Woke up today and ventured into Katoomba, still managing to maneuver the car. Stopped at a chocolate shop that my guide book recommended and sure enough- the handmade treats were delicious! I was headed out to the Sky Tour out in the mountains, by the Three Sisters rocks (will explain later), when I decided to stop at the Katoomba Falls to take a look-see.
The scenery was beautiful, so I stopped to take some pictures of how high up I was. Next to me was a guy taking photos with a really fancy-schmancy camera. He said to me, "it's a long way down, huh?" in an AMERICAN accent! So, we started chatting and met up with his partners in travelling crime, another American guy and his Australian wife. Both guys, (photo-taker is Wayne, other guy is Max) are US Marines (Wayne is not enlisted anymore). So, Carolyn and Max live in Florida where Max teaches for the Marines at one of the Universities. We all started chatting and they invited me to go down to the Jenolan Caves with them. Since I had my own car, I agreed to follow them down.
The drive was about an hour, in which I got to see my first kangaroo and wallaby in the wild. Both in the form of road kill. Bummer.
The caves were absolutely amazing; the company was even better. The four of us just clicked. Cracking jokes, taking pictures, commiserating about the sometimes baffling Aussie habits, etc. It was a great day.
After the caves, I had to go back to the hostel for the night since I had my stuff there. But, my new BFFs invited me to come back to Sydney for the next couple of days since the boys would be heading back to the states on Sunday. Carolyn would be staying behind to visit with her family here for a couple of weeks (remember, she's an Aussie, married to a US Marine).
So, I went back to the hostel in Katoomba with plans to wake up early to go meet up with the crew in Sydney. This wasn't part of my plan, to go back to the city, but why the heck not??? I decided to hang with them for a few days, then continue on with my original plan to visit the Hunter Valley wineries after they leave. Fly by the seat of my pants. What-evs!!! Ended up being the best spontanious diversion of my trip so far.
