There are a number of walking trails that will take you down to the valley floor and a train that will take you back up. As we were only there for the day, we were unable to complete any of these. However, if we ever get the chance to come back to Sydney, we would definitely like to take a couple of days to explore this area more thoroughly. We wandered back into town and stopped at the Hatter’s Cafe for a lovely meal of fish and chips. I even finished it off with a triple chocolate muffin – it was delicious!!

We got back to Sydney around 6:30 PM. We said our final goodbyes to Norman at the train station. It was so wonderful to see him again after all these years and spend some time visiting.  I see many family resemblances and hope that he will be able to come to Canada again soon to visit with us.

Once back at the flat, Richard and I packed our bags, had a couple of glasses of wine with Ruth and Sasha, watched another Aussie movie, played some guitar and sang (Sasha is a musician as well) and called it a night. As today is a travel day, we said our goodbyes to Sasha and Ruth this morning when we caught our cab to the airport. I cannot say enough thank you’s to these two people who did not know us from Adam but opened their home to us, sharing their meals and their wisdom. They took us exploring, showed us how to work the bus system, shared tales of their own journeys and generally made us feel so welcome. Thank you, thank you, thank you Ruth and Sasha. You have shown us what it is to be a good traveller and a good person. We look forward to seeing you in Canada!!

So, it is off to Townsville today. Townsville? Where the heck is that? Well, it is south of Cairns and north of the Whitsundays – about halfway in between on the Sunshine Coast. My niece Tessa was there this spring doing her student teaching and she assures us that this is the best place to see the Great Barrier Reef and is within train/bus distance to see both the aforementioned places. We are looking forward to some warmer temperatures (Sydney was quite cool), spending some time hiking on Magnetic Island, sailing up the coast and general R&R. See you in Townsville!!