Sydney and Blue Mountains, NSW Australia

Originally we had planned to fly from Cairns to Brisbane and then drive down the coast, but after driving 10k miles in the US/Canada we decided to fly to Sydney instead to reduce the distance.

Unfortunately, in Sydney we were duped by a place that had great reviews but ended up to be very loud and dirty. It turns out they were offering free laundry for 5 star reviews, which feels a bit deceptive but you can’t win them all!

We were in Sydney for my birthday, so we picked up some boba tea and went to a good Thai place for dinner. We walked around the city but mostly took the time to run some errands like figuring out a gear plan for New Zealand. After two days we picked up the rental car and headed to the Blue Mountains, about an hour west.

Much to our relief, our hostel in the Blue Mountains was very nice and had a great group of people. We ended up doing some hikes with others, which was nice because as much as we still get along it’s good to talk to new people once in a while. 

Last year we did a guided canyoneering trip in Utah and had a good time, so we had discussed doing something similar again. The Blue Mountains are filled with canyons, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We signed up for a full day through Serendipity canyon, and to be honest the morning of we were both dragging a bit, but it was already booked so off we went! We rapelled down waterfalls, swam and waded through canyons, and defended our lunch from begging lizards. It ended up to be a great time! One other couple was on the trip with us, also from the US, so it was fun to talk and go through the canyon together.

Many trails were closed in the area due to some major rainfall, but otherwise we probably could have spent one more night in the Blue Mountains. We would probably skip Sydney next time around but it was good to at least check out. In general I think we have realized that with the exception of some unique European cities (Paris, London, Istanbul, etc), we just prefer to be in nature full time.