Meeting - part 2

We bummed around and did a great deal of nothing on Saturday morning. It was a slightly overcast day so we took our time getting ready to venture out. We'd decided to go to Mackenzie Falls, but on the way up the mountain we encountered some cyclists in the middle of a road race. We reached Silverband Falls first (although they weren't flowing as much as in that picture) and took the the opportunity to go there and have the cyclists out of our way for the rest of the drive.

There were a number of people at both falls and the sky was pretty cloudy, which wasn't the best for taking photos, but T took a few. We sat for a while at the bottom of Mackenzie Falls till it started getting a little cool, then dragged ourselves back up to the top. The information suggest that the walk is 'easy'. The walk down is easy. The walk up is steep and tiring and warranted the purchase of icecream when we reached the top, despite the cool temperature.

It was early evening when we thought we'd go find something for dinner. We'd seen a pizza place and ordered a couple to take back to the cottage. While we waited, we took the chance to wander around the town. There were mobs of kangaroos everywhere, including large males and mothers with joeys in their pouches.

As it turned out, the pizzas we ordered were ridiculously big and we could have had one between us with some left over. We sat and ate them with beer (him) and Baileys (me) on the porch of our cottage and watched the resident mob of kangaroos feeding, fighting and generally doing what kangaroos do at dusk. Watching the big males fight over the females and watching the females basically ignore any advances or give the males a nice slap in the face for their efforts, was pretty funny. It was a bit like watching guys trying to pick up in a night club but having no clue how to impress a girl at all.

We woke up a little earlier on Sunday morning, but still managed to procrastinate until lunch time. The weather was a lot warmer and it was a perfect day, which was great, because we'd planned on doing the walk up to The Pinnacle. Talk about organising things perfectly. If you're gonna travel with a geologist, you take them to a place that's just abundant with waterfalls, rocks and ancient rock formations. I had the best day and got a free geology/history lesson as well.

Last time I did the hike to The Pinnacle I was a little scared in some of the more precarious parts of the climb. I was much more composed this time, although I admit I didn't go out to the edge when we reached the top and my stomach was turning just watching T and some other people go out there. Sorry, but an overhanging cliff face that's not much more than a couple of metres across is not my idea of fun. Particularly when you're with someone who can tell you roughly which bit of ledge looks like it will be the next to tumble the few hundred metres to the ground below.

I did gather my nerves long enough for us to take some photos on a ledge where I didn't feel like I'd be swept over the edge to my death with the first big gust of wind. T has all the photos, so you're going to have to wait patiently till I get copies.

Because the weather was so ideal and there were no clouds we thought we'd go back to Mackenzie Falls to take photos of the waterfall in the sun. Considering we'd just walked a few hours up and down a mountain, I think it was mostly adrenaline that inspired us to do the falls walk again. Down wasn't so bad. Going back up was pretty painful. But he got the photos he wanted, so it was worth it.

Sunday evening was spent eating left over pizza and partaking in more kangaroo watching. I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep in the spa afterwards. My whole body ached, but the spa and copious amounts of Baileys rounded out the day rather well. (That's till I started getting my chest pains - stupid heart problem! - and got sent to bed.)

Day 4 will be the next installment...