2020 Active Adventure: NOT The Cape To Cape
Most of you reading this would already know that we were supposed to be trekking in Western Australia this November, but unfortunately due to the borders remaining closed, we had to reschedule to next year. Instead, we were referred to a fantastic company called Journey Outdoors in Nature (JOIN), who put together a 9-day itinerary for us, including local, organic-where-possible food, guides, and accommodation. Since what we were looking for is a bit unusual in the adventure travel arena, Laura and Clare had many phone calls to design the best possible trip for the IntoYou Hiking Group… and even then, Clare wasn’t totally sure what she was leading the group in to!
Day 1 & 2
We threw certainty to the wind, and climbed in to the cars on Friday morning to begin a 2-day drive to the Clarence River Wilderness Lodge (CRWL). We made it to Coffs okay, but had a minor 60km detour on Saturday when Clare missed the turn off to Grafton! From there, CRWL directions warned us not to follow a GPS, as it has led previous travellers hours out of their way, so it was with some trepidation that we made the final 20km along dirt roads and away from all forms of connectivity. We made it without any trouble, and negotiated the roads fairly easily.
Boy, what at first impression! We rounded a corner at the base of a hill and viewed the most beautiful house, which was also the camping office! Sharon showed us to our rooms, 4 little tree huts wedged in to the side of the mountains, and one cabin. We immediately changed in to swimmers and dove in to the beautiful Clarence river! A few of us were escorted out with a little bump from a cod fish… although we didn’t realise it at the time!
About 630pm we met Laura from JOIN and her team, Ingrid (who would be hiking with us), and Gemma (who did our cooking and shuttle car driving). We had our first delicious meal of many! Laura explained to us then that she doesn’t do solid plans, but likes to modify and adapt as she gets to know the group – something that would be amazing later on in our trip. For now, it was nice to meet our leader and we were excited about what she had in store for us. We also met Steve at dinner, Sharon’s husband and owner of CRWL. He told us many stories over the coming week, and even came to rescue us one day! His knowledge of the land and it’s history made our hikes even more enjoyable.
Day 1 opened with the roar of the generator that Dave brought to power his expresso machine! He taught us all how to use it, but Terry never quite managed to learn, sweetly finding someone to make it for her each morning! We met Ingrid and Laura at 730am, and hiked from Fish Head Flat (where our accommodation was) towards Nugget Flat, and up a spur to Sunset Lookout – which was randomly plagued by cherry tomato plants!! After lunch at Sunset (which quickly became one of our favourite places for food), we travelled down a crumbly fire trail, most of us fell or slid more than once, to the “Rose” Garden. Most of us expected roses, but it is named after the woman Rose who lived in the hut – the remains of which we got to see! From there we literally cut our own path back to camp – alternating fear of snakes with fear of wild pigs as we passed rutted out pieces of ground!
Our leaders had us do an exercise that night, asking us what our “rose” of the day was, and also our “thorn”. For most of us it was the fear of falling that stuck in our side, and roses included Dave’s newfound confidence in his body, Terry seeing butterflies in the bush, and Mukta seeing the re-growth after the bushfires. It was still quite barren, but it was nice to see the recovery process happening. Many of the views we saw would have been impossible with full-growth, and that was a rose in itself for many of us!!
Day 2 – Today we hiked across the campground towards the mountain that we look at all evening while we were in camp. Once again, it was a steep climb, but the views were next-level spectacular at the top! We stopped in the early morning sunshine and had a 5min mediation overlooking the camp. Everyone managed to quiet their minds, Dave was so befuddled when we finished that he couldn’t find his backpack… it was still on his back!
As we made our way across the ridge, Ingrid was concerned about the lack of animal poo. So many of the animals didn’t survive the fires, and it will take years for them to repopulate. According to one of the property owners that we met later that week, there are a few factors in this. One is the increasing temperatures and intensity of the fires, but the other is that we have changed the landscape so much. There are no longer refuges for the animals to run to in the crevices of the mountains that used to be wet and rainforested. Instead, we have turned them over; in the Clarence Valley region they were looking for gold and selling the trees to make matchsticks, but the wet areas have been destroyed in other regions for other reasons. The animals that do survive have fewer mating options and the cycle continues downwards. Thankfully Steve and Sharon and the local indigenous population are committed to doing all they can, another reason to visit the lodge if you get an opportunity!
We saw our first snake on the way down the back of the ridge, but it just slithered off harmlessly. Laura cautiously headed past where she saw it, and the others were none-the-wiser. The grass in some places was neck-high, so we are lucky in many respects that we didn’t see one every minute!
After lunch on Eaglehawk flat (unfortunately we didn’t see any eagles, but we did see hawks and Kites on other occasions), we had a canoe ride across the river. We had a swim, then said goodbye to Deb and Louise who decided to head back with Gemma. We couldn’t find the abandoned mine shaft, but we did walk past a house that was obliterated by the bushfire, and has been abandoned. We made several river crossings, and our guides were warrior’s cutting the path for us with a machete! We were on our way up a mountainside, attempting to by-pass a large forest of wild tobacco (we had discovered by now that I was allergic to these, coming out in a rash, sneezing, and clogging up my sinuses to a painful degree), when Steve came over the radio to clarify our route. Laura innocently said we were taking a short cut, heading past a house to get on to their driveway, which would lead us to the road where he was waiting to pick us up… Now, Steve was a pretty relaxed guy, and in his relaxed drawl he replied “Don’t go near that house. That guy has dingo’s”. In a slightly more urgent tone he followed it up with “AND THEY WILL ATTACK”.
By now, the house was in sight, only a few hundred meters up the track. I remember mouthing “Oh MY GOD” to the rest of the team and getting an overwhelming urge to giggle. To Laura i said “define ‘Near’ “… since according to my definition, we were already there! We backtracked pretty quick smart and i sucked up the sneezing! We made it to the other side of the river, then along the public road to where Steve was waiting besides some WW2 tank traps.
At the time of WW2, the Clarence Valley was a major trading hub and food bowl. The towns were bigger than Byron and the coast, and a major food production region. In the event of the Japanese invading as far as Brisbane, the Clarence Valley was the second line of defence, evidence of which is scattered throughout the region.
Huge Kudos went to Robbie on day 2. Our oldest member was sprightly and finished 15-odd kilomentres without complaint, the only evidence of her fatigue was falling asleep in the troupie on the way home! They weren’t ordinary kilometres either, were were constantly climbing over and under things, evading dingoes, and crossing rivers – she was amazing!
Day 3
Day 3 Started with a shuffle… then a shake… then a group massage! In a time where touch is prohibited in the city, this was a powerful bonding experience! Once we were warmed up we followed an old telegraph line down the mountain, which was taken out by the fire and not replaced. It was fairly easy going but we had some funny “pee” stories! This first happened early on when i hung back from the group so i didn’t have to hide in the bushes. I had no sooner squatted down and was getting ready to start when i noticed a huntsman spider, square between my feet, staring up at me! So i did what anyone else would have done – took a photo then took a step to my left and continued!!
On the way down to morning tea Sandra also had an odd “pee” moment… managing to turn her phone off mid-stream! She didn’t notice until later that day which meant the hike wasn’t on Strava for her. As we say in Hiking Group “if it’s not on social media, it didn’t happen”!! And we want credit for our achievements!!!
We had coffee beside a 13-metre deep waterhole, of course we couldn’t resist going in! It was glorious.
Beside our morning tea spot was an abandoned silver and gold mine. The lease was still current but it was operating on 1970’s technology and the investor has since committed suicide. We learned that the spot we were in used to be a Gold Mining town bigger than Byron in the 1800’s which was owned by a man named Richard Eldrich. He was known as “Singing Dick”, but Debbie heard “swinging dick” and no-one corrected her! According to local legend, he was an ex-convict, and his very young wife who died giving birth to their first child. We visited the grave and remembered “Mary” on our way up the hill to lunch.
The team powered up the hill today! Kudos this day went to Louise, who thought she struggled in the heat but disproved it today! Debs wasn’t far behind, and it was with great satisfaction that we sat down to lunch at Sunset lookout again! Gemma had made falafel balls over hot coals and they were delicious.
In other news today, Dave’s heart rate hit 160bpm for the first time, and he tried falafel for the first time too!
We walked down the hill to camp, passing the “Two Waters” and “Valley View” lookouts. Our guides had us play a game where you have to think of as many sing lyrics as you can with a certain word in them, like “fire” or “run”. We played in teams and it helped pass a long, hot 4km! Mukta and I also got into making up verses to “She’ll be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain”, including “She’ll be swearing like a sailor when she comes” and “she’ll be grumpy as a donkey when she comes”! Gemma surprised us with icy-poles at camp, and they were devine!
Most of us were too tired to swim, but Sandra and I decided to have a quick dip while waiting for the showers. As per usual, I took Sandra literally and started running towards the river because she said “a quick run to the river”, when she replied “i’m not running”, I decided to cartwheel there instead. I had not seen that the bell tents had been erected and their occupants were watching me cartwheel across the campground singing “shall we cartwheel there then, Sandy”? They were thoroughly entertained. It didn’t take long for Sue to show up too, and be unceremoniously bitten on the butt on her way out. It doesn’t hurt but it is a bit of a shock!
We slept well that night!
Day 4
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Day 4 was a scheduled rest day, and while the Cabin-crew decided to sleep in and enjoy our beautiful accommodations, the rest of the team decided to join Hurricane Clare on a 2hr drive to Bald Rock National Park to see the 2nd Largest Rock in Australia (and the 1st largest slab of granite in the southern hemisphere).
We drove the scenic route, through Tooloom National Park and some areas that hadn’t been burned to a crisp! It was winding road, passing gorgeous weatherboard farmhouses. It was on this drive that we saw Kites, Hawks, and Eagles, one of which was resting on a telegraph wire as we drove past, but flew away when we slowed down to get a better look. We had a quick stop at Willson’s Downfall, possibly named after 3 different Willson’s who lost their fortunes or lives in the region. The following story on how it may possibly have got it’s name was published in the Brisbane Courier Mail in 1938:
We pulled in to Bald Rock 2hrs after leaving Paddy’s Flat, only to be confronted with a sign that announced it was closed until 12! After a short discussion we decided to suck up the back-tracking, and headed in to Tenterfield for an early lunch, a small grocery shop, and our first taste of reception in 3 days (excepting those of us who are with Telstra, we had patchy reception at Sunset Lookout!). We had totally forgotten to get petrol when we left Tenterfield, something that would cause some anxiety later on.
On the way back to Bald Rock we stopped at ALL the things! We saw Captain Thunderbolt’s hide-out, and more WW2 Tank traps. We arrived at Bald Rock about 1pm, and it was still closed!! We decided to get ready, and were applying sunscreen when the rangers came and opened the track. They were getting materials delivered by helicopter to rebuild the track after the bushfires had obliterated it. We were allowed to walk while they built around us, but not while the helicopter was dropping parcels. It was only a 4km hike, so we expected it to take an hour or so, but the sign read 3hrs. This confused us until we got our first glimpse of the Rock, which was visible through the sparsely-wooded forest (bushfires again). My first thoughts: Holey-Shit, we have to climb that…
It was actually quite intimidating! Steep, with the appearance of being slippery (it wasn’t, but the warnings made us feel scared!), Bald Rock was a magnificent moment. Mukta called her family in India from the top, and Terry was quite emotionally overwhelmed. A 4km track easily took 2hrs for us as we soaked it all up – a highlight for sure! It should also be said that every single one of these people currently or formerly had problems with heights – and they all conquered something today!
While we had reception we looked up whether we could get petrol without going in to Tenterfield – Google said there was a station on the highway home, so we took off home! Once we got to the town though, we discovered it was an OLD station, one that was now a motel with the old pumps painted bright yellow and being used as decorations… I had a small amount of anxiety on the way back to Tabulum – if the petrol station was closed (it was 430pm by now) then i didn’t have enough to get us back to camp and out again. That meant driving to Casino, then turning around and driving the dirt roads in the dark, blowing a 2hrs drive out to 4hrs…. my passengers saw the station before i did, excitedly crying out “there, there” but offering no tangible suggestions to where “there” was, i had to watch the road still! I turned in to Tabulum, realised the station was on the road i was on a minute ago, so cut across the nature strip (appreciating my 4WD) to get there. It was amusing to say the least.
We stopped for a reviver at the local co-op and made it home at 630pm – JUST before dark!
Day 5
It was unbelievable that we were up to day 5 already! We had been away from our families for a full week, many of us with zero contact. The Golden Girls from the Cabin were refreshed after a day of mini-pedi’s and relaxation, and the rest of us were still pretty pumped about what we had experienced at Bald Rock.
It is fair to say we had no idea what was about to hit us.
In our planning conversations, Laura had put Frasers Gully in the schedule alone, at 6km. I thought 6km would take us an hour, three hours at our slowest pace, so had requested a “Plan B” to pump up the kilometers a bit… after all, out most obstacley track to that point was a 5hr, 10km route through Mount Kuring-gai. Ultimately, i had deferred to Laura’s experience and was mighty glad i did!
The day didn’t start great, with Sue having a mini-tanty at her bag catching on the chair. This was something that happened every morning, and every morning she repeated the ritual, until today where she got a little exasperated! She had un-done one tangle, then her hose would catch, she’d un-do that and her buckle would get tangled, and so on – enough to try the patience of a saint!
From there, our guides couldn’t find the rock stack where Steve had cut a path the day before, so we were macheting our way through long grass again! The team were mighty surprised to see a rope come out, and to half-abseil in to the gully, but all were game to give it a go! From here we meandered down a gully created by gold fossickers turning over the river bed, the entry to the former dairy farm, and through what remained of the circular pines (the rest of which had been cut down to turn in to matchsticks). We climbed over river jams, under river jams, down waterfalls, and along logs – far exceeding our agility training by far! However, every managed very well, and by 1130am, we were half-way through.
However, disaster struck. on a particularly large step-down, Mukta dislocated her knee. She has a huge pain threshold, but it brought her down pretty hard. We rested it and while we were having an early lunch, discussed the best way to evacuate her. Ultimately, it was decided that she had to walk out, the roads were too far and the brush too dense, for us to climb out with her. It was slow going, even with it strapped, and when she dislocated it a second time, she was overwhelmed. So we bandaged it and kept going, and it came out a 3rd time. White and nauseous with pain, it was about now that i remembered that i had a knee brace (oops), and we strapped it around what she already had on. She looked at me with relief etched over her face – it was holding in. It worked for the next 7 hours as we slowly and painfully inched our way along the next 3km. Ultimately, it took Mukta a full 8hrs to complete the next 3km, including abseiling the odd waterfall, balancing along fallen trees, crawling under log-jams, and using two solid sticks to balance along the river bed down stream. The whole day was 12hrs, with 10hrs on our feet negotiating the obstacles, and we made it to the troupie just before darkness. Steve drove us back along a bumpy 4WD track in the dark, and we were relieved to eat a late dinner!
In the group ahead of Mukta and her support crew (big thanks to Dave, Sue, and Sandra for keeping the morale up and helping lift Mukta and her things through the course), was Louise, Terry, Robbie, and Debbie. These guys had their fair share of challenges too. Louise in particular has some problems with her eyesight, and was shaking with fear as she edged along a particularly steep waterfall. She couldn’t see where to put her feet. To her credit, she managed to listen to the guides, and found her way down, crying with relief. She experienced some anxiety towards the end of the day because she was worried about walking in the dark, which is why the JOIN crew split us up.
For me, this is courage personified. It’s one thing to clamber along a 3M high rock ledge when you’re strong, confident, and unafraid. It’s a whole other kettle of fish to do the same activity with a fear of heights or disability. Kudos to every single one of our team who overcame crippling fear, self doubt, and uncertainty to complete these obstacles!
Terry had a different set of fears; feeling the walls of the gully closing in on her, she spent the day fighting feelings of claustrophobia and being unable to escape. Fear, uncertainty, and anxiety is mentally and emotionally exhausting, and it was no surprise that morale was low in this group at the end of the day. At our late dinner, every one of them had already decided that they weren’t going to walk on Day 6… But you’ll have to read tomorrow’s blog to learn whether or not they did!
The highlight of today was being introduced to the Kitchen’s mouse-trap… a beautiful python that kept us company, as still as a plastic toy hanging from the rafters, while dinner was cooked. We even saw it catch a mouse!
Day 6
When we left to our respective rooms on day 5, the mood was negative. Rather than feeling accomplished that we’d made it out and overcome a huge challenge, the prevailing mood was that it was too hard, we couldn’t do it, and we should give up now. I hoped that a good night’s sleep would repair our teams exhausted and battered ego’s, but when we arrived at the camp kitchen on Friday, day 6 of our adventure, only 4 of us turned up. Mukta couldn’t walk, but she and Terry came down to see us off.
Terry was quite open about what she was feeling, and between Sue and Sandra, managed to be talked in to getting dressed “just to see” what Laura and her crew had planned for us. Laura obviously had the same thoughts about the group morale, because when they met with us, they announced that we wouldn’t be hiking today. They had been to the cabin already, got the Golden Girls out of bed, and come up with a different plan.
I remember feeling a distinct sense of disappointment that we weren’t hiking. This was my first gym trip in 3 years – the last one was in Nepal when i was helicoptered off the mountain with bronchitis, tonsillitis, and laryngitis, and was later diagnosed with internal bleeding from a tumor that had out grown it’s blood supply, resulting in anemia and a severe low red blood cell count. In the interim, i had had a nervous breakdown, ruptured my L4L5 disc in my back so bad i was admitted to hospital, and had taken 2 weeks to stand, longer to walk, again. In other words… i really needed and wanted to “finish” this trip. For me, finishing was confirmation that i was healthy again. All that went through my mind in a split second, and in the second half of that second i reminded myself that this wasn’t about me! This was about our team. So i settled in to give everything that Laura threw at us a go.
Our Golden Girls arrived about then, and Laura explained the plan. We were to start the day with Yoga! It has started drizzling, so we did Yoga on a large wooden platform to the tune of the rain on a corrugated iron roof. It was magic.
We then had an ice-bath & epsom salt recovery session. I was sitting in the rain in a bucket with feet so cold they almost cramped, and i was happy. I cannot explain it. We did a minute in the freezing bucket, a minute in a warm epsom salt bath, and a minute in another cold bucket (or more, they soon stopped keeping time!). I had this overwhelming sense of adventure, exhilaration at trying something new, and peace at being in nature and experiencing new things. It was challenging, fun, glorious, and the perfect thing for a rainy morning! It was a clever idea, because even Mukta could do the yoga and ice bath with her knee! Dave was hilarious – while we were swearing like troupers as we dipped ourselves in, he was crying out “sugar”, “ooo honey” instead!
While we waited for lunch we did a quiz in teams on the trivia that Steve had taught us so far. We didn’t do great, but the Golden Girls did the least worst and won themselves a 500 point head start in the adventure race Laura, Ingrid, and Gemma had designed for the afternoon.
After lunch the sun came out – as if on cue – and we received our radios and instructions, Mukta was running base camp from the camp kitchen. Each task in the race had points assigned to it, with the most points going to the most strenuous activities, and the least points going to the easiest ones. We had 3hrs to complete as many as possible, including standing in the COD nest and recording ourselves getting bumped. The easy ones you could hit again and again and again. I was in a team christened the “Atchoos” due to my whole-body sneezing that echo’s off the mountains across the valley. With a 500 point head start, and in a team with Terry, Sue, and Dave, it quickly became apparent that we were hiking 4km up 400 metres to Sunset Lookout for the 3000 points, doing the little-point tasks along the way *like taking photos of tree textures, selfies with spiders or snakes – safely of course – and coming up with a team song. Dave, Sue, and I took turns in helping Terry up the hills. She could walk faster if she leaned on us and let us push her. Teamwork!
While we were trekking up the mountain, Mukta was checking in with each team over radio. She also had little riddles for us to solve. However she stopped quite abruptly mid-way through the race. We later found out that she had gone to her room to rest, because while she was in the camp kitchen, she was visited by no less than FIVE goanna’s! Thoroughly freaked out, she took herself to her room, intending on taking pain killers and having a nap. She was getting ready when she heard footsteps coming up the pathway, followed by a knock on the door. She thought it was Gemma, coming to check on her and opened the door to what she described as “a mother T-Rex of a Goanna”!! She shrieked and flapped her arms, and chased him away down the path. Later on, she was reading on her veranda, when she heard a rumble in the women’s showers. Thinking that the goanna came back, she started yelling and flapping her arms at the building, about 3 metres away from where she was sitting. Embarrassingly, it wasn’t a goanna that emerged, but one of the campers, wrapped in a pink fluffy towel and looking thoroughly alarmed. Mukta had no explanation for her… she said “hello” and sheepishly retired to her room again…
Meanwhile, our Golden Girls were having a lovely time. They had done a 180 degree turn, and instead of not showing up, and not only showed up but were participating 100% in their tasks! They chose a 4km flat hike up a river bed, to where the Tooloom and Clarence river meet. They dipped their towels in puddles, got a selfie with a dead baby snake, found fruit in the Orchard Campsite, cackled like a kookaburra in the Kookaburra campsite, and took a canoe to the other side of the Clarence river and back! Legends!
We have to say – what an amazing turn around in morale and participation. What a fabulous idea from Laura to keep everyone engaged! We’ve said it a million times, and i’ll say it again, JOIN is a brilliant company to choose for an outdoor adventure. Special kudos go to Terry on this day, who had the clarity to see she was saying “no” before she knew what was planned for the day, and decided to take each moment as it came. She ended up doing the hardest tasks and winning the race!! She had also missed out on a rest day, so was thoroughly deserving of one if that is what she chose, but instead decided to participate, despite her reservations, what a trouper!
The only other news of the day comes later in the afternoon, when everyone went to shower and re-group before dinner. I was helping Laura drop the camp kitchen’s shade, as it had climbed over 30 degrees. We unearthed a frog who had made it their home, and I was determined to “save” it by returning it to the river (despite Laura explaining that it was quite capable to getting their itself!). I had no sooner stepped out of the kitchen, on to a patch of native mint, when i was stung by a bee and had to come back! While Laura was removing the sting, the frog sat happily in my hands. After taking several photos, Sandra was the one to rescue it back to the river… this time with shoes on.
Day 7 & 8
Day 7 was our last day of hiking, and I was quite sad when i realised! We were in a little bubble in the Clarence Valley, and even though the hiking was hard, we didn’t have the stress of making our own food, getting to appointments on time, looking after anyone else, or thinking about COVID19. In many respects, it was fabulous for our mental health; we were going to sleep with the birds, sleeping like the dead (except when interrupted by the wildlife), then waking naturally at dawn with the birds. We had time for coffee and meditation before meeting at 730am to hike and move, and oxygenated our bodies everyday – it is what they’re made for!
Day 7 was also the hottest day so far in the forecast. In these bush-fire ravaged mountains, this was a big deal. Even though there was regeneration, it was sparse, and we were under the baking sun and walking on baking ground with little to no cover. So, on our final day of hiking, we started at 6am! We were joined by Vicky, one of the owners of the CRWL, and Murray, a local kid who is an avid bird-watcher. Both of them had wonderful snippets of information about the wildlife, especially the birds (the one’s we could hear as well as see!).
This was a live cicada!
Murray had a wonderful time slicing through the tall grass when it was his turn on the machete! He captured a cicada for us to get a close look at, and told us about the cicada bird, a bird that cries like a cicada! I got very confused after learning that… were the sounds i could hear cicadas or birds??
After about 4hrs of hiking, Laura gathered us together and had us look around. As we did a slow turn, she pointed out each peak that we had climbed during our week at CRWL… It was incredible to see exactly how far we had come visually represented in mountains, and turned out to be a special moment for many of our group.
We had one final, slippery descent to our favourite water hole, where we were surprised by Steve in a “Canouber” – a Canoe to Uber us across the water hole to our lunch spot. Sue, Sandra, Dave, Gemma, Laura and I threw our bags in and swam… it was HOT and the water was MAGIC.
Gemma had collected Mukta from camp and brought her down to lunch with us. She was ensconced in a camp chair looking like Lady-Muck herself, and I remember thinking that it was characteristic of our guides to think of everything and everyone. They’re just gold human beings.
We had a Mexican inspired lunch, and just relaxed riverside with coffee and lemon infused water, I was enjoying watching Vicky and Murray’s fascination with the birdlife. No sooner had they sat down and joined a conversation, they would jump up with their binoculars and peer in to the trees again. They’d stand there and discuss what they saw and heard, then meander back to the chairs, sit down, then repeat the process again. While we were eating i got in to a conversation with Paul, Vicky’s husband and part owner of CRWL. He was an scientist who was absolutely fascinating to listen to.
It wasn’t long until i was dry again, and in the heat of the day, this was something i insisted on rectifying by jumping back in the waterhole. I approached Sue, Sandra, and Dave, knowing them to suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out), and started nagging them to come swimming with me. It took more effort than i anticipated, but i soon succeeded in getting their ankles in the water. I was swimming around on my own, and they were just standing there, so i thought i would speed up the process. Slowly, so as not to spook anyone, i made my way back to shore and then leapt on to Dave’s back, intending on knocking him in to the water. It didn’t work as planned, and i had to wriggle around before he finally slipped and lost his balance, reaching out and taking Sue’s legs out from under her as he went down. I guess if he was going in, so was she! Sandra avoided a similar fate by jumping in by herself.
Attracted by our shrieks of laughter, Gemma, Laura, and Ingrid soon came down for a swim, and we had an opportunity to repay Laura for almost throwing us out of our canoe in the adventure race (we pleaded “PHONES” when she tried to do it to us)… except this time we actually threw her out as she paddled the canoe back to shore from where the canoe had drifted. On Laura, she made it to the bottom of the waterhole in this swim, which is THIRTEEN METRES! She’s one amazing human!
We finished our swim in time to see the rest of the team climb in to the troupies and get a ride back to camp. The rest of us hiked the aptly named Humbug trail, before meeting Gemma at the top and heading for another swim before going home. This last little push was next-level HOT. Claustrophobic, thick, dry, air kind of hot. Were were grateful to see Gemma!
At dinner that night we missed our python catching the mice! The mice were a bit of a problem, as the fires had obliterated many of their predators, but the house and kitchen where they live were saved. The first night we were here, we looked up from a game of cards and the ground was literally crawling. We put our feet up and attempted to continue playing, but after a number of near misses, we gave up and went to bed. One night, Sue was washing up and one almost ran up her leg. Sandra watched it, and wondered whether she should tell Sue or not, but Sue saw it before she decided and moved herself pretty quickly! Debbie, Robbie, and Louise had a tiny-tiny night time visitor that broke their sleep most nights, but it took them until now to put all their food in the fridge! Sue had a native rat run across her bed one night, and something made it in to the tray of the Ute one night, where Sandy and I kept our snacks! I was convinced that Sandra had dreamed of a visiting mouse, as we didn’t have any food in our hut, but sure enough we found a chew-hole in our rubbish bag one morning! That particular mouse must have been disappointed, because there weren’t any food scraps in that bag, just plastic wrappers that we intended on taking home and disposing of ourselves.
These mouse adventure were fun, more than anything. Steve had it pretty under control, using baits and and allowing night time visits from the pythons to turn the tide. It would help things even more if idiots like us secured our food in hard plastic tubs, or the fridge!
Before they left, Ingrid and Gemma asked us what we learned about ourselves, or what we were going to take-away from our experience. Sue, Terry, Mukta and Sandra really surprised me when they described different versions of of the same thing – that they lacked confidence in themselves, and by going through what we went through this week, they feel stronger and more confident. Personally, I was astonished by this, and didn’t answer the question well when it came to my turn (but I’ll answer it below, read on). I have always seen Sue as a kind of Amazonian Goddess – tall, strong, assertive, amazingly fit – it was crazy to consider that she didn’t see herself that way too! Terry came to Nepal with me, where the dangers were death by a multitude of risks, including being knocked of a mountain by a yak, altitude sickness, gastro, flying in to the most dangerous airport in the world… I thought Terry knew she was brave already, and that this was child’s play in comparison! Mukta has moved to the other side of the world to her family, which shows amazing courage, and Sandra has done so many adventures on her own and with us, I had just assumed she knew she was strong and capable! Hopefully they know now how amazing they are!
For Louise, the trip was about kindness. She was exposed to an experience that she had never been exposed to before, and our guides in particular showed her sensitivity, consideration, and kindness that she really appreciated. Debbie was all about testing herself, as if completing this trip is “proof” that she can keep up with her grandchildren. For me, once I sat down and thought about it, it was “proof” that I was healthy again. Like I’ve said in previous posts, my last Gym Trip was 3yrs ago, and I didn’t make it. I have had severe mental and physical health challenges since then, and this trip was an opportunity for me to both see what my body could do, and revel in it when I found out. Completing the walks, and feeling strong, is a measure of health, and being healthy is very important to me. I went home feeling better, like a sort of closure that I can put tumors and anxiety behind me and start trusting my body and mind again. For Dave, it was a similar answer. He has lost almost 50kg in the past couple of years, and it is exhilarating for him to be able to do what he can do now!!
Day 8 Celebration Day
Our last day in paradise, I was determined to do as little as possible. Laura did a huge cook-up for us for breakfast and then we joined Steve at his house to plant a tree each. We were planting Lilli Pilli’s, an Australian Native that is apparently fireproof!
The indefatigable Dave, Mukta, and Terry did another road trip to Tenterfield, this time with Louise. They went shopping and bought bags, visited the Saddler, and caught up with their people at home. Debbie, Robbie, Sandra, Sue and I were lucky to achieve 3000 steps that day, and those were only because you have to walk 100m to the toilet or river or bed! We read, swam, read, swam, napped, read, and swam all day. It was glorious.
We cracked open the Cards Against Humanity at dinner, and played one very inappropriate game before we retired to bed… still very early! Because of that I was awake early again, and on our veranda making coffee. In the stillness of the morning, I had to sneeze. By now, my sneezes had become a team joke, due to the violence of them and the fact that they’re so loud and forceful they can sometimes knock me off my feet. This one was standard, but in the quiet of the morning, you could hear it echoing across the valley… oops.
No-one was asleep after that.
On the plus side, we were packed and driving away at 9!
We stopped over in Coffs again, but this time we had time to visit the Jetty and beach! The next day, we were at the cafe for breakfast when it opened then off on the long-haul leg home!
I have to congratulate every participant for an amazing trip, yet again! These trips are a right-of-passage, a journey of self discovery and all the other cliché’s. It is an accomplishment just to get to the end, and I am very proud of all of our participants! We highly recommend the Clarence River Wilderness Lodge, and while we are exploring NSW there is no better time to hit the state’s edges! We were very happy with the JOIN team who guided us, fed us, and looked after us for the week, and would recommend them for any outdoor adventuring in North and North East NSW!