Brisbane Trip Day 24: Armidale

This was definitely the coldest night we've had on the trip so far, and a bit of a shock after such warm nights in Brisbane. We used all the blankets and it wasn't too uncomfortable. I was up early and there was a fog covering the show grounds, with the sun shining through and silhouetting all the show buildings, it was very pretty.

I had a cup of tea and breakfast and the kids joined me as they woke up. Once I'd eaten I started work on my car window - being a Sunday I figured there'd be no one around to fix it, and also I didn't want to pay someone again, I was sure I could figure it out. It took me a while to get the door panel off, there were a couple of screws I didn't find until I looked up a diagram online. With the panel off I could see what the problem was - the window had jumped the rails and was jammed between the window column and the door frame. I tried to shift it out but it wasn't budging at all. I thought I just needed more strength, so asked the guy in the camper trailer next to us if he could help. He was a young guy, and a mechanic, and happy to help out. He'd also had a similar problem with his own window. My window though was well and truly jammed and he couldn't shift it with strength. He tried a few things and eventually found a screw that loosened the window enough to move it back and out of the jam, then put it into it's rail. He put everything back together for me and the window worked perfectly. I was very grateful.

By now it was nearly 11am so we quickly got ready and headed off to explore. We drove around Armidale and I showed the kids places that I remembered. Amelie was impressed with all the churches. I wanted to show them the 3 houses I'd lived in, on the first pass I couldn't find any of them - everything looked so different. We got petrol and drove up Elm Avenue to the uni, I was pleased to show them this beautiful road that I walked up so many times. There were a few yellow leaves here and there, but it was mainly showing it's summer glory. Driving back through town I found 2 of my houses and I think the driveway of the third.

We set off along the Waterfall Way to the east. I love this countryside - with the elevation so high the sky seems to go forever and the clouds sit differently to what we are used to. The land is pretty dry, with beautiful dead trees in all the paddocks, and lots of large rocks strewn everywhere. It's pretty tough land, very beautiful. We saw 3 eagles on our drive out to Wollomombi Falls.

At the falls we wandered around the picnic area a bit, got a glimpse of Chandler Falls, looked at the gorge, used the toilets then checked the maps and decided to do the walk that goes towards the tops of the falls. The walk was quite pretty, through wooded hills with a mix of living and dead trees and interesting undergrowth. The first lookout gave us a good view of the gorge - it was deep and immense looking - lots of places where we could see that rockfalls had happened, huge slabs of rock lining the walls where there hadn't been falls, and the river way way down below. The day was hot and at one point the kids were thinking about heading back. We could see a cool looking metal bridge up ahead though so kept walking towards that. The bridge crossed the river, above (and a few hundred metres back from) the top of the falls. It was gorgeous, the river trickling between lots of big rocks, and the river banks sloping up to grass and then trees and the blue sky above. We had a play around on the rocks and saw some rock skinks (one swam across the river to get away from us). We found a spot in the shade and sat and ate some lunch (tuna, avocado, ritz and saladas). After eating we explored a bit more above and below the bridge, then kept walking to the lookout at the top of the falls. It was pretty as well, we could see several arms of the falls coming from a rock pool at the top, and had a great view right along the gorge. We couldn't see the bottom of the falls though, they were way below us. After resting a little and admiring the view, we continued on to the lookout for Chandler Falls (two rivers meet at the bottom of the gorge, and they both have massive waterfalls dropping into the gorge just before the meeting place. Wollomombi Falls are the tallest in Australia, over 200m). These falls were also impressive. Not a lot of water in them at the moment, but we could see it falling in steps all the way to the bottom. The gorge here was similar although had different things to look at - a slightly less recent rockfall, different trees, more farmland at the top. We could also see the top of the ridge between the 2 rivers.

The walk back was pretty again although we were all quite tired. The views of the gorge from the lookouts, and even the river at the bridge, looked different because the sun had moved and the shadows were very different. Back at the car we had a big drink of water and a snack and felt a bit refreshed. We drove down to look at the camping ground (which I hadn't realised was there) - it looked pretty and was quite cheap, although the sites looked pretty hard and possibly were all gravel, so it might be tricky for us to set up there.

I'd planned to keep heading east and see Ebor Falls, Dorrigo and maybe even Bellingen, but we'd spent quite a bit of time here and got started later than I'd thought we would, and we were all feeling tired. So instead we went back towards Armidale, then went out to Gara Gorge. The last several kilometres of the road were gravel, and parts of it were the most heavily corrugated I think I've driven on. I had to drive at about 10km/hr in one bit so that the car didn't feel like it was going to fall apart. It seemed to take a long time to get to the gorge, through some very pretty countryside - then suddenly we were on paved roads again as we entered the National Park. We stopped at the Blue Hole and got out to have a look. I remembered people swimming here, and while it was attractive to look at, it didn't look inviting to swim in. No one else was there and there were no obvious paths down to the water either. We found a path through the grass that led to a big rock so we stood there and watched the birds and the skinks and enjoyed the peaceful surrounds.

I'd seen people coming out along the road who had been swimming, and several cars came past from further into the park, so we went down there. There were a lot more cars at the next carpark. We walked down to the river and saw kids in the water, and people walking back up the path in wet clothes, so I popped back to the car and got the kids swimmers. The other kids had said there was a better spot to swim further down the river. Liam and Caitlin clambered over the rocks to explore, which was fun (although Liam scratched his shoulder quite badly on a tree). They came back up and the 4 of us walked down the path a way until we found another place to reach the river. The rocks rose up quite steeply either side of the water, and the valley was narrower and more full of trees than the valley we'd had lunch in. This was beautiful as well, in a darker way. The water was reflecting in shimmery patterns on the overhanging rocks, it was very cool. The kids sat on the edge of a rock with their feet in the water and the fish nibbled on their skin, and I found a beachy area where I could wade into the water. It was cold, though bearable. The kids joined me (we had to duck under a tree branch to get to the beach) and Caitlin made her way over a rock to sit on a submerged (slippery) rock. I'd walked in to about my waist and Liam came with me, then swam out to a rock in the middle of the river. Caitlin made her way out there as well, then when she came back in I went out. There were lots of big rocks under the water and while the water was clear it was in the shade and hard to see, so we didn't swim around a lot. It was lovely though, being in the water and looking up at the rocks and the trees (and the extra reflections that the ripples we were making created on the rocks). Amelie played in the water near where we came in, it sloped down quite quickly there so it was easy to get right in to the water.

We got out and talked to a couple who were making their way up the river going from rock to rock - just where we were there wasn't an easy way to get across or around so they walked through the water. I sat with my feet in the river for a while and enjoyed the fish nibbling on my dry skin. We got dressed and walked back to the car. Amelie read the history of the water flume that used to be here - there was hydro power here once. It was interesting too to look at the debris stuck in the trees and see how high the flood level is here when there's been a lot of rain.

The drive out was a lot easier - the sun was low in the sky and was highlighting the corrugations in the road so I could avoid them as much as possible. We called in at Coles when we were back in town to grab milk and eggs and a 6-pack of beer for the guy who fixed my window. We drove around a little more so the kids could see the attractive main street and the fountain in the mall.

Back to camp and we all went and had hot showers, then had egg and cabana sandwiches for dinner. We tidied up (and I did the dishes so they weren't slowing us down in the morning) and once again were all in bed between 9 and 9.30.

Half-lap Day 41: Litchfield National Park

I was woken up around 5am by an animal noise – I wandered out to find a possum standing frozen near our table, like he was pretending he wasn’t there. I couldn’t see what he’d been eating, but moved some stuff that might have been a problem, then went to the toilet after he ran up the tree. He came back while I was gone and we realised he’d found our bread tub which had a little hole in the bottom, he’d made the hole bigger and was eating the bread through the hole. We put the tub back in the car and went back to bed, I managed to get a bit more sleep, didn’t wake up until about 7.30. The kids were all up by then and got themselves some breakfast before Tony and I came out.

The kids played with their friends again – really lovely kids (from Tasmania) who are interesting to talk to. We pottered around and got ready and were off to the national park by around 9.30. This time we went to Wangi Falls, which I think are the most popular destination in the park. There is a kiosk here and we could have camped here as well. It was the Saturday of a long weekend so we expected the area to be more crowded than when we came out on Thursday, and there were a fair few cars in the carpark but finding a spot was easy. We wandered down to the area near the water and found a spot to put our towels and snorkels and then went closer to look at the view.

Wangi Falls was also two waterfalls spilling into a plunge pool – the falls were much much higher than Florence Falls and the pool was much much larger. It was beautiful. Tony, LiAM and Caitlin went straight in the water (there were stairs to get in here, rather than scrambling over the rocks like at Florence) and Millie and I walked a short way along a board walk to a viewing platform where we could see the falls easily without being in the way of people getting in the water.

Wangi Falls

We went back and joined the others in the water, and swam across a pebbly/rocky part of the pool to a sand bar in the middle. I couldn’t quite stand up all the way so Millie hung on to my back while I swam her over. Our Tasmanian friends were there too, and we could see the dad and one of the boys over at the base of one of the waterfalls, and Millie said she wanted to go into a little pool that was over there. I wasn’t sure what she meant so Tony and Catilin swam over to check it out. Tony came back and said it was a good place to go, and he swam back over with Millie on his back. LiAM and I went to shore to get our snorkels, then swam all the way over – it was over a fairly deep channel, and I held on to LiAM’s hand as we swam and we were both confident doing it that way (he wasn’t sure he could make it all the way on his own, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be OK with him on my back). Once we got to the base of the falls we climbed up the rocks a little way to join the others – it was a bit scary for me, climbing wet slippery rocks is not something I find easy, and I was also worried about the kids falling in the water. We made it up ok (it was an easy climb really) and there was a deep pool in the side of the cliff face, maybe a metre and a half in diameter, that we all slipped in to and lay back looking up at the waterfall. It was pretty special.

The pool we swam in is in the dark, round patch to the right of the falls, a little up from the base

We climbed out so that others could have a turn in the pool, and sat in the water at the base of the rocks for a while. LiAM, Caitlin and Tony wanted to swim to the other waterfall, so I took Millie back over to the sandbar. She sat on my back while I swam over, and I was a bit nervous about taking her, but with the snorkel it was pretty easy, I didn’t need to spend energy on keeping my head up, and she’s so light that the swimming was not a problem. Now that she can swim a bit, and tread water really well, it was easier too – if she did fall off she’d be able to keep herself afloat until I could grab her.

Back at the sandbar we hung out for a while, swimming around. Millie couldn’t quite stand up so I held her for a lot of the time. We chatted to a lady and watched the others over at the waterfall. After a while we swam back to shore – this time going through a little passage between plants to a different set of steps. It was a little scary as the water at the edge of the passage wasn’t so clear so I was thinking about crocodiles – freshwater crocs do live in these waters and I wasn’t keen to see one quite that close!

Millie and I walked back around to the viewing platform and spent ages looking at all the fish in the water, and across to the falls. The others joined us, and Millie said she wanted to walk up to the rainforest platform. We got our shoes and cameras etc and set off – it was SO cool (temperature wise) in the rainforest, it was hard to believe it was such a hot day. We saw lots and lots of black flying foxes, and the noise they were making was quite loud. It was cool to walk up through the levels of the rainforest and finish at a platform near the top of the trees. Our Tasmanian friends caught up with us at the platform, and some of them were continuing on the loop walk which went over the top of the falls – Millie said she wanted to go too! Caitlin really wanted to as well and LiAM doesn’t want to miss out on what others are seeing, so we all kept going. It was hot when we popped out into the sun, but a lot of the walk was in shade. There was no view of the falls from the walk, it did cross over the creek up the top and that was cool to see, really pretty and then fun to imagine the water spilling over those massive falls in a few more metres. The view across the national park from the top was pretty cool too, although a bit hazy because of all the burning off they are doing.

View from top of Wangi Falls

LiAM and Caitlin had gone ahead with their friends and I tried to catch up with them while Tony came at Millie’s pace – I ended up doing the whole walk by myself which was quite peaceful. It wasn’t a hard walk despite the height of the falls, and we were all glad that we’d decided to do it. Our friends left when we got back, and we all went in for one more swim to cool off before we left. A French guy sitting near us asked if he could use one of our masks for 5 minutes, and he took it out to help him take underwater photos for a while. We waited for him to come back in then we got out of the water and headed back to the car.

I wanted to eat our lunch at Buley Rockhole but everyone was hungry now so we made some sandwiches at the car, and then drove to the Rockhole. The carpark there was quite full but there were spots available. Buley Rockhole is a series of waterfalls and rockholes along the creek that flows over Florence Falls about 1km downstream. It was very cool to think of the water we were swimming in heading over the falls in a short time.

We came in at the Upper Rockholes (and saw our friends on the way out as we were going in). Caitlin had wanted to jump in to the water, and was thrilled to see people jumping in to the first rockhole we came to. She and LiAM went straight over to jump in, and Millie and I sat in the shallows near the top of a little waterfall while Millie finished another sandwich. Once she was done she went into the deeper part with Tony, then climbed out with Caitlin and had a go at jumping in. It took her a little while then she jumped and swam to Tony, and she ended up jumping several times and was quite confident swimming around in the pool, even swimming over to the little waterfall running in to the pool. LiAM and I lay in the downstream waterfall for a while, then started exploring the pool below it and then the next pool. It was deeper at the bottom of some cascades (not deep enough to jump, but deep enough to swim, and the water was very clear). I lay in the cascades (it was like being in a spa) and LiAM swam against the current to get to me, then let himself drift back across the pool, then did it again and again until the others joined us.

We all played there for a while, then walked, slithered and swam further downstream. We climbed over some rocks and got to a pool where a group of Tongan guys and girls had been jumping in – we figured if they could jump in and not hit the bottom then we should be fine. Caitlin jumped in straight away, and I wanted to jump but it was pretty high – maybe 1.5m? and it was pretty scary. I let Tony go in front of me, then Caitlin again, then some other girls and some of the Tongan guys. I helped Millie climb down to where she could play in the water just downstream of the deep pool. I stood on the edge and kept trying to jump then deciding to wait a bit longer. One of the Tongan guys noticed me and said ‘you can do it!’ Eventually, after letting lots of people go first, I stepped down to a slightly lower ledge and jumped from there. It was fun although a little scary. When I surfaced the Tongan guys all clapped for me.

Sitting on the edge of one of the deep pools

Caitlin jumped many times then we moved further downstream, again climbing down some of the waterfalls and getting out and walking around others. Right at the bottom were two deepish pools. The very bottom one had a large rock where people were climbing and jumping – this one seemed a bit more risky as the water wasn’t quite as deep and there were rocks (which could be seen) not far from the jumping area. Caitlin, LiAM and Tony jumped for a while, being careful to land in the right place. I found it a hard pool to swim in, the current was strong so trying to hold Millie meant I had to tread water pretty hard and I kicked underwater rocks, hard, twice. She and I moved up to the next pool which was a bit easier and the bottom was smoother. We swam over and sat on rocks with the waterfall washing over our backs and heads, it was very cool. The others came and jumped in to the pool where we were a few times, having ‘biggest splash’ competitions.

Looking down along the rock holes

Eventually we made our way back up the path to our stuff, then Tony and Caitlin went back to the middle pool for a few more jumps. Tony hurt his knee pushing off for his very last jump. I wanted to do one more jump so jumped in to the pool right at the top where Caitlin and Millie had first started. It wasn’t as high as the middle pool so I found it much easier. Caitlin did a few more, and we watched some German guys doing fancy jumps for a while, then we headed back to the car.

The top pool (with me in the water after jumping in)

On the way back we stopped to look at the magnetic termite mounds – they are all built in a north-south direction so that there is always one side in the shade. I hadn’t seen mounds like this before, and there were huge fields of them – so incredible. There were lots of the cathedral mounds as well, we’ve seen them all over the place but they are getting big up this far north. Millie was fascinated by the termite mounds and took a video of them and the information display with her ipod.

Millie and termite mounds

I drove home because Tony’s knee was too sore. The kids wanted a swim in the caravan park pool so we had a quick dip as it was nearly 7pm, which is when the pool closes. The kids had showers and I cooked some rice noodles which we had with mayonnaise and tuna, then we got ready for bed and read for a while before crashing.

Half-lap Day 12: Flinders Ranges

I was keen to see sunrise in Wilpena Pound and no one else wanted to get up that early, so I got up at 6 and quickly drove in to the National Park. It was getting light as I began the walk in to Hills Homestead, and I could see the sunlight hitting the tops of the cliffs occasionally as I walked. It was an easy walk at first along a cleared road, with amazing gumtrees – huge, with lots of massive branches – and lots of undergrowth. The creek was mainly dry until I reached a point where there was a lot of standing water, and some of it was flowing further down the creek. There was a large pond further along, with great reflections of the cliff and the trees. After a while the track became more undulating and narrower, and wound past Sliding Rock and then over a bridge over the creek. There were massive gumtrees which had fallen across the creek, crashing in to the other side and throwing branches everywhere.

As I walked in to the pound I could see the sun was on the far ridges and starting to peek over the edge on the side I was on. It was only a short walk up to the lower Wangara lookout, and from there I could really see that the mountains formed a contained circle around a flat area in the middle. The mountains were like cliffs on the outside (what we’d been seeing so far) and smoother hills sloping to the middle on the inside. I climbed up to the Upper Wangara Lookout – it took 20 minutes from the Pound floor up to the top, and it wasn’t steep but it was a good climb. The view from there was amazing – I could see right around the pound to all the mountains, and the sun was shining on the tips of all of them. It was so quiet – I could hear birds singing and that was it. There was dew all over every surface and it was quite cold. I checked the log book of walks when I came out and no one else started a walk until 8.30, so I think I was the only person in the pound at that time – a pretty cool feeling. The whole experience was exhilarating.

I stayed up the top taking photos and drinking in the view for half an hour, had a bit of a snack then headed back down. As I arrived at the Hills Homestead at the bottom of the lookout a tour group arrived. I chatted to a couple of the women who had chosen not to walk up to the lookout. While we were talking a rosella was in the gum tree above us and whenever it shook the leaves we had dew rain down on us.

I walked back along the track – it was a lot warmer walking back now that the sun was out! – and drove back up to camp. We spent the rest of the sunny morning hanging around again, doing logic puzzles (Sudoku and similar) and soaking up the sun. The only real drawback to this campsite is the tiny little burrs that stick to anything that falls on the ground – I feel like we spent half our time picking them off things. It was a small price to pay though for a fantastic location. Millie even felt brave enough to try out the pit toilet for the first time, and it wasn’t quite as scary as she’d thought (as long as I was with her to hold on to her, she’s a bit worried that she might fall in).

We had eggs and kabana for lunch, then Tony and Caitlin rode their bikes to the Visitors Centre. I was a bit nervous about Caitlin riding on the main road, but she was nervously confident and Tony said he’d ride behind her so she’d be safe. They enjoyed the ride and found it challenging though doable. Caitlin increased her confidence enough to be able to ride over the cattle grids instead of walk her bike across them.

LiAM, Millie and I hung around for a bit longer, watched the eagles some more and then tidied up a bit and drove in to meet the others. We’d decided to do the same walk that I had done in the morning, now that I knew that it wasn’t too hard (LiAM and Millie were still reluctant to do walks – even today, it was easier to say we’ll just explore the creek a bit, and they were happy to do that, rather than ‘we’re going for a walk). It was interesting seeing it in afternoon light instead of early morning light, different aspects were noticeable, different trees and rocks and features. I noticed in particular that though the creek was mainly dry, it had obviously been full of water and overflowing at some stage, judging by the debris that was caught up in the trees.

The kids really enjoyed looking the pond, and trying to spy creatures in there – we could see lots of bubbles but didn’t find out what was making them. We saw several wallabies and lots of burnt tree trunks that looked like different creatures, including one that was like a puma. When we reached the Homestead we sat and had a snack, then walked up to the lower lookout. The sun was heading down so the light was fantastic again, and I loved seeing the pound for a second time. Tony, LiAM and Caitlin headed up to the Upper Lookout to see the full view, while Millie and I stayed in the sun in the lower lookout and played animal games. Millie also took some photos of me in front of the mountains – almost the first shots taken of me this trip.

Once everyone came back down (and they were all glad that they’d gone up there) we read about the dreamtime story of how the Pound was formed (2 big serpents) and the history of the homestead – a tough place to live and try to make a living. It was getting cold and the light was fading so we tried to walk back quickly. The kids had a bit of a play on Sliding Rock (the side of it did look like a big slide) and Millie agreed to go in the sling – not because she wanted to be carried, but because she was really cold and it was the warmest place to be. On the way back we saw one of the feral goats we’d been reading about.

We got back to the Visitors Centre just in time to buy some milk and use the flush toilets before heading back to camp. We lit the fire and had noodles and soup for dinner, and more marshmallows on the fire afterwards. Millie curled up on our double chair, under a blanket in front of the fire and quickly went to sleep. I got my tripod out and took some cool photos of the stars. We were all exhausted and the tent seemed very cosy and comfortable when we climbed in to bed. I put some extra blankets on LiAM’s bed, under his sleeping bag (I realised that his bed was made of mesh while the girls’ are solid fabric, so he was getting cold air from underneath as well as above) and he was much warmer all night.

Stars over the Flinders Ranges

Half-lap Day 3: The Grampians

We were up a bit again throughout the night, sorting out blankets and getting people comfortable. Millie slept all night until 6.30, then needed to get up to go to the toilet. Mt Difficult was just starting to get sunlight on it, just across from our campsite – so beautiful. Millie went back in to bed and I went for a walk, the mist rolled in as I walked and it was also beautiful wandering through the bush in the mist (and Mt Difficult had disappeared).

While I was having my cup of tea the wallaby came back and the kids came out to see her. We soon realized she had a joey out of the pouch as well – the 2 animals came back and forwards from the bush to the campsite all morning. We had breakfast and the kids explored the area around us, walking through the bush, running around the campsite, LiAM built a teepee out of wood, Millie practised riding her bike, Caitlin and Tony rode around whole area. They decided they wanted to ride into Halls Gap (about 10km) so they headed off and the rest of us got ready for our day out and then drove in to meet them.

A group of people near us had been up late the night before and left a lot of rubbish on the ground when they left. Another couple came and asked if we had any large garbage bags so they could clean up the mess – we all felt that these campgrounds are not going to remain free if there is rubbish left everywhere. They cleaned up and I offered to take the bags in to town to throw out there. While I was trying to fit them in to the bins in town, I saw some of the people who had left the rubbish – it was too late to say anything, and apparently the other couple had asked them to clean up before they left and they replied that it wasn’t their stuff, it was just rubbish.

Our plan was to walk up to The Pinnacle. We were thinking of doing the easiest walk, from Sundial Carpark – which involved driving around to the other side of the mountains. However by the time we met up with Tony and Caitlin (who really enjoyed their bike ride into town) and used the flush toilets at the park (Millie and LiAM are not a fan of drop toilets), and got jackets and food and sunscreen organised, no one wanted to get back in the car, so we decided to walk from where we were. The signage at the Halls Gap carpark wasn’t very clear on the difficulties and length of the walks from there to The Pinnacle, so we decided to do the shortest one once we found some signposts at a junction along the track. We realised later that we’d taken the most difficult track! The track led up along the cliff face for most of the way – there were a few bits of walking over rocks that felt a bit scary, but for most of it the track felt safe – there were just A LOT of steps. Hundreds and hundreds and it was hard work. We stopped for rests very regularly, and had a big snack about halfway up, and kept plodding along. The view back down to the town was impressive, as was the view at times across the valley on the other side. About ¾ of the way up we realised we’d left the car unlocked – with the iPad in plain view, and all of our other devices in the car too. I started to worry about it, then figured it was at least a couple of hours til I could get back there, so there was nothing I could do about it at this stage, and I would hope for the best. I managed to not worry at all except during the really hard bits of the track when everything seemed disastrous…. For the last 10 minutes or so of the upward climb on the track I was wishing I hadn’t suggested this walk, and thinking that everyone would be angry at me for dragging them up there – once we came out of the woods and were walking over bare rocks and the top seemed close, I felt much better and everyone got excited again. We reached the top and walked out to the lookout – Caitlin had been worried by the pictures of it and was scared it would be too close to the edge, the fences wouldn’t be sturdy enough etc, but was reassured when we got there and saw the very solid fence. As we got closer though there were edges without fences and even going out onto the lookout was pretty scary for Caitlin and I – I’m not good with heights in general, and Caitlin is OK if it feels secure and she wasn’t completely convinced about this place. Having the kids out there, and all our cameras, added to my fear quite a bit and I was a bit over protective out there, making everyone stay away from the edges especially when they were taking photos. (I have a massive fear of things being dropped over the edge). In between my panic though I could see that the view was spectacular and it was an impressive feat for us to have climbed all the way up there.

One of the scary bits

We moved back from the edge and had some lunch. There was an icy wind blowing, but it was so beautiful sitting all the way up there on the top of the mountain range. We chatted to a few other people – some also quite scared, some just thrilled to be up so high. The elevation from Halls Gap is 400m so it was quite a significant height.

Having a rest about 3/4 of the way up

View from the lookout (see, I did make it all the way out to the edge of the lookout - but not for long!)

We decided to go back down through the Grand Canyon – a longer walk but not as steep and much more beautiful (it probably would have made more sense to come up that way – on the other hand I’m so amazed and happy that we all achieved what we did). There were beautiful and sensational rock formations – a long thin corridor between two rock faces, a much bigger canyon with a creek flowing through it, a waterfall (Bridal Veil) that we could go in and sit behind, some caves and chambers, regular creek crossings and pools in the creek, and most of the steps were more gradual or we were walking down over the rocks and it was easier than the other path.

In behind Bridal Veil Falls

It was a long way though (4.6km in total from the top, after 3.6km walking up) and the last couple of km were very hard work for all of us. All of the kids made it all the way, even Millie. We’d taken the sling because we thought she would need to be carried some of the way – but she rested a lot, and played with bits of leaves and dirt to stop from getting bored, then bounded along the path a bit further and after the first 10 minutes didn’t ask at all to go in the sling. (We said no at that early point cos we figured we didn’t want to carry her the whole way). There was a good bit of complaining for the last little while, and we rested more often, but kept moving – I was worried about the light too as the sun had gone behind the mountain – and we made it back to the carpark before dark, and with everyone still walking.

Tony took the kids over to the supermarket to get ice creams (they wanted to buy some from the ice cream shop but it was closed by the time we got back down) and a choc peppermint Drumstick helped everyone feel a bit better. I put the bikes on the car and we headed back to our tent. Tony cooked hotdogs for himself and the kids and got a fire started in a fire pit and I made myself some toasted sandwiches. Millie hung out in the tent with the iPad, I read my book and the others sat around the fire. I joined them for a while and then got ready for bed. Everyone was in the tent by not long after 9 and I read Brisingr to everyone until the kids started to fall asleep.

NSW Trip Day 12 - Newcastle

I got up early and left with P when he took the girls to school and went to work. He lent me his car for the day so I could have some time to myself, and Tony and the kids stayed at the house and played, and Caitlin made a cake with K (a dairy and gluten free carrot cake).

P works just near where Mum and Dad used to live (and me too when I was younger) so I went and had a look at the house – apart from a satellite dish on the roof and a basketball hoop in the front yard it looked exactly the same. I went down to the shopping centre that I know as Garden City but I’m not sure if its still called that, and it is definitely not exactly the same. It has gradually been expanding and extending over the 30 years since we first moved to the area and I’d seen a lot of the changes, but hadn’t seen the final stage. The carpark was big and confusing, and once inside, at the end where I always used to enter, it was quite similar – when I got to the point where the centre used to end though – it continued on for just as far again and it felt somewhat overwhelming! Anyway, I did a bit of shopping – birthday presents for Millie and LiAM, clothes for me and the kids, a new book for me.

Once I’d had enough I bought a frozen yoghurt (from a cool make-your-own kiosk) and drove in, via the coastal route, to Nobbys Beach. I always enjoy that drive, and it was extra exciting having not done it, and having not seen those beaches, for several years. I sat on a bench and ate my yoghurt and read my book and soaked in the view and the atmosphere. It was a gloriously sunny day, lots of people out walking and running and surfing. I walked out to the end of the breakwater – something I have done hundreds of times before, it felt exciting and familiar. There was a shoal of fish in the water at the end, I’ve never seen that there before, and it was interesting watching a larger fish jumping through them to get its dinner. I hung out at the end for a while, watching the waves and the boats, then headed back, watching a container ship leaving the harbour. It became quite warm as I walked, I hadn’t expected to feel so hot, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment and the walk and the location really helped me to relax and feel great.

Ship being taken out of harbour by tugs

Nobbys Lighthouse

View from breakwater

Breakwater, and ship free of tugs, leaving harbour

Tony had hoped to catch up with a friend of mine, T, who has recently opened the Reserve Wine Bar in Newcastle, but I didn’t have current contact details for him. I thought since I was in the area I could call in to the Reserve and see if I could get a phone number or something – when I opened the door the first person I saw was T’s wife – she and T were having lunch there with her parents. I hadn’t seen them for about 7 years so it was a very pleasant surprise for everyone. I had a quick catch up and grabbed T’s details then left them to their lunch, hopefully we’ll catch up again later this week.

I drove down Hunter St, through the mall which is now open to one lane of one way traffic, and could see that the shops are actually doing business now and there were people everyone, unlike the last few times I’d been there when this end of town was dying. All of Hunter St looked in a better condition than last I’d seen it. I went to Hamilton and had lunch in another wine bar, Fortunate Son, recently opened by a friend of my sister’s. I had a fantastic pancetta, kale and pumpkin salad in a cosy and modern bar, I was quite impressed.

From there I picked P up from work and we came home. The kids were watching TV together, then they iced the cake and we all had a piece – it was delicious. The kids played for a couple of hours, then Tony and our kids left to go out for dinner. We met our friends R & K at Paul’s Asian Affair – Tony’s favourite restaurant in the world. The food is fantastic, and they provide generous serves. It was great catching up with our friends and eating wonderful food. The highlight for LiAM was the Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert which he ate single handedly. It wasn’t too late when we got home but everyone was tired (and Caitlin had been feeling unwell all day) so straight to bed.