Gone chasin' waterfalls

DAY 19
Temp: 18 C
Weather: Partly cloudy
Activities: Mount Keira, Six Daughters of the West Wind, the Abbey, Carrington Falls in Jamberoo National Park, the Yellow Sand Road to Belmore Falls and Fitzroy Falls in Morton National Park, Rainforest Loop Walk in Budderoo National Park,
Accommodation: Selby residence 

Contrary to TLC's advice, I did go chasing waterfalls with my host, guide, and cook Paul all over Morton National Park. I think we hit a total of five or six falls by the end of the day in a race against the sun and night chill.

The morning started off leisurely enough with a feast of pancakes, real butter, and sweet maple syrup with homemade ice cream. I thought I could stop at one and ended eating two after all was said and done because it was just that delicious. (Thank you Cath!) Then Paul and I packed up the car for the day's activities including a bodyboard and fins, lunch, water, towels, GPS, and cords, piled in and headed off.

We left around 10:30 a.m. or so and headed down the road toward the national parks, but Paul, being who he is, decided to take a sharp detour to Mount Keira when he pointed it out and I leaned out to see it. We swerved off the main road and drove the winding one up to the peak where I got to take in the sweeping views of Wollongong, its suburbs, and the vast Pacific Ocean. The Wollongong Botanic Garden on the mountain summit was where Paul and his sweet wife had their reception. We did the bush walk to the other lookout and braved the cliffs for another view of Wollongong and its jungles. This spot had several pyramids of sticks in a semi-circle called the "Six Daughters of the West Wind" which was pretty neat. We had a run about race before heading off to the parks.

We rolled along down the highway and off the major road and still in the spirit of that spontaneity we went off to see this quiet little church Abbey. But we stopped on the road when I spoke aloud about the gorgeous trees wearing their fall colors. I haven't seen an autumn in years and Paul pulled off the road right then to let me get some shots and just be out in it. It was lovely! He's very picture happy himself which suits me. We kept on until reaching the Abbey, walked down the colorful path to the craft house and poked around. Lots of religious things around naturally and they did have Paperback products which I love! (But I really have enough notebooks for the moment.)

After the Abbey and its spangled road of color, we continued on to Morton National Park but did yet another spontaneous stop at the Illawarra Tree Top walk--which would have been totally awesome but not for $24. Nah. But the place was very peaceful as it was in the Abbey. So I can claim I've been there but haven't actually gone through it. The pictures of it looked very nice though! We had falls to see anyway.

Having reached the park for Carrington Falls, Paul and I staked camp on a picnic table for a well-deserved lunch around 1:20 p.m. or so. Bringing out the buttered rolls, cheese and assorted vegetables, Paul realized he'd never packed the lunch meat. He tried to palm off the blame on me because I am pretty distracting, but having been blamed for my share of things for simply being a 'Yank,' I finally had my own ammunition. About time. What a ham!

After lunch, we walked along the path to Carrington Falls which was as impressive as it was high--some 98 meters. The falls were full and broad and absolutely  beautiful. Three runners spilling into a single, massive royal. Beautiful. A little chilly with the wind, but Paul and I ran along the path, jumped the fence (Paul had to pull me over, but it worked because he's a giant) and spirited over the rocks above the falls. Paul is crazy--he loves to perch himself over the edge of the rocks, I didn't. Having been silly in the Grand Canyon can humble you. So while he went nuts, I hopped around enjoying the sun and rushing water from a distance.

After Carrington, Paul and I went on through Robertson township hunting for the Fitzroy Falls and ended taking a detour to the Belmore Falls. There were some men putting down some yellow sand to sure up the path, but they were gone when we got back. This place again had the sweeping view but of mountains and country and with the shadows lengthening in the winter sun. We could hear the falls from where we'd entered the walk and went off the track again to enjoy the view before racing off to find the falls. Belmore was not as wide as the Carrington but it tumbled down in two sections--the first dropped into a pool midway down and the second crashed into the beyond because we couldn't see the bottom. Altogether, the falls added up to about 78 meters. Still quite a drop! We literally skipped back to the car. We stopped when we came up to a path of yellow sand and Paul told me to stop. He took a picture and simply said: "Yellow brick road." Indeed, it was my journey through Oz! I asked him if he wanted to be the lion, the tin man or the scarecrow, and I settled on the giant that was also in the story. The big one.

On the way out of Belmore, we crossed a bit of the road where the water spilled over and, feeling a natural high from nature and the power of the waterfalls, I jumped right out of the car and ran down to the water to feel it. To feel that rush the water must feel before taking that plunge. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. I'd be excited too.

Winding out of Belmore, we finally reached out intended destination at the Fitzroy Falls around 4:10 or so. It cost us a gnarly $3 to park (I really think we could have beat any parking lot police roaming about in our brief tour), and we went through the visitor's center and its restaurant to reach the path--a quick 150 meters later we were standing over the falls on this wooden platform. I'll admit I shrank from the edge because this platform was precariously perched right over the edge. We tossed some eucalyptus leaves over the side to watch them flutter and I lost my nerve and edged back. Respect. But these falls were lovely too! Solid as it crumbled over the edge.

We saw there were a few more falls not too far down the path (about 1200 meters) and beat out way down the well-groomed path. We came across a local and her sister touring the area and I volunteered Paul to take their picture together, which he did, then they offered to get a shot of us. We kept them company all along the way to the Twin Falls, which were separated by some stretch of rock wall, chatted a bit with our new friends, then took off at a run to get back to the car. I took the lead leaving Paul to puff and heave in my wake and slowing only until we reached an upward section of stairs. Stairs. We ran a good distance and took the rest of the walk at a fast step as the sun set.

Settled back in the car, Paul drove us back--stopping only to get gas--and got us home. I had a proper sandwich then as I was very hungry from the lunch we'd had hours ago. This was to tide me over as we waited for the homemade pizza Paul made us. I caught up with Cath and his mother Laurice while we all waited for the grub that was totally worth the wait. Cath popped in a video where we watched Paul and a group of folks under the power of Steven Spellmaster. It was quite funny to say the least. I choked on my pizza at one point. We each got a whole pizza. I got onion, bell pepper, chicken, cheese, and spices and it was absolutely delicious! So delicious that I ate the whole thing but for one slice.

I meant to stay up to watch Ocean's Eleven since I've never seen it, but as midnight rolled around, I was done. Completely done. I went through my night routine and dropped off to bed immediately after a full day of adventure! Whew!