Blue Mountains and more

It's been awhile since I've updated this thing, life gets busy and you don't even realize it sometimes. A few weekends ago, I went rock climbing and abseiling (repelling) somewhere near by, not sure, but the place is called 'monkey face.' It was good fun, except for the leeches..... Could not shed them for the life of you, every 5 min another one would somehow manage to get on your legs, or arms, or neck! I didn't get a picture of the leeches, for those who have weak stomachs, but I did finally get a picture of a "goanna," it was up a tree in our campground. Here's some pictures from the weekend:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056919&id=49009102&l=e637c217ad

Later I was able to attend a local soccer match, the Newcastle Jets vs. a Korean team. We ended up getting seats 5 rows from the field, midfield, and enjoyed a great game. We won 2-0, and the crowd was insane! Australians know how to cheer for their team. Last weekend I went bush walking in the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are absolutely gorgeous, if you come to Australia, you have to go visit them. They are called "blue" from a blue haze emitted from the all the eucalyptus leaves. To get there, we traveled 5 hours by train, and then hiked 6 hours down into a valley and camped near the blue gum forest. The next day we got up and hiked into the blue gum forest, and then started the climb up and out of the valley. We made it out in a little under 4 1/2 hours, but spent the last 45 min or so pushing ourselves to catch a train. It is a little rigorous trying to catch a train after 2 days of hiking with a 15 kilo pack on your back. Needless to say, we did catch the train, perfect timing. The pictures really do not do the blue mountains justice, but they will have to do.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057378&id=49009102&l=82ea8a4618

Today my host family took me and my friend from Korea to the Kurri Kurri Nostalgic Festival. I was rather impressed by how many people were out there, Kurri Kurri is kind of in the middle of nowhere, but people came from all over to go to this weekend festival. It was nice to see some good ol' American muscle, my pictures are slightly biased in that regard, sorry. They also had 6 stages set up with bands playing all the time. The band I have pictures of were the main guys this afternoon, not to bad, the saxophonist was tearing it up, but I can't really say the same for the other guys. All in all though, not to bad. Lots of 40s, 50s, and 60s music, cars, clothes, and dancing. All around a really nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. After that, we drove up to Mt. Sugarloaf, the highest peak in the area, and took a few pictures. I guess that's all for now, currently I'm working on my Easter break vacation plans, once they get solidified, I will post them here.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057821&id=49009102&l=d38bd0d78e