Bushwalking around the ACT - Booroomba Rocks

I was in the shower when Toni called. She said they had called off the trip to Talbingo since Veronica was at the folk festival, and it had been Veronica's idea in the first place. Instead, she said, they are going for a walk in the general direction of my house in Gordon, and would I like to go? I thought for a moment. Tony and I had vaguely talked about driving to Sydney but Tony didn't sound enthusiastic. More like "euww, do I have to? " and I was thinking " Oh no, I don't think I can stand a trip with Mr Grumps", and I grabbed Toni's offer to liberate myself from misery.
True to her word, Toni picked me up at around 11.00 am. Ronda was in the car and she was to be our fearless trail blazer.
We set off on Tharwa Drive, crossed the not-so-rickety-anymore Tharwa Bridge and headed towards Honeysuckle camp site, taking the turn-off to Booroomba rocks. It seemed to be a popular spot, judging by the number of cars in the car-park. We set off on the short and steep climb. We did stop to sniff at the plants and take in the cool, pure air. The vegetation and scenery on the way up was simply breath-taking. In retrospect, the climb was easier than I had anticipated, considering I hadn't worn the best of walking shoes. Toni had said we were going walking, but did not elaborate that it was going to be bushwalking, or rock-climbing. I didn't even have any socks on. But that did not bother me at all. The climb up was the most refreshing that I can remember. It was like walking through a rain-forest, except this was rain-forest rock climbing. We finally reached the top, and found a beautiful spot on a flat rock overlooking the whole of the ACT- all of it, mainly nature parks. Turns out that the Namadgi National Park by itself comprises 45% of the Australian Capital Territory.
Toni and Ronda had packed lunch. I had my muesli bars in addition to the mountain bread - cucumber wrap that Toni had to offer. Sat back, admired the view the rock formation, incredible granite patterns,the friendly neighborhood lizard, and chatted about this that and the other. We mainly talked about art, since Ronda is an artist and i found her a most fascinatingly cheerful person. After about an hour, we headed back. The descent was not surprisingly, a lot faster, though not necessarily easier, as it is a steep and sometimes slippery slope.
We came back home, most satisfied and rejuvenated, despite unforgiving calf muscles and ankle joint.
Next stop-Mt Gibraltar , Tidbinbilla.
See yous then!!

Happy Easter Everybody!

Yesterday was Good Friday. Easily one of the most boring days of the year. Everything was closed. We had to drive 20km to Civic to find hot cross buns from a Vietnamese bread shop to find Viatnamese buns which were cross enough but definitely not hot.

Highlights of the day/night was watching 'the Ghost and the Darkness', based on the true story 'the maneaters of Tsavo'. The movie and cinematography by themselves were simply awesome. I did not fall asleep, which says a lot for the movie. It was captivating, entertaining, and the role of strong maned lions enacted beautifully by real lions Bongo and Caesar along with the richly maned professional lion hunter Michael Douglas added sufficient oomph to make it one of the greatest films I have ever seen.

True story or not, I think the lions have been unfairly accused as being evil , sinister maneaters. After all , humans invaded their territory. Lions were doing what came naturally to them . Another example of humans ravaging the earth for their own material gain. And the treachery goes on.