Oh good, there's only a high risk of this place catching fire. That's put my mind at ease
My final day out from Sydney was almost my final day on this planet, as I inadvisedly tackled a hiking trail rated 'Hard' that did turn out to be a step beyond the usual well-maintained jungle paths I've come to expect around here. There wasn't even a diagonal train to carry me out of the valley floor at the end, talk about roughing it.
Alright, there wasn't any actual mountain climbing involved, and there was a clear trail to follow most of the time so it wasn't as trying as my treks across islands, but the problem came on the return journey when I lost sight of the trail completely and found myself scrambling around the edge of sheer cliffs, trying to work out which boulder to head towards.
Being a bit of an idiot with little concept of his own mortality and unnatural dedication to his blog, I took the opportunity to take some quite nice pictures of the Mount Victoria area, and when I felt the twigs sliding beneath my feet and the branches supporting me started to bend, I made sure to lift my laptop bag to safety before following it. I'd done a couple of hours' work on the train that I hadn't been able to e-mail yet, and there's no way I was going to write all that again.
My compulsive photo taking finally turned out to be useful though, when I was able to compare a certain rock-'n'-tree combo to one I'd photographed near the start of the trip and found my way back to safety, so there are mixed messages here. The only thing that's certain is my enthusiasm for nature walks has been curbed for a while.
Mount Victoria,
Blue Mountains National Park
Blue Mountains National Park
Another Pulpit Rock.
The other one's only a train station away, at least be sneaky about your plagiarism
A slightly trickier trail
Inexplicable red plateau
It's not just me that sees a diplodocus with a smiling human face, is it?
Is this Ross Cave yet?
Is this Ross Cave yet?
Is this Ross Cave yet?
Is this Ross Cave yet?
There's my goddamn Ross Cave!
I was lost by this point
I worked my way up to this boulder to get a better view...
It turned out to be this again, back at the start. I laughed maniacally for a couple of minutes. It's always worth putting yourself through extreme stress for the later euphoric relief, isn't it?
