Bushwalking

I had my first experience in the wilds of Australia! Okay, maybe it wasn't that wild and dangerous, but I did go on my first bush walk. Bushwalking is what we would call hiking in the States. Yesterday (Mondays are my days-off), Amanda and I invited Jamie and Sammie, who are the 2 HIM workers in Warringah (a suburb of Sydney), to come up for some bushwalking and lunch. We woke up Monday morning to cloudy, overcast skies, which looked ready to downpour at any moment, but we decided to brave the elements. We decided to go hiking at the Rumbalara Reserve, which is actually in Gosford. Okay, so maybe we weren't as hardcore as we thought we were! We pulled up to the empty car park, looked at the map, and headed down a trail--first Amanda, then Sammie, followed by me, and Jamie brought up the end. We started hiking on along the trail and were met with tall trees and enormous rock faces, shaped by the elements. As we were walking, we were chatting about what was going on in our lives. We were talking and having such a good time, we lost the trail! We had to retraced our steps and went down another path. This path led us over a boulder and surfing down a hill of loose dirt. We continued along our walk up steps of packed dirt and logs. At one point, I placed my leg on one of these steps and the log went rolling down the hill, luckily Jamie moved out of the way. We finally reached the end of our trail, where we were met with orange, plastic construction fence blocking our way--never a good sign. We stepped over the fence and were met with a sign that said "Trail Closed." We went down a trail that was supposed to be closed due to erosion, which explains the unstable steps and the disappearing path! The view from the top was well worth it, though! We could see Brisbane waters and lots of little suburbs. After resting, we walked along the road back to where the car was parked. There, off, to the side was a piece of caution tape blocking off the entrance to the trail--we missed it because we were looking at the map earlier! After our exciting bushwalking experience, we decided one trail was enough and headed back to Amanda's apartment for lunch. We had a lovely afternoon chatting and catching up. I am so blessed to have fellow HIM workers so close to me.

The view from the top of Rumbalara.