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So that is our stay in Sydney over and its time to pick up our rental car and spend the next month or so exploring the south east coast with the ultimate goal to arrive in Adelaide 27 days later! We had hired a car from Hertz and so had a short walk and train journey from the hotel to the rental office. As we were walking down the street in the direction of the office I noticed a massive queue and happened to say to Michael look at all those poor people having to stand in that massive queue, they have my sympathy as we had stood in a queue for 4 hours not two days before. Mikes response was how funny would it be if that huge queue was people collecting rental cars from Hertz…. So you get where I am going with this as we get nearer to Hertz it becomes clear that we are about to be one of those poor people as we trudge with our bags all the way to the end of the line which is about 60 metres long and houses around 150 people! We were both absolutely horrified and could just see the day of sight seeing around the blue mountains disintegrating before our very eyes! Whilst it was moving it wasn't going very fast and by the time we got to the front if one more smart arse had said "what are hertz giving away cars today" I think I would have throttled them. The only good news was that they had no small cars left and so we were therefore given an upgrade to a lovely red Toyota Camri. After filling in all the necessary paperwork you are given your keys and a location to collect your car from the multi storey car park across the street. I suspect this is a ploy to catch you out on vehicle damage as the garage is so dark and dingy there is no way you could propery inspect the car however having heard a few horror stories about rental cars we weren't about to leave without checking the car in daylight. We parked up outside the car park and low and behold there is a massive ding on the rear bumper that's not listed on vehicle inspection so we then have to take the car to the garage to get one of the mechanics to log the damage on our sheet before we leave!! At last 3 hours after we arrived at Hertz we were finally on our way inland to the Blue Mountains national park. Our main motivation for going to the Blue mountains was to see the famous 3 sisters rock formation which is one of the top 5 photographed sights in Australia. It only took about 2 hours to get there and with the sun shining we decided to head straight to the sisters for a look. The story behind the three sisters goes something like this, some indigenous dude hundreds of years ago turned his three daughter to stone to protect them from a war that was taking place over land, unfortunately the guy died before he could turn them back and so his three daughters are immortalized in stone. The result is an unusual three fingered rock formation that looks completely out of place surrounded by the neighboring stone. It is certainly an impressive sight when surrounded by all the trees and mountains of the national park. The blue mountains get their name from the blue hue of oils that are emitted from all the eucalyptus trees that cover the mountainous terrain and standing at the lovely vista point you can definitely see a slight blue tinge in the air. After getting plenty of photos of the sisters there was still enough time to take in one on the many walks that set off from Echo point (the vista point to the sisters). We decided to walk the great stairs an old stairway constructed over a hundred years ago and take you down into the depths of the forest below where you can explore the old mining areas and artifacts as well as taking in all the trees and plants around. I had no idea when we signed up for this walk that it would entail walking down over 850 steps of varying depths and condition by the time we were about half way our knees were shaky from the constant steep downward decline. Once we finally got to the bottom of the stairway we still had around 2.5km of bush walking before we could hitch a ride back to the top! It was a pretty tiring walk having started with the 870 stairs there was a lot of up and down terrain. By the time we were nearing the end we were both feeling pretty exhausted and a bit cheated by the whole walk as once you were in the thick of the bush there were no pretty views or inspiring scenes to encourage us on there were just lots of trees, bushes and weeds and I had to try really hard to suppress the urge to moan!! Fortunately we didn't have to climb back up ourselves as I really don't know if I would have made it. There were two transfer options the first being on the old coal railway, the steepest railway in the world or via the "scenic cable car". When we got to the railway the queue was ridiculous and we had had enough of standing in ridiculous lines we just wanted out so we walked a little further to the cable car station and the line there was much more agreeable. Unfortunately due to the chaotic number of tourists who were visiting the Blue mountains today they were packing everyone into the cable car like pickled herring in a jar (saw it the other day in the supermarket and just had to say it)! We were right in the middle of the cabin and so couldn't see out of any of the windows and to make matters worse they were playing a commentary of all the things there were to see or in our case the things we were missing! Once at the top we had to pay for our journey with no discounts for no view however the alternative was another 870 steps so to be honest I think we would have paid double if that was required! Once back at the top the clouds had rolled in and we were relieved that we had arrived and taken it all in while it was still bright and sunny. The only thing left to do was check into our motel and get some dinner supplies at the supermarket.The next morning and its absolutely freezing and just so you know I am not exaggerating you could see your breath in the air, very Un Australia! Fortunately we had a rainy day plan involving a visit to the Jenolan Caves around an hours drive from the hotel. The Jenolan caves had come as a recommendation from another traveler and according to all the guide books they are a not to be missed attraction. We arrived around midday and the whole place was absolute chaos, literally thousands of people had the same rainy day plan B! We eventually got parked miles from the caves halfway up a mountain and caught a courtesy bus down to the booking office. We hadn't really read up on the caves however there are in excess of 12 different caves all offering something a bit different and all lasting around 90 minutes. After a quick read of the guidebook we decided to do just one tour and picked the Orient Crystal Cave. As part of the package you also get to do a self guided tour of another cave where you are given an audio guide that talks you through the various stations telling you a bit about what you are seeing. We had a couple of hours to kill before our tour and so after a quick lunch we did the self guided tour. We both enjoyed the cave and having been in caves in NZ we were pleased to find that these ones were a bit different. Part of the tour is outside before you pass through a turnstile and get to do a bit of exploring underground and whilst it was great to wander about it involved yet more stairs and we must have both looked ridiculous hobbling up and down the stairs in the cave. After the walk around the cave being the gluttons for punishment that we are we then did a 2km walk around the lake that lies above and alongside some of the caves. By the time we had finished that it was time for the best part, the tour of The Orient cave and yet more stairs. Once inside the cave it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen where the walls and ceiling were made entirely of crystal. Everywhere there are stalactites and stalagmites of beautiful white, sparkling crystal that has been evolving for thousands of years and in the case of this cave is still evolving all be it very slowly! The tour takes you through various caverns within the cave with each one being more spectacular than the last. At one point we are in what could be a cathedral of crystal with a mix of newer white crystal and older mud stained crystal. I try to explain but you really need to see it to believe it as it is just stunningly amazing and as you can imagine we took hundreds of photos hoping to get just a couple that do the orient cave justice. An hour and a half and another 400 steps later we emerged from the cave completely overwhelmed and thoroughly satisfied with our choice of tour. Unbelievably we had passed 5 hours at the caves and it was time to collect the car and head back to the motel. Unfortunately the courtesy coach was nowhere to be seen and so as if we needed it we had to take the 30 minute hike up a near vertical incline to get to the car! On the drive back to the motel the weather had much improved and so we were able to enjoy more spectacular views of the blue mountains and we were both really happy that we had included this slight detour in our trip!
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