BLUE MOUNTAINS AUSTRALIA

ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RAILING

Brian took me to "Scenic World" an amazing virgin landscape unmarked by man other than the "Scenic Walkway, Scenic Railway, Scenic Cableway, and Scenic Skyway."   You get the feeling that you are the first person to ever pay dearly to see it's scenic delights.  Australians get crazier than American truckers who've stopped for the night.  Starting at age 5 or so , they wear nothing but combat boots and khaki shorts and hold bowie knives in their teeth.  And everyone has a pet alligator.  Or that's what I read in a comic book...Anyway, here I am on the side of the railing that is ostensibly designed to either keep people from going any further or to keep the vicious Australian animals from maiming the children.  Since I'm a Travel Kitty and a well worn adventurer,  it was perfectly fine for me to be on the other side based on the spacing of the bars. I'm doing my best to threaten and scare visitors by ferociously swishing my choo-choo tail!

RIDING THE SCENIC SKYWAY

Here I am inside a gondola suspended 270m above the ground.  We have embarked on a journey that covers nearly half a mile.  I was impressed by the grandeur, but have some input: The ride would be more exciting if the thing launched out of the gatehouse like a bullet then abruptly stopped as if it hit a post or something and then continued at a leisurely pace to the end.  Additionally, they need to slow the thing down so that you feel you are covering a much greater distance.  A round trip ride costs $26 per person, whick is 50 cents per hundredth of a mile, so I think my input is valuable.

THE MAGIC GLASS FLOOR

Here I am lying down on the magic glass floor.  What is magic about it?  Well, when the ride starts it just looks like any other highly polished opaque floor, then at the scariest moment somebody flips a switch and there you are staring down into swirling abyss of trees.  Granted the view is amazing, but the tops of trees look pokey and boy that would be terrible to be on the ride the day the cable snapped and you got impaled on the top of a tree as if skewered for roasting on the only cooking implement in Australia, the BBQ.  I learned that at Outback Steakhouse from the tipsy grandma at the next table, so it must be true.  There was nothing to eat up here and the vicious Australian wildlife was too far away to see.  It would be cheaper to get a window seat and watch a plane land and you'd see the same stuff.  Just my opinion.