Last Friday, after we got home from New Zealand, we were picked up around 3pm to go to the Blue Mountains with CIEE. I was pretty worn out, but excited going because CIEE always takes such good care of us. We were driven about 2 hours away to Leura, a small, prestigious suburb in the mountains, to a beautiful, huge house. The CIEE staff Wayne, his girlfriend Nicole, and our driver Scott prepared dinner for us. We had delicious Brie cheese and crackers to start, with dips, chips, and finger foods. The royal wedding was live on prime time in Australia, so we all huddled around the huge television to watch Kate and William get married. For the main they prepared grilled chicken and steak. Everything was delicious, and it was nice to eat so well (especially after New Zealand!). There were at least 8 bedrooms in the house, and each bed had a heating blanket on it, nice sheets, and fluffy pillows.
On Saturday we woke up relatively late and had quick breakfast, then headed to our abseiling adventure. We were suited up and practiced on a small rock. Abseiling is a bit scary, because your legs are basically completely parallel to the ground, but your body is parallel to the rock you are leaning on with your legs. You have to lean back and ease your butt down, then you can move your legs down. Each time you abseil, too, there is a spotter at the bottom who is holding onto your rope, so you won’t go down to fast or lose control. It was raining, though, so in my mind things were going to get slippery.
We did five different abseils, and each got bigger as we moved on. On the fourth one they taught us how to push ourselves off from the cliff when we encountered an overhang. I am not going to lie- abseiling was terrifying. Just getting yourself off the top of the rock and trusting the ropes when you lean back to hold you safely was tough. I was pretty thrilled when I got down the big cliffs, but the views from the top were amazing. Abseiling was an awesome activity that really tested my fears, but the experience was pretty rewarding, too.
After the abseiling activity ended we ventured into town to grab lunch. We ended up eating all together at a little café in Leura. Everyone was pretty cold after getting wet on the mountain abseiling, but we were all keen to warm up with hot chocolate and hot tea. One popular thing here in Australia are the hot chai lattes, and sometimes a dessert chai beverage (like a milkshake) is offered. I don’t absolutely love chai tea, but people who do LOVE the chai lattes and frappes. After lunch we walked around the shops in the town a little bit, and I even picked out a Christmas ornament! Leura and the surrounding villages are very touristy, but they are tucked away in the mountains so each is a little bit isolated from the others. The shops were pretty unique; the specialty stores and boutiques had everything from French specialty soaps to custom stationary, and I think a lot of the shops were tailored to a wealthy crowd, as the prices were pretty steep.
In the afternoon we stopped at all the popular tourist lookouts, but because of the weather we could not see anything. The CIEE leaders had discussed letting us organize dinner and breakfast, so we took a trip to Woolworth’s grocery store and in groups purchased all the food we would need for the meals we wanted to prepare. The dinner group decided they wanted to make Mexican food; they grabbed stuff to make quesadillas, fajitas, and chips and salsa. I was on breakfast duty, so when we got back to the house I immediately ran up and got into bed under the heating blanket (my pants and clothes had been wet all day, so I was ready to warm up!).
The group that made the Mexican food did a great job! Wayne, Nic and Scotty (the Australians) had never had Mexican prepared so well, and were surprised how much they liked it, especially the quesadillas. I was pretty worn out after dinner, so I watched a little bit of a movie and headed to bed early.
I was on breakfast duty, and was in charge of making French toast, complete with fruit toppings and whipped cream. We also prepared scrambled eggs and bacon. The bacon is Australia is really different from in America; the slabs of meat, or slices, are much bigger, and there is a lot more fat on them. They also are cut a little thicker, so it doesn’t get very crispy (the way I prefer it at home). It is definitely more like ham. Anyway, everyone loved the breakfast, and the Australians kept asking if we had such sweet breakfasts normally in the states. We reassured them that breakfasts this fancy were only on days like Sunday, when people have time to cook yummy breakfasts with so many items. It was so nice to have a kitchen to cook some familiar food dishes, and it was nice to have so many people who were so excited about eating what we cooked.
After we tidied up the house and checked out we headed to the famous lookout points to see the Three Sisters, a rock formation in the heart of a famous valley. We also went on a short walk to see a waterfall, and got to see some of the flora up close. The Blue Mountains are ‘blue’ because of the blue-tinged haze that comes from all the eucalyptus trees. They remain green all year (so there are no fall colors to see here!), but the mountains look blue. The valley where the Three Sisters sit is the second largest valley in the world, only a little smaller than the Grand Canyon! It was truly spectacular, and definitely worth seeing.
I did not want to return to school, though because I knew my week (and the next 3 after it) would really academically stressful. After the Blue Mountains, I had to turn 2 papers in, write a paper in class and take a test. While that doesn’t sound like much, when you are in Australia (traveling around) it is a lot. We shall see how it goes…
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