The Blue Mountains, Australia
 A short train ride west of Sydney brought us to the small town of Katoomba.  We arrived there hoping to do some hiking and camping in the surrounding Blue Mountains.  The track we chose brought us by several landmarks, such as the Ruined Castle rock formation and Mount Solitary.  The hope was to hike two days through the forest and over past these sites, ending up on a dirt road that would take us back to civilization.  Well, we found out that our skill at reading the map was less than we thought, so at the end of the second day we were forced to give up the search for the dirt road and bivouac for the night.  Our food situation more or less forced us to back track the entire trail to Katoomba the following day.  It was a long and arduous hike back; when coupled with a lack of water, it made for difficult going.  We did make it, and the nice views along the way, made it all worth the effort.
 Back in town, we decided to extend our stay and try out the climbing nearby.  We settled on a local guide company, the Australian School of Mountaineering.  It was my first time and Tod was somewhat of a novice, but our guide was fantastic, the climbing was great, and the day turned into one of the highlights of the trip.