I am Write!

The weekend was awesome. Slight rain, not too cold temperatures, a car in hand, and 3 friends to go around in the car with. And with no limits on exploring this country-continent we set out for a road trip, first in Sydney, and then in the nearby Blue Mountains.

The first thing that we did was pick-up our rental car, a white Hyundai Elantra. Then after picking up the remaining two fellows, Hitesh and I set off to see what the Royal National Park is famous for. Amazing views, and awesome roads, this park is only accessible to vehicles.

lookout point for 3 sisters @ katoomba

skyline around the 3 sisters @ katoomba

fog near the 3 sisters @ katoomba

a ranch off the highway, on the way to the jenolan caves

a look at the blue mountains

a hilly ranch with cows grazing

Taking a stopover at Katoomba to checkout the 3 sisters, and then made progress to the main target of the day: Jenolan Caves. The road from the highway to the caves area, a good stretch of 45+ km, is a winding road around the hills, and has some really hairpin bends. With speed limits of just around 60 kmph, it sure would sound as a not so safe place to speed. But Hitesh made sure that everyone had their heart in their mouths as he turned one after the other at speeds of 80-100 kmph! Finally, when we made it to the caves, the view was breathtaking :) But the parking area wasn't. X(

We made our way from the car, to the ticket counter, only to realise that we had under-estimated the ticket cost of the tours. With each tour not less than $16, and the good-ones going upto $28.5, we were left scrambling for cash (this place didn't accept credit/debit cards). We just about scraped through the $28.5 walk, finally taking the river trail to explore. The walk was amazing, and we managed to see some really great chambers, created by an underground river, rain and limestone. Finishing off this took a little over 2 hours, and we finally made it out of the cave. On reaching land above sea-level, we realised that it had rained, and some more could be on its way. We ran all the way to the car, and then sped off, trying to cover as much distance before the rain slowed us down. The rain beat us to the highway, and we recieved a huge downpour throught out the drive on the hilly terrain. And with Hitesh not slowing down, the doom seemed closer. Finally, the car skid, and everyone started shouting at the driver to slow or get his ass kicked :) He preferred the second, and we all were happy :) Reaching the highway, we stopped at Katoomba, for dinner, and then I took the wheel, and tried to see what speeds I could achieve, now that the roads had dried. Hitting 140 was pretty easy, and we finally made it to Sydney by 10 PM.

Back at home, I went off to sleep, and with a dreamless night, I woke up at a little after 10, made a rush for lab, and got back to work. But the icing on the cake was when I was browsing through some free coupons on my desk last night. One of them stared out in my face. It read: One Free Admission to Jenolan Caves when the second is bought for equal or greater price. I felt so screwed :(

I started this entry, with the thought of something else, but it seems I just went on to describe the road-trip. Who cares :)