08/31/15 - Arkaba Walk - Day Three

Again, we stopped for lunch, a dramatic pause. After our meal, we continued a short ways up the creek, then took a sharp turn into a side canyon. We clambered over rocks and stones and climbed. As we climbed, the canyon widened and soon we emerged on the hillside. We continued to climb. Soon we were following a ridge line with views on either side.

We followed this track for some ways, up and down, but mostly following the ridge. We saw kangaroos bounding, distant mountain ranges and wide open spaces. Then our guide paused. Down before us was Arkaba Station, our goal. We still had a kilometer or two to go, but from here on it was anticlimactic. We descended and lost sight of the station. Then we saw the station ahead, just above us. A brief climb and we were home.

08/30/15 - Arkaba Walk - Day Two - Part 3

It turned out neither. We headed through the narrows, following a track from rock to rock, avoiding the water. The canyon turned.

08/28/15 - Arkaba Walk - Day Two - Part 2

08/27/15 - Arkaba Walk - Day Two - Part 1

There was a lot of creek bed walking, and there was actually water in the creeks here and there. At points the footing was a bit rough, but overall the track was easy to follow, at least with Paul, our trusty guide, in the lead.

08/26/15 - Arkaba - The First Day

We started in the national park and headed west, crossing from one set of mountains to another. The "pound" itself, short for compound, is flat, but surrounded by mountains. The vegetation, wattles, gum trees and sycamores, was exotic, and the wildlife exotic. We followed the well blazed trails and soon ran into a flock of yearling emus who eyed us curiously, but warily.

Then we climbed the west wall of the pound, old mountains in layers of red, gray and brown rock. We passed through the gap and left the national park heading down to the Hysen Trail, named for a painter who painted the area much as Georgia O'Keefe painted around Santa Fe. It was a steep descent and not all of it followed a well blazed trail, but we soon reached the main track in the valley, but we didn't stay on it long. We took an unmarked side track, not blazed at all, to our campground.

08/26/15 - Arkaba - Campsite

08/25/15 - Spit Road to Manly - 2

We walked on through rain forest and suburb and across charming beaches. We could see the Manly ferry across the water. The trail was paved and our final approach was along suburban streets. Exhausted, we settled on the ferry for our quick voyage across the harbor, back to our hotel.

08/24/15 - Spit Road to Manly - 1

The Spit Bridge to Manly trail starts below the unpromisingly named Spit Bridge. The trail follows an alley down from the road to the base of the bridge, past trash cans and urban scenery. Then, there is the water with sailboats, park land and the homes of the lucky few who can afford to live on the water.

We followed the trail past tidal flats, up and down sand stone cliffs, across little streams and past waterfalls. We spotted birds and views. Climbing, we had a magnificent view of the office towers of downtown Sydney not far from an array of aboriginal petroglyphs.

08/23/15 - Destination Sydney

10/14/14 - Welcome Home

Our plane arrived to pick us up, and all through the journey our pilot kept calling into the Fairchild airport weather channel. The clouds blanketed the lower Olympics towards the sea, but we were still clear for VFR and landing. That photo is of our landing as we raced for the runway even as the fog raced from the sea to cover it.

We made it, but only by minutes. We cleared US customs and were waiting for our taxi home when our pilot announced that the airport had closed. Wow, that was exciting. We were relieved. The customs guy was probably relieved too. Our alternate was Sequim, and that meant a half hour drive to handle our paperwork. Hey, we're home.

10/13/14 - Back to Sydney

We're back in Sydney for a day, back in the arms of the ever nurturing Sydney Park Hyatt. Their concierge pulled off a miracle and got us into dinner at Quay, one of the great restaurants in Sydney. This is where we first had fresh pork belly, the dish that, along with various technological changes, totally eliminated pork belly futures. Once we discovered that one could cook pork belly the way they did at Quay, there was no future. Pork bellies were eaten now. We also had green lip abalone, mud crab congee, hog jowls, seafood in XO sauce, lamb, smoked oysters and slow cooked duck. Then came the piece de resistance, the snow egg. This was one of those molecular gastronomy things with a sugar crusted meringue egg formed around house made strawberry ice cream served on a bed of mulberries. Well, they may have fooled some, but we knew what we were eating. We were eating pavlova.

Pavlova was once the national dish of Australia, but it became a cliche. For a while it was hard to find a dessert menu without pavlova, but now it is hard to find one with it. Well, Quay came through, even if they had to give it another name. Thank you, Quay.

Our next day we spent exploring the botanical gardens. Australia was full of plants unfamiliar to the colonizing Europeans, so there is a botanical garden in every major city, a collection established as Europeans tried to figure out which plant was what. In Sydney it was even more fun, because the place was full of school kids learning a bit about history, so this meant old fashioned mob caps for the girls and old fashioned straw hats or tricorns for the boys. Australia has some pretty nasty history, so we hope they were being told some of the good stuff too.

Then we had our final dinner at Rockpool, another one of our favorites. We booked the regular Rockpool restaurant, but it had been turned into a temple of fine food and dining. We couldn't face it. We had an early flight home. Instead we went to their bar and grill where we had a crudo of mullet, tuna and ocean trout followed by the Kaleberg version of surf and turf. That's a huge grilled rock lobster with a side order of wagyu skirt steak and some killer wagyu beef fat fried potatoes. We're hoping our flight to Vancouver can handle the excess weight tomorrow.

10/12/14 - Return to Dove Lake

Needless to say, we were exhausted at the end. We chowed down on the excellent cheeseburgers at the lodge. Wow, does Australia have great beef as well as great lamb. (Did we mention the seafood anywhere?) Then we collapsed before dinner. We were that tired.

10/11/14 - Around Dove Lake

The trail turned into a boardwalk built along the lake shore. Across the lake we could see several great waterfalls, but all along we surrounded by exotic vegetation. We could watch the mist rising and reforming. The drizzle stopped and restarted, but we had made a trip to REI right before our trip, so we were prepared.

The trail moved a bit inland and continued. We passed through the impossibly lush Ballroom Forest which lies at the foot of one of the large waterfalls we had seen from across the lake. We headed up and north paralleling the western shore. Looking back to the south we had glimpses of elusive Cradle Mountain itself. It is usually hidden in the mists, but as we watched the winds blew and mists swirled and thinned enough for us to get a glimpse of this icon of the park.

Soon we were at the boathouse. We carefully avoided taking any pictures. Our trip was full of enough cliches as it was.

10/10/14 - Crater Lake and the Assault on Marion's Lookout

We started at the Ronny Creek trailhead and made our way across the bogs and button grass to Crater Falls, a spectacular set of falls en route to Crater Lake. The bogs were green under the gray sky and as mysterious as the moors of England. In contrast, the Crater Falls section of the trail was green and sprightly, all boardwalk and wooden stairs as one followed the lively stream.

CraterLake itself was brooding. Here too was a boathouse and a bit further on a decision point. We considered heading down to Dove Lake where we had hiked the previous day. Instead, we tried to climb to Marion's Lookout. The trail started smoothly, then turned to steps. We were quite high up, probably not all that far from the peak, when it turned into a ladder and above the ladder a sort of vertical rocky way with a few chains for guidance. We were licked, and we knew it. We turned around and head back to Crater Lake.

10/10/14 - Cradle Mountain Views

The first glimpse was from the shuttle bus. An earlier driver had teased us holding up the pretty park brochure with its picture of the mountain and telling us that this is what we might be seeing except that the weather would make it extremely unlikely. Well, on our very second day, there it was, Cradle Mountain, looming through the mists.

That evening we set out for another view, walking straight from the lodge to the Dove Lake Trail. We crossed bogs then hill and dale. As we ascended in the late afternoon light we had yet another view of Cradle Mountain. We took lots of pictures so we'd have proof. It was a beautiful hike in any event, but spotting the elusive mountain was a real treat.

10/09/14 - Welcome to Cradle Mountain

We stayed at Cradle Mountain Lodge which is surrounded by trails. Our King Billy room, named for an aborigine leader, was surrounded by wallabees. There was one living below our deck and one outside our front door. There were wombats intensely cropping the grass looking like miniature hairy hippos. There were also crow like birds, currawongs, and one came to check out the new tenants.

The lodge was surrounded by hiking trails, so we took an evening walk down to see a few of the wonderful waterfalls. The air was cool and moist. The trail was easy to follow with good steps and lots of boardwalks through the marshy areas. The waterfalls were in full spate and spectacular. We didn't go very far, but we did manage to see Pencil Pine Falls, Knyvet Falls and a lot of rapid white water.

10/09/14 - King Billy and Enchanted Walks

There's also a shorter trail along one of the streams here. It's perfect for an after dinner walk. It runs up the stream a ways to a bridge, then back along the other side. It features a waterfall, some rapids and some marvelous scenery.

10/08/14 - Return to Wineglass Beach

The climb was familiar, as was the descent, but covering the same ground a second time gives a chance to see things again, but with different eyes. We also explored the beach a bit, and, being less focused on 'getting there', we could spend more time studying the plant life and enjoying the various rocks and boulders.

10/07/14 - A Not So Friendly Beach

The beach was easy walking. There were plovers and oyster catchers and seagulls of various sorts. We stopped to explore a black rock intrusion. In Hawaii it would have been lava, but here we were unsure. We checked out the tide pools and continued south.

By now the rain had picked up along with the wind. We explored one of the coastal lagoons where it was more sheltered. Then we continued south again, but now the winds and rain were too much for us. We had good rain jackets, but now our pants and shoes were soaked.

We turned around and headed north, back to the car. As if acknowledging the wisdom of our choice, the sky lightened, and by the time we returned to the parking lot there was a sliver of blue in the sky above. It was a real adventure, but we can't say it was the most friendly beach we have ever explored.