Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Here comes the sun, sun, sun

Just to prove I had been at least a partly good boy this year, the weather let up and miraculously provided the most perfect scene for a trip on a boat in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, up in the northern edge of the Sydney area. Another Christmas present - thank you boat crew for such a lovely day and arranging such wonderful weather. Cruising the fingers and coves of the Hawkesbury was good enough, but standing in the water drinking a beer and chatting with friends beside a sandy beach and gentle cleansing waterfall will forever be ingrained in the good memory bank.







The day was so good it demanded being extended as much as possible, and once disembarking and saying Adios to Adios, it was a rather darn good idea of Rod and Barb to take Amber for a walk in Manly and drag Jill and I along. What was particularly good about this idea wasn’t the ambient walk along to Shelly Beach, nor the pink hues of the day’s end, but the classic fish and chips and Bundy Ginger Beer to finish off. This is more like it



By now all this food required at least some exercise, especially after sitting two hours in the car driving up to Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains the next day. I read a few articles recently about the restoration of the National Pass track, a shortish six kilometres but descending into the Valley of the Waters, following midway down the escarpment to Wentworth Falls and - for the buns of steel workout - rising and ascending and climbing back to the car park. It was a lovely jaunt down to the Valley of the Waters, a series of falls and cascades, simultaneously providing trickles and plunges of water, home to lizards and snakes and climbers and perfect for a picnic of more Chrissie leftos.





Fuel was a good thing, not so much for getting across the escarpment to Wentworth Falls, but for climbing back up the hundreds of virtually vertical steps back up to the top. No pain no gain, or more aptly, nice gain for a little pain, the walk meaning a practically guilt free helping of chocolate meringue cake once back up the top and finding a place that was actually open for business in Leura. I’m not sure how far this guilt free feeling extended to Doughboy pizza once back in Sydney but it certainly tasted well deserved with a cold beer.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How good is Doughboy!!!