Category Archives: Sydney Life

Welcome Back Sunshine

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Spring may be just a few weeks old but with the siren song of sunshine calling me outside, I figured this was a good time to return to blog writing after a what I’ve decided to call my winter hiatus (because hiatus sounds so much more professional than “long period of lazyassness”).

The smell of fresh flowers in the air, the call of birds outside, and the need to feel the powerful Australian sunshine on my skin, recently brought me back to one of my favorite beaches, along with many others.

I also decided to take up the challenge of walking from one beach to another, which involved getting around a deceptively wide rocky point.  It’s a task I’ve attempted in the past but always been turned back by a rising tide and what is probably an unreasonable fear of getting swept into the harbor.

But I decided to face my more reasonable fears of bloody toes, a lost lens cap (both of which almost happened) and the possibility of needing to be rescued by a family whose small children make the rocky scramble weekly, and headed toward the point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the barefoot scrambling and rock balancing with my camera in hand was going fairly well until I reached a point where what lay ahead was the rapidly closing in tide on one side . . .

. . . and imposing sandstone on the other.

I have no idea how close I got to the other beach, but alas I was turned back by the forces of nature.  I have all of spring and summer ahead of me now to make the rest of the journey.  I’ll let you know if I find a pot of gold around the next bend, assuming an Aussie dad and his five year old haven’t gotten there first.

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

The real reason you shouldn’t bushwalk alone

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Tree trunks

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.

Spider Web

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.

Sydney 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.