Melbourne and the Blue Mountains

We bid farewell to my parents at the Melbourne airport, and are greeted by friends we made in Italy. 7 months after meeting Virginia and her two youngest children on a beach in Monterossa, Italy, we arrive in their hometown for a visit. It feels like we are still with family. We explore the beautiful city on a glorious day. Matt, the youngest, plays hooky and accompanies us on tours of Captain James Cook’s cabin (moved here from England), the old gaol (jail for those of us unfamiliar with this spelling), and the parliament building. We were in for a surprise on our jail visit. They want the experience to feel authentic, so they treated us like criminals. I’ve never been yelled at so much in my life. And, I paid to have it done. Weird, huh? The kids were deputized as assistant wardens and rather enjoyed the experience—maybe a bit too much.

From Melbourne, we traveled north to New South Wales. Where in the world are Ethan and Siena? These hills are covered with eucalyptus trees, and, we are told, when the sun shines on them, they are eerily blue. These are the Blue Mountains. They were rather gray and misty when we were there, but the vistas, when the clouds lifted, were great. The kids are standing in front of the 3 Sisters. The myth regarding them tells of a powerful sorcerer, who can change into a bird with his magic shinbone (why a shin bone????). One day, he told his daughters to stay on top of the mountain, away from the horrible ogre. The ogre charged towards them and the father didn’t have time to help, so he turned them into rock, and he was in so much of a rush to save them, that he dropped his shinbone, thus preventing him from changing himself or them back into human form. This bird, the lyrebird, is continually digging in the soil in the hopes of finding the lost shinbone and saving his family. Our hike started with 1000 steps down (no, that’s not a typo, and crickey, as Siena would say, were my quads sore the next few days). We opted not to climb back up, back took the steepest railway in the world, an astonishing 52 degree incline. The seats were reclined like dentists’ chairs, but when we were going up, we still felt as though we were going to fall off forward. Here is how it looks from the top. We almost get back to the car before the skies open up.

Cheers to you and yours!
The Beatties