After a quick stop for Belgian waffles and a flat white (from the same waffle shop Mike went to back in October), we began our trek along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk. The children had been promised spending money at the gift shop (by Mike) if there was no complaining along the way. Shortly after the walk began Jack tripped over a root a did a flying spread eagle that required use of the first aid kit which I brought along even though Mike told me not to. Anyhow, we walked to many lookouts and gazed out over hectares (acres) of hills and trees and waterfalls which thanks to all the rain were flowing beautifully. The kids had a ball tromping through the woods and making tons of noise, which thankfully scared away any deadly wildlife. The hike down into Fern Bower from the top of the cliff took at about an hour down wooden, natural stone, and metal stairs. Just getting down the thousands (for real) of stairs was quite a feat. It hadn't really occurred to me that while we were going down these many stairs, at some point we were going to have to go back up. Mike seemed to take some pleasure in reminding me of this fact. When we reached the floor of the valley it was cool and filled with the sounds of the native birds. There were parrots colored red and blue and miners that sound like tree frogs. We could also hear the waterfalls in the distance. We tried to play the "if you're quiet for thirty seconds what can you hear" game, but after a few seconds all you could hear was Steffi chatting. She was very excited about everything we were seeing, and the gift shop at the end. We had our lunch in the valley and continued along the valley floor on our way to the top. So by this time we walked about two hours and were looking at least another one or two hours before we would reach the bottom of the Giant Stairway. The Stairway would take us to the top of the Three Sisters. Three giant hunks of stranded sandstone in the middle of Echo Point. The walk was beautiful. We saw birds, and lizards, and beautiful ferns and gum trees everywhere. By the time we arrived at the Stairway we had been hiking just short of four hours and the kids were still going strong. I however was beginning to fade. There are over 900 steps going pretty much straight up - no gentle slopes here. I saw old people, large people, and young children doing this so I was pretty sure I would be OK. I was almost wrong. I huffed and puffed to keep up with Steffi and Jack as they were running up the stairs, heckling me all the way. I decided to send Mike and the kids ahead of me and I would take my time and meet them at the top. I arrived shortly after them to loud cheers as if I had just achieved an amazing feat. It really was beautiful aside from the smell which Steffi pointed out was from all the sweaty stinky people at the top.
Just a little aside that Mike and I found amusing, from Bill Bryson's Down Under: Apparently white men tried for years to forge a path through the mountains only to be met time after time with dead ends in box canyons and many failures. "When the first settlers [finally] stepped from the wooded mountains [that they were first to settle] they were startled to find herds of cows numbering in the hundreds grazing contentedly on the tall grasses - all offspring of the one that had wandered off from Sydney Cove all those years before. The cows, it transpired, had gone around the mountains through an open pass to the south. Why it had not occurred to a human being in twenty five years to try to do likewise is a question that is rarely asked and has yet to be satisfactorily answered." The early settlers and explorers did not have an easy task settling this vast land.
1 comment:
Look here
Post a Comment