the blue mountains adventure/disaster (still deciding which title works better)

it was a cloudy, smoggy day here in sydney this morning (about 1/4 of the people walking around were wearing those hospital mask things), so i decided to venture out to the blue mountains, which are a 2 hour train ride out of sydney. i had heard just enough about them to know it was an enchanting place with great hiking trails and quaint villages... what unfortunately i did not research was the weather forecast or trails condition! i left sydney just before 10am in pleasant warm weather and got off in Kootoma at noon in near arctic conditions. after a quick stop in the trail outfitters to get a pair of thermal long johns, it was almost bearable, and i figured id warm up quickly once i got to the hiking trails! echo point and the start of the trails are about two miles from the train station through what is a really cute town center, so after a half hour walk, i arrive at the three sisters and echo point - beautiful views! (ill try to figure out how to get pictures on this blog sooner or later) unfortunately the trails were all flooded from too much rain so hiking was not an option. to solve both of the issues i hoped on the tourist trolley bus (with no tourists -they were probably smart enough to check the weather!) and cruised around the mountain in style, then headed back to sydney early. (only to find, to top the day off well, that the thermals must have something in/on them i'm allergic to, because my legs are covered in red splotches!)

so on that note - tomorrow morning i head off to Melbourne! (pronounced "mel-bon")

Aussie word of the day
Pom: a British person