Bushwalks and Boundless Thoughts

I’m sure I could write multiple blogs about all the different bush walks I did in the Blue Mountains and go into extensive details about the flora and fauna. However, since I recently posted two blogs about ocean walks in Sydney, I felt like five more about walking would be a little overkill.

During my three weeks in the Blue Mountains I hiked to Victoria Falls, Govetts Leap via Popes Glen, Asgard Head, Thor Head, Terrace Falls, The Three Sisters via The Prince Henry Cliff Walk, Euroka and Red Hands Cave, and the South Lawson Waterfall Track. See what I mean about overkill?

I quite enjoy solo hiking and the introspection that accompanies it. When I started exploring the Blue Mountains, I found myself extremely apprehensive about snakes. But as the days went by with no sightings, I eased up on my relentless trail scanning and gave into daydreams and ponderings.

From above I imagine that the Blue Mountains looked like a series of cracks along the earth’s surface. Instead of bursting with light and lava, however, they were brimming with foliage. Walking along the leaf littered paths I would get lost amongst the gum trees and bird calls.

 

Passing along at a gradual incline it seemed that the forest would go on forever. Then suddenly from between the naked branches a distant shelf came into view. The forest never thinned, but rather dropped away, and I was standing on the edge of a cliff. The dusty green valley below extended out into the crevices between cliffs for as far as the eye could see. Groups of cockatiels appeared as white specks gliding over the trees in synchronized elegance.

From the right position at Govetts Leap, I witnessed the falls dust the side of the mountain. Their waters drifted into the greenery below. The clouds painted the valley with shadows from the view at Asgard Head, and the wind sung a lonely tune from the reaches of Thor Head. The Prince Henry Cliff walk brought me to the brink of reality, where if I set my imagination free I was at the meeting point of the aboriginal past and the civilized future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deeper into the past I dove at Red Hands Cave, where memories those long forgotten lived on in the form of handprints.

I walked simply to walk, to be surrounded by nature, immersed in thought. When you’re alone, truly alone, it provides a rare opportunity to get to know yourself without the lens of others coloring your view. While in Pope’s Glen I attempted to climb onto a rock to take an artsy photo, only to fail miserably. The camera caught my uninhibited reaction as I laughed and dusted the dirt off my jacket.

I lived an entire life in London, working as a waitress in an upscale restaurant. A fairy tale life with an expensive romance that took me to places I would never have dreamed. I met a publisher while working at a café in Melbourne, who agreed to publish my novels. I then spent the next several years doing book tours around the world.

Another day, I was a volunteer at an aquarium in Sydney and was offered a full-time position, announcing on Facebook to friends and family that I would be permanently relocating. The world ended, and I was alone, wandering through the wilderness, and wondering if anyone else had managed to survive.

Some of these stories I lived over the course of several hours, while others flashed by in a few moments.

Not every second was so imaginative. There were plenty of times when all I could think about were how many more steps until I reached the top, or how long before I could stop for lunch. Then there were the flies.

 

Australian flies are on a whole different level. They have no fear and know no boundaries. I had flies hitching rides on my back, landing on my lips, trying to get a lift on my eyelashes, and just making themselves at home on my face. Flies in Aus are impossible and down right rude. On one hike, I literally had two drag racing each other around my body. I got dizzy watching them zoom past my hips.

Hiking wasn’t the only thing I did in the Blue Mountains. In fact, I would never have been able to spend so much time there had it not been for the wonderful family that took me in. Check out my next blog to learn more about Workaway and my first experience.