Wednesday, December 30, 2020

WoWW - Hawkesbury Stylin'!

9 intrepid souls took to the land of the hillbilly, not to down the regions finest cider, but to soak, swim and drink in nature's nourishing bounty at Wheeny Gap.

Meeting at Grumpy Bakers to arrange carpooling, rain was still tumbling down as we took off along the firetrail, but in a serendipitous moment that perhaps was just meant to be, the rain eased to a trickle by the end of the 5km trip.

Mother Earth's glory in full splendour on display for the tough hike down the muddy escarpment - past giant serpentine, sassafras, fig trees, birds nest ferns and lianas vines amongst the finer detail of the fungi, mushrooms and wildflowers of the rainforest understory.

Lagoon Creek was reached first in an unusual, but to be expected, high flow - it was forded multiple times as the track, if one can call it that, traverses from one side to the other, and we reached the spectacular sandstone gorge which dominates one side of Flat Rock Creek. All eyes were popped. Truly spectacular.

From the gorge, Flat Rock Creek was followed to the first waterhole at Lagoon Falls. A beautiful deep circular pool with two cascading falls keeping it well topped up. One more cascade than usual - the bonus of coming out in this wet weather for the wanderers!

With a bit further to go before our final destination, we deferred our swim until we reached Wheeny Gap Falls. But would this be the cherry on top of what had already been a sensory smorgasbord or an anti climactic fizzer?

Well it didn't take long for us to hear the rumble of water - large volumes of water tumbling over the falls and high expectations were again met when eyes and ears met the falling whitewater.

Clothes were stripped off and most of the body of the bodies there got what they had come for, to refresh in the cool and turbulent waters. To forget things for a moment, feel and hear the best of nature's wild energy and to recharge..,and then head home and face the (un)real world a slightly better, if not at least a happier person for doing so.

Thank you to all that came out for the adventure. Special thanks to my passenger Pete who alerted me to the swamp wallaby on the verge on the road. It gave me just enough time to slow down before it then darted out in front. It was thankfully missed by a whisker and it lives on to enjoy the lush slopes of the Hawkesbury for another day, just as we will too!

...and all this in a 4km round hike!