Reflection on the Blues... a Piece of Stuff by caz_23 (Carol Arbuthnot) this is a reflection on the most recent experience of this perth girl in the blue mountains... tuesday, july 15, '97. '7th day in sydney' (or thereabouts) today tamsin, mum, jacqui and i ventured into the blue mountains, west of sydney. i felt like i was in the ever-beautiful new zealand again, definitely worth the 2 hour train ride up there. we did quite a few nature walks, wanting to experience each one forever, until we came to the wentworth falls. this was certainly an experience to cherish and remember (how could we EVER forget it!!). the long, winding, rising and falling wentworth falls and valley of waters (or something like that) path. tamsin and i hit it head on and i, with my very reliable sense of direction and instinct, led the way. thinking it was a circular route i took tamsin into the unknown.... after nervously passing steep cliffs, with wobbly legs, descending steep steps and bravely concquering ascending, twisting paths, we arrived beneath wentworth falls. 'oh god!' was all we could think, 'we have to go back up there!' "why don't we go this way?" i confidently question tamsin, pointing to a rugged path across the stream. "it's probably a circular route." tamsin just followed, god only knows what she was thinking. so away we went, up the slippery path and beneath low lying shelves. expecting to be back at the car park within the next 20 minutes, we were wondering where the very steep slopes were. 30 minutes later and we still weren't anywhere near the top. "i think we took the wrong path" i finally admit "i don't think this is a circular route....." "what if the path leads no-where?" "do you honestly think they'd place a path, in the blue mountains that didn't lead anywhere?" "yes." obviously not the answer i was expecting. i think we loosened up a bit after that, simply appreciating the natural beauty of the place. steep cliffs towering overhead, surrounded by spectacular (if a little too wet) forest and many beautiful waterfalls (some landing on top of us!) only equipped with our cameras, our determination (40 minutes came and went loooong ago) and a sense of humour, we continued the energy draining water... i mean walk.... i wasn't leaving this place without at least one good photograph.... i only managed to come up with about one. i was a little shaky most of the time. "rescue choppers, where are the rescue choppers" we joked. "i wonder how long it's going to take before mum sends out a search party" i found out later that she probably would have slept through it all anyway. "imagine if they did have to come and rescue us" i said. so we did. "i could just imagine it 'perth girls lost in blue mountains'" "yeah" tamsin says laughing "i could imagine the interviews: 'what happened?', 'we got lost' [obviously] 'we're from perth, we didn't know that it wasn't a circular route' " oh well... we're alive, it was a great experience and we know what not to do now. 2 hours later we made it to the top of the 'hill'. exhausted, yet exilerated, i virtually ran into the car park. "uh, tamsin, this isn't the right carpark" my heart sank, and so did i, into the nearest park seat. water..... i hobbled over to the water fountain and wavered into conciousness and clear thought as i lapped up the water with greed... then i headed for the nearest road. "slow down caz" tamsin managed to call out "let's rest a bit." i had to get back to the car. "sorry tamsin" i called back, "but we must be close." about 15 minutes later we were back at the carpark. "why couldn't i have had this sense of direction before?" i asked myself. we ran to the car....the light at the end of the tunnel.... jacqui and mum were fast asleep. "we got lost" i sheepishly explained. "carol thought it was a circular route." thanks tamsin "well it was... it was just a little longer than we expected." "that's because you did the 3 hour valley of the waters walk." mum read the signs. well, we did it in around 2 and a quarter hours, so there! Created on Sun, 10 Aug 1997 and last modified on Mon, 20 Oct 1997.

LOUDonline - http://www.loud.net.au - Fri, 10 Apr 1998