On a Walkabout

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So after wandering around Sydney, and being lazy on a beach in Manly, I've decided that I really am not the biggest fan of Sydney. It's just too much! The beach at Manly was nice, but Sydney is noisy and busy, and reminds me a bit of NYC. Not very impressed.

But I am a fan of the Blue Mountains and Evan and his wonderful Walkabout Tour. I decided to escape the hustle and bustle and noise and poshiness (is that even a word?) of Sydney and head to the Blue Mountains. I also decided I wanted to a book a tour that would take me off the beaten track, and it's always good to support the small local guys, right?

It was worth every penny and then some. We did a challenging 8km hike up and down hills and rocks; climbed in spots that I would never have dreamed of climbing; found lots of really cool sculpted rocks and caves; found evidence of past Aboriginal presence; and got a wonderful introduction to the Darug culture and some of the stories that one might hear in a walkabout. It was absolutely fantastic.

I'm not sure what I came to Australia looking for, but I think it's experiences like this that I came searching for. It left me feeling very at ease and calm, and it seemed very strange to be back in Sydney. A bit of a culture shock after hiking all day in wilderness, hearing kookaburras, cockatoos, and various other birds, seeing lizards and great water spiders (the size of a man's hand, I'm not kidding).

And the walkabout gave me a bit of an analogy for this trip. A walkabout is part of the multiple initiations that one goes through to become "adult". On a walkabout you learn and discover new things, and you emerge from the walkabout a different person. You may laugh at me for being metaphorical, but this trip to Oz is sort of a walkabout for me.

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And what about those ducks, you ask? Well, Aesop told Gulliver that you have to watch out for the drop-bears. They're a form of koalas that are really dangerous...they especially go for unsuspecting tourists and little glow-in-the-dark duckies. They drop down from the trees and claw you, causing some nasty wounds. Gulliver thus hid in the bag all day. And Aesop was a bit jetlagged, so he slept all day. Too bad, cuz they both missed some wonderful scenery.

Tonight I'm off to the capital, Canberra.

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Photos

The Billabong
Our lunch was taken at a quiet billabong.

Cool caves!
Absolutely fantastic rock formations!

Rock carvings
A little water makes these carvings come to life.