21. go for bush walk

Cass, Maja, Suzana and I went for a bush walk today, up from Waterfall Gully to Mt. Lofty and back again. I love the hills. From the heavily manicured European styled part just near the waterfall you go straight into a stringy bark bushland. The wild flowers that fringed the paths were delicate and pretty. The trees were filled with the twitter and gab of birds and the sky was full of shifting clouds. Here and there you can see a blackened stump from a bushfire. The ferns in the understory are so green in the gully but you can tell this is a dry land forest. Some of the trees are very old and grand.


Cass gets support from an old friend.

It was a fine day to walk up hills as evidenced by the huge number of people out and about on the walk today. As we were climbing up we saw a lot of people running down. Running down, as we found out, was not the problem. With the momentum you got from each step it was hard not to run. It was the people who ran up the hills I admire. People were not the only creatures we met today. Skinks crossed the path from time to time and we were accompanied by beautiful dusky orange butterflies. Insects were in abundance and a passing man saw a small dark brown snake hurry into the bushes.


Here's a bug we met.

On the way back down I rolled my ankle twice. I've got rather bad ankles form an old injury or two and the track was very dry and dusty, very easy to slip or roll. I spent the last part of the walk leaning on Cassie and trying not to do it again. I think I need to invest in some hiking shoes. I've also been told about ankle straps that support the ankle and stop it from turning in a bad way.


Ouch! but there always seems to be a bench nearby.

The way we went is crossed by the Heysen Trail. The Heysen Trail goes from Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula to Parachilna Gorge in the Flinders Ranges, 1200ks. I think it may be on a future list of things to do.
Here's the Heysen Trail web site