Travelogue Day 34

27/6/06

I ate most of the cookies I bought for dessert last night for breakfast this morning while I wrote down everything I could remember from yesterday. I'd not had blueberry cookies before. They're not bad.

I went bushwalking again today, and I'm glad to say that I was able to recognize the bush plants from yesterday. I found sasparilla right off and chewed it all day. I also found the plant with oblong leaves that don't cluster and contain tea oil(?) that is antiseptic(?) and makes what it's rubbed on smell like lemon, the grass whose base is like celery, and the white berries, though they didn't appear until I was on the forest floor.

I took the stairs down to the Fern Bower. It was beautiful. Tall trees form a canopy under which myriad ferns grow. The light was dim and dappled, but the various shades of green stood out well enough. Water trickled down from various places into small streams that cascaded over various rocks of the streambed. Bright lichens covered rocks and the bases of trees.

It was very damp, but quite lovely too. My only complaint is that the terrain didn't offer many (only one or two) opportunities to go on more adventurous walking; you have to stay on the relatively tame stairs. Sadly, I didn't get to take any photos because the light was too low to get a steady shot without a tripod.

It was at the Leura Cascades (?) that my only good opportunity for adventurous walking came about. Just to the left of the main path was what appeared to be an abandoned path that had been overgrown. I started up it, but soon came to a place where the terrain looked a bit dodgy. I wasn't willing to test it without at least one other person there who could go for help if things went wrong.

I continued on into Leura Forest. There's a nice picnic spot down there with tables and all. You have to pack your trash back out (though not everyone does, which is why I retrieved as much as I could carry. WTF is wrong with people?).

I took Dardanelles Pass from there, and that was a bit more pleasant. It seemed to have been less traveled, at least today. I had been practicing feeling everything I touched with my hands throughout my body during the whole grip, and it was at one of these practice sessions that I caught sight of a lyrebird. I could hear others, but only saw one. It was really cool because to me it seemed that one moment I was just feeling a leafy plant, and the next I was aware that there were a number of animals in the bushes immediately surrounding me. I then immediately looked at a lyrebird just far enough away that the mist from the damp air made its specific coloration indistinct.

Once I arrived at the Giant staircase, I took it back up top. The sign at the bottom said it would take 45 minutes, but it didn't take me half that. It obviously has nothing on the Manitou Incline.

Afterward, I wandered back to the YHA, showed, read a little Gracien (don't recall the accenting), and went out for dinner. I tried the Aussie interpretation of Mexican food again in the form of quesadillas. It was interesting, tasty but not Mexican. I also got a caramel milkshake. It was rather tasty but not as substantial (read thick) as I'm used to. I think they may just use chilled cream rather than ice cream in their shakes here.

I missed the Australia vs. Italy World Cup match last night. From what I hear, it was a travesty with Italy being given an unnecessary penalty in the box and a penalty kick. They scored and eliminated the Socceroos from World Cup contention.