Blue Mountain

Day 3 – Saturday, July 5

On Saturday, we met up with some of my relatives on the Villarete side: my Aunt Brenda and Uncle Warren, who live in one of the surrounding suburbs. Neil and I hopped on the train and they met us at the station and took us to Blue Mountain, home of the Three Sisters, just in case some of you are familiar with the geography around here.

With the rain from the day before, and the clouds on this day, it wasn’t looking to promising in regards to the weather. But the sun did poke its head out for a bit, long enough for it not to rain while we were up there.

Aunt Brenda and Uncle Warren met us at the station and from there we headed to someone else’s house and this is where I got confused. Up to this point, I’m not entirely sure who the family was, whose house we went to for breakfast. Although they were all nice people, I might add. Anyway, we were there for a while, about an hour I’d say, and this was where I met Aunt Ella as well. (And correct me on the spelling, Dad, please).

Once the adults (and I say this affectionately, because I did feel like a kid just itching to get this trip going) finally got moving and headed to the cars, Uncle Warren, Aunt Brenda, Aunt Ella, Neil and I hopped in the car and headed for the mountain.

The weather looked like it was clearing up, but there were still clouds looming, but so far it had yet to rain; even sprinkle. The drive up there was about 2 hours long, but it went by quickly with lots of good conversation. :)

The scenery kept me pretty quite and I’m pretty sure that if anyone were to turn around my face would’ve been plastered to the window.

Uncle Warren took us to this hidden trail, which, for a moment it looked like it wasn’t going to lead to anything, but once it opened up the view was spectacular. You could see trees for miles and cliffs that seemed to go on forever. And there was also an almost eerie atmosphere because a fog had settled within the tree tops. It was beautiful, but in a weird sort of way, if that makes any sense. :)

After this ‘bush walk’, we headed for the Three Sisters, which is basically three peaks, side by side. It’s too bad it was foggy on this day because I took a picture of them but you can’t see them clearly. Anyway, we walked to the lookout point and took a look around. It was also a bit cool this day, but despite all that, there were a lot of people there.

We followed a path that brought us down to some very short and very steep stairs that gave us the chance to get closer to one of the ‘sisters’. I still can’t believe I actually did this, and with my fear of heights, this is no small feat. And yet, there I was, standing on a very steep cliff. It was very cool. :)

The walk back up the stairs, however, was not. And it’s hard to believe that if you continued to follow the stairs, it would take you down to a trail that took you through the forest below. It would’ve been nice to do that, but unfortunately, and is always the case, there was just not enough time.

At this point, Aunt Brenda wanted some lunch. And so we headed to one of the restaurants in the area for some fish and chips, lasagne or schnitzel. This was an event in itself, but I’ll leave it at that. If Neil wants to explain further, he can. But the whole situation was, looking back on it, kind of funny. (Sorry Aunt Brenda. :) ).

Once lunch ended we headed for Aunt Lesley’s with a short stop at Aunt Brenda and Uncle Warren’s. It was then that I discovered that they have a cat named Tinkerbell. And there she was waiting for them when we pulled in. She’s a very cute cat and I won’t begin to describe how she looks because her colour pattern is different, unique.

Unfortunately, we didn’t stay there very long. I would’ve been playing crazy cat games with her in minutes. *lol*

We met up at Aunt Lesley and Uncle Ismael’s where we had some dinner. It was here that we also got to meet my cousin, Tatiana, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Warren’s daughter. :)

Now I wish that I had written this up sooner because I can’t remember what we had. I do remember the ribs that Neil ate a ton of (*lol*) and the apple pie we had for desert. And of course rice, a staple. :) But other than that, I can’t remember what else there was.

I definitely remember the Mah Jong that went on once dinner was over. And if you weren’t playing Mah Jong, you were doing karaoke. Yes, people. I don’t know if this is what it’s like in the Philippines, but it seems like this would be a typical weekend or evening. Hehehe…I just found it all funny. :)

And they play for money! Just coins though. Definitely not like Saturday nights at Tante Lily’s, eh Fred?? ;-)

But eventually the evening came to a close and another day in Sydney came to an end.