Steve had booked a bush walk the day after our last cycle ride. I was Umming and Ahhing whether to go with him or not, and decided at the last minute to go. He didn�t know where he was going exactly, as some friends of his were organising it �Just be at my place at 6am� he said. I duly was, and sitting, there having a coffee and a hot cross bun (of course), Steve, myself, and his wife Tracey, waited for the rest to turn up. It wasn�t long before another Steve (we�ll call him Steve2), his brother Andy, and Ian a young friend of Andy�s, who was 14 turned up. A few �hello�s� shaking of the hands, and we were off. It was one of the Wentworth Falls bush walks we were doing.
On the way up the mountains it was raining, but not too heavy, and when we arrived at the car park it had miraculously stopped. We started our decent at 7:50, the track was a popular one so was in good condition. The first thing I noticed was that the bush was very tropical and damp, lots of ferns and tons of moss, you could actually smell the moisture in the air. Soon we could hear the sound of water, and came upon our first waterfall. We clicked off a few photo�s �Ooooooooed� and �Ahhhhhhhed� a bit (as one does), and then moved on.
Steve2 was a seasoned bush walker and had done this walk quite recently so he was our guide (he also had the only map!). We came across a red tape across the path, and a paper sign, saying �track closed due to bush fire threat�. We duly ran around screaming with our arms waving in the air (Warning will Robinson... Warning!!!). Deciding that there was no immediate threat, we hopped over that, and went on out merry way again. We were now walking along the side of the cliff face at the bottom, some places were slow because of boulders or mud but was easily traversed.
Steve spotted a Lyre bird on the track and decided to stalk it and get a picture. We all waited while he did his best 'Richard Attenborough' come 'Steve (the Crocodile hunter) Irwin' impression, chasing this bird down the track. Just as he got close though, the bird would walk around the next bend. Off Steve would go again (crouch crouch creep slink....) following after it. The bird led him a merry dance, before getting tired of the game and scooting off into the bush. We all passed by, and Steve who was still undeterred, waited camera in hand to see if it would come back on the track again. No such luck unfortunately.
Sir David Attenborough said of the Lyre bird which on one of his shows he met on a log in a dense forest in Australia, It is the bird world's best mimic. It can imitate 12 other birds. It does the whirring of a camera's motor drive and the click of a shutter. It repeats the engine of a car, and the din of a car alarm. It can even imitate the screech of the chainsaw wielded by the loggers coming to cut down its habitat.
It's quite amazing to see just how much work the National parks put into these walking tracks for the publics enjoyment. There�s no fee most of the time, lots of fencing railings, bridges, stepping stones, and metal ladder come steps up the sides of cliffs. How the hell they get it all in there beats me.
We reached the half way mark, which was a huge three step waterfall, with a sandy beach area, and swimming hole at the bottom. We rested there, had some lunch, and then went on a Yabby hunt. Yabby�s are like freshwater lobsters (but normally about 4 inches long). We found a couple and pointed them out to Steve2 and Andy, who are English, and hadn�t seen them over here. I decided to go for a walk down to the lower ponds, and found a Yabby that was at least 8 inches long in the body, and would have provided an excellent meal.
From the lunch site, it was a steadily climbing path upwards. Soon we came to ladders attached to the cliff face. They were so steep they had metal covers over them (so it was like a tunnel) in case you fell off. There were a series of these, and then we were half way up the cliff face. We had to walk around the edge of the cliff face, back towards the waterfall. Here, we found we were on the first level (lower) of the waterfall. We walked across the fall hopping from rock to rock (Boing Boing), and started climbing up the opposite cliff face. At the top of that we had to cross over the waterfall yet again. This was the very top of the waterfall and gave commanding views down the valley (what the hell is a commanding view anyway??).
On the track back from here, we met groups of foreign tourists being led down (just to the top of the falls, not the bottom) by a guide, these were the bus trips from Sydney.
I had to laugh as we met a couple (man and his wife, about 50, very smart and well dressed), on their own coming towards us, on a narrow track. As we walked towards them we went to our left, and they went to their right. So we went to our right and they went to their left. We finally sorted it out when we went to our left again. Smiling as he passed us, he said �Sorry we�re bloody Americans� I laughed and said �Good on ya buddy, ya doing O.K., have a great walk�. I thought it was good to see that they got out on their own, and didn�t stick with the coach tours, which can sometimes be a bit plastic. It made me wonder though, because they drive on the right, does that mean they normally pass people on narrow paths on their right???
Back at the top there�s a caf� come restaurant with a nice veranda round it. We went in there for tea and milkshakes before heading home. I have no idea of the distance we traveled over land. Steve2 had a G.P.S. with him but forgot to re-set the distance to zero. I�d be guessing at maybe 7 kilometres. The distance was all done though in a small, approximately one kilometre area. It was lots of �zig zagging� which made it time consuming, and the climbing up and down cliff faces, was quite energy sapping. All in all though, it was definitely do-able by any reasonably fit person (as long as you are not scared of heights). |
