Kangaroo hunting

I’ve heard of wild goose chases, but today we were on a wild kangaroo chase.  Sunday, March 26, we were headed to some beach we’d been told about where kangaroos come and you can feed them carrots, although I had no carrots.  We drove where we thought it was.  No kangaroos.  We got out of the car and walked a few trails.  No kangaroos.  We drove around a bit more.  No kangaroos.  Did they know I had no carrots?  As hunters, we were a failure, so we went to plan B. 

Back to the Norah Head Light House … as now we had some time to spend walking on the rocks, checking out tide pools, feeling the sand in our toes.  It was a lovely time, enjoying the water, the waves, the sand.

We wandered back to Terrigal, and wandered a bit more.  We found some stairs to climb that led to a couple of lookouts.  One was of particular interest as it had a sign showing a number people could call if they were having problems.  It became quite clear once we got to the top as to what that really meant.  Suicides.  There were locks and memorials on the fence and it saddened me to think someone, anyone, had felt that life was so awful, so dismal, that they had to jump from the top to a horrible and painful death on the rocks below.

Sadness was right in front of us.

There were a few other lookouts, more rocks.  We wandered from the top to the bottom and found where we could get out to the rocks to climb around and look in tide pools for life.  Some of the rocks are spectacular, and appear that a giant has tossed them willy nilly.

It almost appeared someone had dropped the rocks in order to make a pathway.

On the barrier between the sand, rocks and water, and the walkway someone had built a structure from rocks, wood and anything else that could be found nearby.  I added an arrowhead-shaped rock to the structure.

And there's my little triangle piece, for as long as this survived ... an hour, a day??

 

My friend, Sindra, likes heart-shaped rocks.

It was another good day, and ended our time here as tomorrow we were going to the Blue Mountains, maybe 75-80 miles or so away.

We had a great time in Terrigal, but have figured out that we’ve been made.  No one gives us key cards anymore.  Now it’s all old-fashioned keys, and my key card collection is suffering. 

No more key cards on this trip.

But it’s a new day, and Monday, March 27, found us headed to Katoomba up in the Blue Mountains.  We found a walk that would take us to the beautiful Wentworth Falls. 

The mountains are different than what I'm used to, with big cliffs that are even a different color than ours.

It was quite a walk.  With lots of steps.   Twenty minutes each way they said.  Not for me it wasn’t. 

The falls was worth the walk.

Flat rocks lined part of the pathway, with a film of moisture on them.  We had to be very careful of how and where we placed our feet so we didn't slip and fall.  In some places there was mud.  There's been a lot of rain in the area.

It was fun doing the under-the-cliff walk, but a bit spooky if you think about earthquakes.

The walk to the bottom of the falls was so worth it. 

I was a hot, sweaty, weak girl by the time we’d gone down the steps, walked under the cliff to the falls, through some mud and around to see everything.  Then we had to go back up.  And that was before eating anything.  No wonder I felt weak. 

First indication I've seen that kangaroo are here ...

We drove to Echo Point, and the Three Sisters in the late afternoon and early evening as the sun went down.  It was a perfect time to be there and watch the sun play on the rocks.  The Blue Mountains were truly blue.  It was another beautiful day with lots of walking and plenty to see. 

Commonly called the Three Sisters, this is actually part of the Seven Sisters of the Gundungurra.  There are a lot of walks from here, but it was coming up on evening, so not for us today.  I didn't think I had another one in me anyway.

The Blue Mountains are just that.  They look like one of those fake paintings, but aren't.  The y get their name for the slate-colored haze that surrounds them from a vapour that comes from a fine mist of oil exuded by the local eucalyptus trees.

We got back to the hotel, and another disaster struck.  We ran out of toilet paper.  No extra roll to be found anywhere.  Unforgiveable in a hotel.  We moved the next day.