A trip to Liffey Falls – Day 2

This will be a different type of cycling blog entry – no cycling!

After a good night’s sleep I awoke around 6am and was drawn out of the camper by the idea of a cup of tea. I’m finding out how to use the sleeping compartment at night. Everything is OK except my right arm wasn’t lying comfortably. This is the shoulder that had bursitis in it on two of my previous trips to this campsite and it still tends to be a little annoying. I tried using the clothes bag in the slide out to bring the floor height up to that of the air pad, then rest my arm on it. This idea worked like magic. Little changes make for a good night’s sleep and there is room in the camper to make such adjustments.

A note re the fly screen. Thanks to Old Bob in Queensland I re-thought the idea. Magnets have been hot glued to the doorframe instead of added to the fly screen itself, the fly screen now has wire slotted around the edges and on top and the whole thing now hangs securely in the doorway. It is easy to remove, replace and store during travel. A good thing it works as there were a few mossies hanging about.

During the night a nocturnal animal of some sort tried to get into the vestibule. I guess it could smell the food in the “larder” box. My shouts and banging the side of the camper drove it away, retreating without hopping noises. We found in the morning that it had torn the rubbish bag (attached to the trike seat) to pieces and, by the claw marks, we thought “Possum”. No damage to the vestibule thank goodness, they have long, strong claws.

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Colin cooked us breakfast – bacon and eggs. You can always tell a breakfast expert at work by the way they turn the eggs – even when the spatular was forgotten. Today the product was really good and we scoffed them down quick smart. The B & E was followed by coffee. At Deloraine I didn’t make the coffee well. This time I’ve got the recipe right. A grinder full of beans, the travel Aeropress set to hold maximum water, bloom the brew, steep for 2 minutes, move coffee to the 500 ml mug and fill up with water to the top. That half a litre of coffee went down a treat.

It was Colin’s sketching and quiet day so I decided to follow my plan and walk up to Liffey Falls. It’s a 3 hour walk out and back. The weather was cool, the sun was hiding and off I set with the mindset to give it a go. If I wasn’t walking well I would turn and come back. If I was feeling OK I would try for the Falls.

What follows is an illustrated version of the walk.

At this point I thought about going back but decided to keep on going to the upper car park. The lure to continue was that just maybe there was a phone signal up there and I would be able to call Mrs C., plus it was only another 20 mins according to the sign and I was feeling good.

The sun was out at the car park and I found a table in the shade. There was no-one there. There was also no phone signal. I was feeling a bit tired after that last bit and a little thirsty. “Silly Sod” I thought. “climbing this extra bit when you know you haven’t done a decent walk for a year or two”. While I sat and thought I was an idiot, an older couple appeared and started the descent. Older? They were younger than me!! Their spritely walking ability showed when I stopped to photograph the tree stump and they disappeared down the track walking so fast I didn’t see them anymore. Crikey, they must be fit !! It put me in mind of an incident at Kings Canyon 8 years ago. We were followed up and along the edge of the Canyon by a couple from the caravan park. When they met up with us at a view point they said “Are yes – you are the young people with old faces!”. Not any more.

I continued back down travelling carefully as the downhill action twinges the knees these days – the result of torn tendons in the past. All went well and I arrived back at camp after 3 hours 20 mins – just about the timing shown on the signs. I was pleased about that – still some walking life left in the old bloke.

Colin was away and by the time he had returned I had drunk a couple of cups of tea and eaten some fruit for lunch. On his return he told me all about the people camped just outside the park boundary with their trailer containing dogs and cats. He had also located a few more camp sites by the river, some of which were not accessible to cars, camper vans or Utes. We could get to them OK if necessary on a future trip.

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Ever since we set up camp people had dropped by to find out about the campers and the trikes. This continued during the afternoon and several people took photographs. The family in the next area were interesting to talk to about kayaking, walking, sustainable living and cycling. They also took photographs – this time to show at their sustainable living group.

Eventually it was time to cook the evening meals, drink yet more tea and retire to read after quiet discussions of the days activities and about the quality of the night sky as seen during the early morning pee hours. You forget just how brilliant a night sky in a dark place is when living in a town.

We will ride back the next day – in the next post.