It’s sound advice.  You don’t need to be pinned by a rock for 127 hours to have something bad happen to you while you are hiking alone.  The bushwalks through most reserve parks in central Sydney are fairly even paths, but there are no shortage of snakes, spiders, ticks and other animals that could do anything from give you a mild rash to cause paralysis.  Even walking face first into the web of a harmless arachnid, is no picnic.  And if you are anything like me, you are very likely to sprain your ankle on a tree root.

Most newbies to Australia heed every bit of advice and take every caution they can when venturing into the bush.  They wear close toed shoes, long pants, plenty of sunscreen, and bring enough water to last for days.  But once you have lived here for a while you realize that most sydneysiders treat a bushwalk like any other sidewalk, and will conduct them under any number of circumstances, occasionally even barefoot.

So when I left my apartment this afternoon, with nothing but my camera and my keys, I figured there was no harm in checking out a reserve in my neighborhood.  Wearing short pants and thongs (a.k.a. flip flops) only encouraged me to step lightly.  And though I did trip on a tree root, typical, I came out of the bush entirely unscathed.

The only real problem occurred once I had finally left the reserve, via an incredibly steep staircase, and found myself confronted with this view.

Lovely, but that bushy green island to the right had been my intended destination.  Somehow I had wandered myself to the opposite side of the bay, and now had a fairly sizable body of water between me and my apartment.  So what did I do?  I called a friend with an iphone and asked him to tell me where I was and how the hell to get back to where I had been.  Within minutes, my problem was solved and I was on my way back to a nice hot shower and cool glass of water.

So what did I learn from my sojourn into the wild today?  Don’t just hike with friends, hike with friends who have google maps on their phones.

You can see the rest of the photos from my journey on flickr.