Sydney 01/04/2008

Happy April Fool's Day and Happy Birthday to Paula too! Real action packed weekend this time. We planned a trip out to the Blue Mountains and we left Sydney at 6 in the evening and arrived at Katoomba about two hours later. It was quite cold but as soon as we got checked in to the hostel we went and found a pub to sit in for the night. There was a great band playing and everyone was really impressed with them. Saturday we got up early and hired some bikes to take us up the mountain. After much complaining and nearly getting sick from the exhaustion (and this was only an hour in to the trek) we finally made it to the Narrow Neck trail. Things were going fine, the views were brilliant and although it was tiring we were making good progress. However my biking day came to a sudden halt when I decided to put my bike into the side of the road and buckle the front wheel! A few scrapes but nothing serious but of course I now had to walk the bike all the way back. The really steep bits didn't make it any easier. Eventually I managed to get a lift back into town so it wasn't all bad. That night we had a few drinks in a different pub while trying not to fall asleep. Next morning it was up early again for a bit of abseiling. Thankfully this time we had a lift out on a bus. We started off with a 5 metre practice rock and then moved on to a 15 metre cliff face. We all got to do that twice and then it was on to the big one. A 30 metre abseil down an 80 metre cliff. This one was actually easier as there was only about 8 metres of cliff and the rest was just sliding down using the rope. I got to do that one twice and it was brilliant! Paula and Mark went on to do the canyoning and I got the train back home. Lots of bruises and scrapes (it'll probably be a week until I'm fully myself again) but it was all well worth it! This week we plan to go to the Zoo to see all the animals and stuff. Also as it's Paula's Birthday we're heading out for a nice dinner in Kellys again. Mmmm lovely BBQ ribs!

72 days to go, Paddy.