Blue Mountains, Wildlife Park, dinner with Chretien

I woke up early to try to catch the sunrise over the mountains, but I was a little late and missed it. It was really cool out anyways, so I went for the buffet breakfast instead.
Then I got picked up by the bus tour again. As I walked onto the bus, it looked like there were not too many free seats. I continued on to the back of the bus and there was one seat left beside a guy, so I sat down. It ended up that this guy was from the Netherlands and was traveling alone as well. We had a nice chat on the bus and ended up going for dinner that night (more about that later).
We stopped at Scenic World, that has the steepest operating railway in the world (52 degrees, I think) and a cable car that goes across the valley.



I took the railway down to the valley floor - it was kind of like a rollercoaster, except straight down. Thankfully, it was really short!
Next stop was the Wildlife Park. There were all of the animals from Australia you would expect to see (kangaroos, koalas, a Tasmanian devil, dingos, emus, bats, snakes, penguins and tons of birds).



Just before Chretien (yes, his first name is just like Jean Chretien) got dropped off by the bus, he asked if I had any plans for dinner and, of course, I didn't. We quickly made plans to meet at Wharf 5 at Circular Quay.
With these bus tours, they drop off everyone at their hotels, so it takes awhile to get to your own hotel. I had a quick shower and headed off to the wharf. Chretien and I had a nice dinner at an outdoor cafe looking over Circular Quay. Afterwards we went to a bar on the other side of the wharf and ran into this guy, Alex, from St. Louis. He was quite the talker! Chretien and I were both tired, so he walked me back to my hotel. It was so nice meeting him - too bad he lives so far away!