Club Med Lindeman Island, Blue Mts & Sydney (Part 3)

This is the 2nd night that I am spending in Katoomba, Blue Mountains. D and I left Club Med Lindeman (very sad that we had to leave that beautiful island, lots of fun times and rich food... more on that later wif pics) for Sydney on 29th Jul Friday morning.

While at Lindeman, we went on an excursion to the Great Barrier Reef by ferry, did some snorkling in the cold waters and flew back to Lindeman Island on a helicopter (our most extravagant expenditure to date). We saw the magnificence of the Great Barrier Reef both in the waters and over the air, and I reckon this is one thing that I don't regret doing. Incidentally, I was considering repeatedly whether to snorkel there 'cos I was terrified of the cold, but after D's repeated prodding, I finally decided and spent an additional AUD25 to do a guided snorkel tour with a marine biologist who showed and talked about the "residents" in the Great Barrier Reef. There were also the endless sunbathing/napping in the sun at the beach & pool, sometimes interrupted by the occasional sailing competition and mass dancing at night.

It was chilly at times in Lindeman, around 21-25 degrees Celsius, but it's frigid in the Blue Mountains. Right now, it's at 7 degrees Celsius at night, and I am glad that both of us are nice and warm in the Youth Hostel (it has central heating and I can control the level in my room... wish HK apts have something like that during winter).

I woke up to the most glorious sun rise at 6-something and the rest of the day was excellent. Clear blue skies, quite cold temperatures but excellent to walk miles and miles at different Blue Mountains locations. We bought the Explorer Bus tics at AUD25 each which gives us unlimited boarding and alighting at different locations. Never walked so much in the past few days, definitely worked out all that rich Club Med food. D took lots of pics with his Canon 20D and I with my Sony Handycam. Lots of editing to do when I go back to HK.

Tomorrow, we will be doing our climbing course with an instructor attached to the Australian School Of Mountaineering. Looking forward to trying out some flagging, laybacks, crimpings etc at Blue Mountains. Will write again if I manage to survive tomorrow.