blue mountains

today we went on a trip to the 'blue mountains' which is about an hour and a half out of sydney.

they are actually blue and this is becaues they are made up predominantly of eucalyptus (gum) trees and the leaves give off an oil, which seen fron a distance looks like a blue mist! hence the name! they were really great and it was nice to see a bit of rural australia before having to jet set off again. we went on a long walk down into the valley (i wore my sensible shoes and trousers) and then of course had to walk back up to the bus - we were totally exhausted by the end - me and lucy nearly had a heart attack. there was a really funny (american middle-aged!) couple on the tour with us ans they videoed EVERYTHING!! the entire (not interesting) bus journy and took millions of the same picture!! me and lucy (and all the other young people) took the micky - behind their backs of course!! :) and we went on the most vertical train in the history of forever, it was very very steep it was quite scary, but not as much as some people made out!!