The Seacliff Bridge!
The saltwater river at Stanwell Park Beach
The bizarre but awesome Banks flower! The petals feel like rubber!
The view from the deadly lookout point.....
This is the view from Wallamotta Beach!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Conferrin' with the flowers, Consultin' with the rain
Hello readers! I feel fairly confident addressing you personally, because I've gotten wonderful feedback from both friends and family that confirms the fact that I am NOT a crazy person writing to myself! THANK YOU to everyone who is interested in my stories!! I appreciate it more than I can indicate here.
Now, to get to the fun stuff...my adventures at Australia's Royal National Park! Some of you might be wondering where my stories from Surf Camp have gone, and I'm here to crush your hopes and tell you that surf camp was evidently not in the cards for this Aussie. Due to inclement weather (and I don't use the word inclement lightly), I decided to rearrange my weekend and participate in more land-based activities. I will soon post a video of the weekend's surf that will illustrate my logic.
So, on Saturday morning, I woke up at the unfriendly hour of 6:30 am (sorry Chels, but I'm a Ballentine, we don't get up early) to board a bus to the Park. We were led by Andy, a guide with Understand Down Under, or UDU. They offer a variety of tours through the park, all of which include mountains of food and endless activities. If you ever find yourself in Sydney or nearby, I highly recommend their tours!
Back to the point...the Park is about a 35-40 minute drive outside of Sydney. Established in 1879, it is the second oldest national park in the world, after Yellowstone, and it spans a huge area. I'm having trouble remembering exactly how many square km it is, but I do know that it's HUGE! So we arrived at a picnic point on the edge of the park, in the rain, took some pictures of purple swamp hens, and when Andy realized none of us were remotely phased by the rain, we plowed onward to our bush walking site.
The 18 of us (13 BU program kids, 5 French backpackers) piled back into our van for the wet, windy ride up to Wallamotta Beach. From the beach, we took about an hour long bush walk on a trail through the rain forest. We ate fresh figs off of a tree, tasted grains out of seeds that Aboriginals harvested, and sucked on celery-like grass stalks to stay hydrated. We learned about the Banks flower, which I will upload a picture of, and saw a diamond-backed python (not venomous). There was a lookout spot that was only accessible by sliding down a deadly rock-face, so, naturally, we all took part and snapped some [cloudy] shots of the view.
At the end of the bush walk, there was a final view of the cliffs and horizon that I will never forget. There was an iron-rail fence along the edge of the cliff, so we were able to lean forward and look directly down on the powerful surf below. This is where I took a video, and almost got lost from the group because I couldn't tear myself away from the site. In the video, there is a rock off to the left that's sitting about 50 ft away from the base of the cliff I was standing on. We estimated it was about 30 feet long, so judging by this we could tell the waves were at least 15-20 ft high. The waves I captured with my camera were the smallest ones we saw. It was INSANE!!!!!!
After my near-abandonment, we all boarded the bus and drove onwards to Stanwell Park, an area next to the National Park with a beach and picnic site. There was a marsh just above the beach, and a saltwater river ran from the marsh, across the beach, into the ocean. The water was calm and warm in this little river, and it was lined with big rock formations that looked like a small-scale version of a mountain valley. It was so beautiful. Here, too, the surf was unbelievably rough. I don't usually shy away from the ocean, but I was reluctant to beyond knee-deep. Even Andy insisted we didn't go further than waist-deep.
After our brief ocean-frolic, we learned how to throw boomerangs and spears. Andy said our group was one of the most naturally gifted he's seen, which we took as a compliment, but I'm still not sure if it was one. There are some cool action shots that he snapped of us throwing them. If you have a Facebook account, click on the link below and you can flip through all of his pictures. If not, we were given a boomerang at the end of the trip so I can teach whoever wants to learn back at home!
We ate lunch at Stanwell Park, too, which included a huge spread of sandwiches, dips , and cookies. YUM! I don't think I've ever been so hungry. At this point, it was late afternoon and we were completely soaked to the bone, so we decided to crank the heat in our van and do one last loop to see the Seacliff Bridge. You might be able to deduce that it runs over the sea along the cliffs. Supposedly it is the only bridge that runs over the ocean...but I don't know if I believe that little fact!
At the Seacliff Bridge, we took turns sprinting down to the view point, snapping icy photos, and hurrying back inside. The wind was extremely powerful there because of the natural coves, so it was hard to stay outside for more than a few minutes. After we gathered ourselves at the end of this little relay, we dove into our backpacks for dry, fluffy towels, and were disappointed to discover sopping wet rags. Evidently, our "sheltered" spot at the lunch site was not so sheltered. My wallet, book, Ipod, shoes, towel, and bag itself were all DRENCHED!! 3 days later, I still have things strewn about my room, drying.
About 99% of the group instantly fell asleep on the ride home, but I was in the front row of the van with a friend, so Andy entertained us with stories and jokes. Somehow, after profuse thanks to Andy and a steaming hot shower, my friends (who didn't go on the tour) had me ready to go out within 20 minutes of arriving home.
Our motto here in Sydney is "power through," so I took a deep breath and readied myself for some drinks and dancing! We had a blast. When the bar closed, we opted to tackle the 40 minute walk home, and guess what happened......we got SOAKED! It started down pouring the second we stepped outside, and ceased only when we were safely back in our rooms. All I could do was laugh and indulge in another boiling shower.
Needless to say, the day was completely unforgettable. Sunday was also an awesome day, but this post is already long enough. Short version: Kate, Jeremy, and I explored Paddington, a neighborhood on the way to Bondi Beach. There's a bar there called The Fringe that offers live music every Sunday night. We watched 3 local artists and shared some delicious bar foods. We were over there for almost 10 solid hours and loved every minute.
I have some work due this weekend, but it's all interesting material so I have zero complaints. Again, sorry about the lack of surf camp, but I wouldn't trade the alternative experience for anything in the world!! Hope everyone is surviving the record-breaking snowfalls in the US! Please feel free to e-mail me stories and updates about what's going on at home. I'd love to hear your news. Lots of love to everyone!!!
Photos: http://www.daytoursydney.com.au/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=349
(I'm the one with the ice blue raincoat, black shorts, and white sneakers)
Now, to get to the fun stuff...my adventures at Australia's Royal National Park! Some of you might be wondering where my stories from Surf Camp have gone, and I'm here to crush your hopes and tell you that surf camp was evidently not in the cards for this Aussie. Due to inclement weather (and I don't use the word inclement lightly), I decided to rearrange my weekend and participate in more land-based activities. I will soon post a video of the weekend's surf that will illustrate my logic.
So, on Saturday morning, I woke up at the unfriendly hour of 6:30 am (sorry Chels, but I'm a Ballentine, we don't get up early) to board a bus to the Park. We were led by Andy, a guide with Understand Down Under, or UDU. They offer a variety of tours through the park, all of which include mountains of food and endless activities. If you ever find yourself in Sydney or nearby, I highly recommend their tours!
Back to the point...the Park is about a 35-40 minute drive outside of Sydney. Established in 1879, it is the second oldest national park in the world, after Yellowstone, and it spans a huge area. I'm having trouble remembering exactly how many square km it is, but I do know that it's HUGE! So we arrived at a picnic point on the edge of the park, in the rain, took some pictures of purple swamp hens, and when Andy realized none of us were remotely phased by the rain, we plowed onward to our bush walking site.
The 18 of us (13 BU program kids, 5 French backpackers) piled back into our van for the wet, windy ride up to Wallamotta Beach. From the beach, we took about an hour long bush walk on a trail through the rain forest. We ate fresh figs off of a tree, tasted grains out of seeds that Aboriginals harvested, and sucked on celery-like grass stalks to stay hydrated. We learned about the Banks flower, which I will upload a picture of, and saw a diamond-backed python (not venomous). There was a lookout spot that was only accessible by sliding down a deadly rock-face, so, naturally, we all took part and snapped some [cloudy] shots of the view.
At the end of the bush walk, there was a final view of the cliffs and horizon that I will never forget. There was an iron-rail fence along the edge of the cliff, so we were able to lean forward and look directly down on the powerful surf below. This is where I took a video, and almost got lost from the group because I couldn't tear myself away from the site. In the video, there is a rock off to the left that's sitting about 50 ft away from the base of the cliff I was standing on. We estimated it was about 30 feet long, so judging by this we could tell the waves were at least 15-20 ft high. The waves I captured with my camera were the smallest ones we saw. It was INSANE!!!!!!
After my near-abandonment, we all boarded the bus and drove onwards to Stanwell Park, an area next to the National Park with a beach and picnic site. There was a marsh just above the beach, and a saltwater river ran from the marsh, across the beach, into the ocean. The water was calm and warm in this little river, and it was lined with big rock formations that looked like a small-scale version of a mountain valley. It was so beautiful. Here, too, the surf was unbelievably rough. I don't usually shy away from the ocean, but I was reluctant to beyond knee-deep. Even Andy insisted we didn't go further than waist-deep.
After our brief ocean-frolic, we learned how to throw boomerangs and spears. Andy said our group was one of the most naturally gifted he's seen, which we took as a compliment, but I'm still not sure if it was one. There are some cool action shots that he snapped of us throwing them. If you have a Facebook account, click on the link below and you can flip through all of his pictures. If not, we were given a boomerang at the end of the trip so I can teach whoever wants to learn back at home!
We ate lunch at Stanwell Park, too, which included a huge spread of sandwiches, dips , and cookies. YUM! I don't think I've ever been so hungry. At this point, it was late afternoon and we were completely soaked to the bone, so we decided to crank the heat in our van and do one last loop to see the Seacliff Bridge. You might be able to deduce that it runs over the sea along the cliffs. Supposedly it is the only bridge that runs over the ocean...but I don't know if I believe that little fact!
At the Seacliff Bridge, we took turns sprinting down to the view point, snapping icy photos, and hurrying back inside. The wind was extremely powerful there because of the natural coves, so it was hard to stay outside for more than a few minutes. After we gathered ourselves at the end of this little relay, we dove into our backpacks for dry, fluffy towels, and were disappointed to discover sopping wet rags. Evidently, our "sheltered" spot at the lunch site was not so sheltered. My wallet, book, Ipod, shoes, towel, and bag itself were all DRENCHED!! 3 days later, I still have things strewn about my room, drying.
About 99% of the group instantly fell asleep on the ride home, but I was in the front row of the van with a friend, so Andy entertained us with stories and jokes. Somehow, after profuse thanks to Andy and a steaming hot shower, my friends (who didn't go on the tour) had me ready to go out within 20 minutes of arriving home.
Our motto here in Sydney is "power through," so I took a deep breath and readied myself for some drinks and dancing! We had a blast. When the bar closed, we opted to tackle the 40 minute walk home, and guess what happened......we got SOAKED! It started down pouring the second we stepped outside, and ceased only when we were safely back in our rooms. All I could do was laugh and indulge in another boiling shower.
Needless to say, the day was completely unforgettable. Sunday was also an awesome day, but this post is already long enough. Short version: Kate, Jeremy, and I explored Paddington, a neighborhood on the way to Bondi Beach. There's a bar there called The Fringe that offers live music every Sunday night. We watched 3 local artists and shared some delicious bar foods. We were over there for almost 10 solid hours and loved every minute.
I have some work due this weekend, but it's all interesting material so I have zero complaints. Again, sorry about the lack of surf camp, but I wouldn't trade the alternative experience for anything in the world!! Hope everyone is surviving the record-breaking snowfalls in the US! Please feel free to e-mail me stories and updates about what's going on at home. I'd love to hear your news. Lots of love to everyone!!!
Photos: http://www.daytoursydney.com.au/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=349
(I'm the one with the ice blue raincoat, black shorts, and white sneakers)
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