Saturday Hike (May 20, 2017)

Well, I am not sure whether you noticed, but I unwittingly had a bit of a hiatus from this blog thing.  I really haven't been able to do anything blog-worthy for the past few weeks because I got quite sick one week, and then had a spell of assignments to complete back to back after that.  I guess this adventure I'm on isn't all fun and games.  I'm still trying to strike the right tourist/student balance.  But, now that I am healthy and for the time being my school workload is at bay (it will get heavy in about three weeks from now when the first semester wraps up, but I am trying to ignore that fact), I have the chance to do things!

So, an Australian, a German, an American, a Chinese person, and a Canadian walk into the woods... No, that's not the start to a really bad joke, that's what I did this weekend!  Yesterday, I went on a hike with a few other international members of the Sydney University Bushwalking club that I belong to.  Its a pretty cool club because there are different hikes for different experience levels a couple of days a week.  I also think that anyone is able to organize a hike and everyone just shows up for a good time and new company.   Because of the aforementioned setbacks to fun, this was my first walk with the club, but I am going to try to make it a weekly thing. In fact, I've signed up for another trip next weekend, so you will have to come back next weekend to find out more...

The five of us met up about an hour outside of the city to do the Heathcote to Engadine via Audley walk, which is in the Royal National Park.  In total it was about 15km and we walked it in about five and a half hours. We met bright and early at 9am on what was expected to be a very rainy day.  When we met it was very overcast, but as luck would have it, the skies completely cleared by the afternoon and the sun was high in the sky.  Unluckily, this meant that I was somewhat ill-prepared.  I betrayed my Girl Guide roots and did not show up prepared for all weather types.  I did not have any sunscreen (big no-no in the Australian sun) and I wore a pretty thick sweater and jeans.  But, I survived nevertheless, just a little rosier than usual.  The other wardrobe issue that I had was that the paths were not well cleared so there were a lot of plants that we had to push through.  Because it rained heavily the night before and in the morning, the plants were all wet and my jeans became completely soaked as I pushed through them. 

We walked for about 45 minutes until we got to the Kahoon pools then stopped to take pictures. Then we kept walking on the rocky land, and were surrounded by a sea of green with all the trees around.  We could see Sydney in the far off in the distance, if we squinted really hard.  Not only can you see the skyline in this picture, it also goes to show how overcast the beginning of the day was:

Sydney Skyline

We walked another few hours until we got to Audley.  There was a little cafe there where we stopped for a short coffee break.  This was about 10km into the hike so we needed the energy.   I'll happily admit that I would have been satisfied if we ended the hike there, because from Audley there was a long stint of pure uphill hiking.  We walked upwards for another 45 minutes then stopped to eat lunch by a cute little river. Exhibit A:

Our lunch spot

In general, I thought I was a pretty good hiker, what with all of the Girl Guide hikes and working on the Bruce Trail with mom and dad, but I guess it has been a while since I've gone hiking because I was struggling, with a capital S.  I had to take a bunch of breaks, and I felt badly because I was the slowest of the pack.  I was tired and apparently also old because my knees were creaking. The others were absolute machines powering up these hills. But one girl offered to keep me company at the back, which was very nice. I really wasn't sure what the rush was because no one was really stopping to take in the scenery or take pictures either.  For me, that is half of the reason to hike.  Instead I had to look down for much of the time to avoid tripping on rocks and plants while trying to keep up with the group.  There were so many interesting new plants and animals to listen to.   The birds had different calls and there was a chorus of frogs and/or insects that sounded like frogs. There was also a tree had sap so red that it looked just like blood.  At least, I'm hoping that's what it was. It was all so much to take in!  At one point we heard a fairly large sounding animal run away as we passed the trail.  I didn't see it, nor did my walking buddy, but she has been living in Australia for four years and guessed that it was a wallaby.  So I am going to stick to that... I heard a wallaby! 

(Random side note: on campus last week I saw two animals that my extensive google research indicates were brushtail possums.  They were so cute! Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough on the draw to snap a picture)

Tree (obvious, but true)

Before I passed out from all of the uphill hiking, the path flattened out and there was a heavenly sign saying Engadine station 700m.  I was able to catch my breath, catch up with the rest of the group, and catch the next train back to the city. Most of us took the hour long train ride together and chatted along the way, but then headed on our separate ways home.  I was all but ready for bed because of all the fresh air, sun and exercise, but it was barely 4 o'clock by the time I shuffled through the door.  I felt like I deserved a whole night of TV and movies, so that's how I ended off the day.  But, it was a great day with really nice people and beautiful nature. Hopefully going on more hikes will make it easier to keep up!