I am a true believer in the healing properties of getting the hell out of town and breathing in some Eucalypts and sky. So thanks (?) to the Pope himself having a little meet n greet on the same street as my work I got a day off to do just that.
Leaving home during the hour the chill becomes visible, I ladida'd the whole way up the winding mountain road, hoping the lingering patches of fog on the roadside weren't an indication of a sequel to the valley white-out from one of my last trips up the Blueys. The temperature was dropping the further I ascended but as I drove into Katoomba I felt a thrill in every twiggy-branched bush in every weatherboard yard. Arriving at Echo Point, home of the Three Sisters and the obvious first stop on any sojourn into the area, I jumped out of the car and thrust my hands deep into my pockets while they still had blood flowing through them and wound down to the lookout.
A beautifully serene sight was before me. The valley had a thick layer of fog, yes, but it was neatly snuggled amongst the surrounding mountains. The three sisters were proudly rising out of the white cloud, as was Mount Solitary opposite.
Solo bush walking really is one of the finer things in life. I wandered along the cliff side, meandered through the trees, intermittently looking up and across at zooming birds, the names of which I do not know, or watched brightly plumed Rosella's chew on seeds. I brushed my hand across moss, across rock faces, across Eucalypt and fern trunks, anything with texture unfamiliar. I stopped at every lookout and breathed the valleys deeply in. I put my hand in the waterfall runoff and watched the sparkle of the reflecting sun across it's ripples. I smiled at everybody that walked past and I meant it.
At lunch I took myself to a cafe with blue walls and read The Guardian Weekly. I forced myself, despite my sudden sleepiness, to do another walk in the afternoon and then went and met my mate Jez, a local, at the pub with his workmates for a couple of beers. Next time I will not leave it so long between trips. I love a good day in the mountains :)
