Sept 17 - Biking Uphill. A Lot.

Started the day off with the breakfast of champions - tea, toast and cereal. Also tried the staple Aussie spread known as Vegemite. It tasted kinda like salt and healthiness. Not a fan. It looks like chocolate, so overall a very deceiving let down, but it's like eating Krispy Kreme in America; it made me a bit more Australian.

Following that tasty excursion, Brennan and I headed over to rent some bikes, or "hire" bikes as they say here. If I'm gonna hire a bike, I want to see it's references list first (groan). Got some very light (almost as light as trials) mountain bikes and a map of the trails. Even moreso than Sydney, Katoomba is hilly. As in there are no flat streets here, only downhill or uphill at 30 degrees or more. So the bike over to the trail area led to huffing and puffing and burning leg muscles. Went down a couple little trails to lookout points over the mountains then biked back into town, which included three very uphill climbs of a couple kilometers each. Alternating between riding in 1st gear/1st speed and walking the bikes worked until legs were nearly buckling. Finally got the rides back to the rental shop even though only 2/4 hours had been used from our half day rental. Whatever, did not care at that point as we stumbled in after cycling hard up several kilometers of hill. It seemed great flying at 70 km/hr down these long, sweeping hills at the start, without thinking of the terrible, terrible ride back up them. Alas, we had exceeded the daily excercise quotient and killed a couple hours.

The next couple hours consisted of doing laundry at the "Washing Well" (oh man, such a bad pun) and shopping for some groceries and booze. While the clothes were drying, we browsed the liquor store down the street. There are very few brands recognizable here that we have back home. Hard liquor and beer are more expensive than home, with a bottle smaller than a 26 going for 35-40 dollars, and a 6-pack of beer running in the 15-20 buck range. Anyhow, we snagged a 6er of Victoria Bitter, which came in bottles the same size as Red Stripe. A decent beer, but bitter like the name implies.

For supper we had been recommended a RSL place buffet; RSL being like the Legion back home. It was supposed to be 12 bucks but we got there and it was $25, so we opted for the $9.95 large pizza from Domino's Pizza. All the prices listed in any store here have to include tax, which is interesting and takes getting used to, because normally by habit, I'll factor in tax on top of the price, which makes prices here seem even worse. It's nice to know the exact amount you'll have to pay, especially if you're short on cash.

There were lots of newcomers to the hostel tonight, so we sat in the common room chatting for a couple hours then turned in for the evening. Tomorrow will hopefully be a trip to the Jenolan crystal caves.