We loved Sydney in 2012 and were looking forward to our 2-day stop this time around. When the Sydney Opera House first came into view, it was not lit up and it was too dark to take good photos. So our photos start as we were docking at Circular Key, right near the ferry terminal. Last time we were docked around the corner (and under the bridge) in Darling Harbor. This was much more convenient. (Itinerary) 

 
There is a writer's walk with quotes from writers who wrote about Sydney. We headed for the trains and changed trains to out to the Blue Mountains. We were headed toward Katoomba.

  
Interesting architecture from the train.

   
Katoomba, a 2-hour train ride from Sydney, was a lovely mountain village. We stopped for some lunch—a Subway sandwich eaten outside on this owl mosaic table.

  
As we walked toward the trail head for our hike, we passed some lovely homes. 

 
We walked about a mile out to the edge of the drop off. Over the next couple of hours we hiked the spectacular trails around Katoomba Falls and Echo Point. We caught the bus back to town. Our day passes for trains, ferries, & buses worked out here as well.

 
We loved the curling rock formations and the well-maintained & well-used trails. While most of our walking was on trails at the top edge area, we did gain and lose a great deal of elevation to see the falls and other sites.

 
We loved the peeling eucalyptus bark.

 
Magpie were numerous and we could hear their melodious, flute-like calls. Looking back from this point, we could see 2 of the Three Sisters rock pinnacles.

 
We saw one narrow falls with a really long drop and as we made our way down the trails, we found more falls.

 
Looking back on the same narrow falls as shown above but from the other side, we see that there are actually 2 columns of water falling. We thought that this rock formation was cool:  you might see faces of men or owls.

Finally we have a good view of the 3 sisters.

Some of the rock formations could be experienced up close and personal...

 
An aboriginal family hiking together wanted Dean to take a group photo of them in a shallow cave. This falls is named Witch's Leap.

   
Here's where the casual sightseers come. We did not stay long and caught the first bus back to town.

  
We took the train back to Sydney as as we stepped onto the platform, the majority of people were commuters headed out of town. We liked this study of the passengers.

It's a short walk from the train station back to the ship. We had a quick dinner and headed out again for a sunset ferry ride around Darling Harbor. 

 
The Australian flag, the state flag for New South Wales, and the black, red and gold aboriginal flag.

We'd seen Luna Park before, but it is so outrageous with its entrance through the mouth, so here's another photo.

   
By the time we returned from our circuit to all the stops in the harbor, it was dark.

   
We'd been out to Manly Beach in 2012 and you should check out the photos of the Corso and the general layout. We decided to spend more time exploring the area because the weather was beautiful.

 
The Corso was mostly empty, but a few families were out enjoying the day.

The Austalian Open Surfing Competition was taking place here. Too bad for the competitors and attendees that the waves weren't better.

 
We continued walking to the end of the beach where there was a saltwater-filled pool.

 
We did a little rock scrambling at the end of the beach thinking that we might see some interesting birds out there.

Looking back from this vantage point, they guy who was having the most fun in the surf was in a kayak.

 
Looking up from the rocks, the sandstone is gorgeous, but we agreed that we wouldn't want to own the house that was hanging out over the edge no matter how good the view was.

 
We found this natural tunnel through the sandstone that went to the next beach, but the rock scrambling level would have been much harder, so we admired the view on the other side and came back through.

 
Dean had read about a colony of endangered "Little Penguins" at Manly Beach. This local guy said in the 5 years that he's been coming to Manly Beach, he'd seen only 1 penguin, but he told us that they are sometimes seen over on Shelly Beach at the opposite end of Manly. We walked out to the road and caught a bus to Shelly Beach, which was accessed by a walkway at the other end of Manly Beach.

There is a saltwater pool here as well.

 
We loved the small-scale sculptures on the rock faces along the walk to Shelly Beach. Some were more subtle like this diving sculpture with 2 divers on the surface and a swimmer "underwater."