Looking for more Dog friendly nature walks, and a little disappointed by the cement bike track of
Bong Bong Common, my Wife and I took
our Dog once again to the Southern Highlands. This time to Berrima to do the Berrima River Walk and the Berrima Stone Quarry Walk suggested to me by my friend Tristan. We had agreed to come up for the day with my Wife looking into the Gumnut Patisserie, and wanting to try it out for lunch to decide whether or not she would organise a High-Tea at one for her Nan's 80th Birthday.
As we nearly arrived in Berrima I took the turn to New Berrima, although I had the sinking feeling the location was in old Berrima. I pulled up along the side of the road and loaded up Google Maps to take us to the River Walk. However, a problem I have been having with the Google Maps app on my phone is that it auto selects that I am walking sometimes (instead of driving) and wont allow me to edit this. So I soon began driving in the hopes it would pick up that I was going to fast and auto change to driving. As we drove up the street it told us too, and past the location it wanted us to go through (as you could walk through, but not drive through) the app just kept correcting to try to make me go back to the same spot, causing me to get very frustrated and angry. My Wife looked it up on her phone and we went back on the road driving through Old Berrima, a beautiful scenic little town, packed with tourists. We turned left at the old courthouse leading us down to Berrima River Reserve. We did a loop noticing there was no parking as well as reading a sign that Dogs weren't allowed near the playground there, and parked on the side of the road just near Fountain Street.
My Wife quickly ducked over to the to toilet block while I waited with Orla (my Dog). I went to check the time on my phone, which I had just used to take the photo above and my screen was black. I kept trying to turn it on but my screen remained black. Surely it couldn't have gone flat so fast. I explained to my Wife what was going on and mentioned I wanted to check if it had gone flat my putting it on charge in the car. We walked back and I turned the car on putting the phone on charge. I could feel the vibration every time I put the cord in but nothing on the screen. I began to realise I was probably going to need a new phone. We began to set off to go on the walk when my Wife had looked up a reset by holding two buttons down. After I did this my screen came back on and my phone was fine. My Wife told me there was a crazy old lady in the toilets while she was in there and overheard her complaining about the showers and saying she full investigated the toilet after my Wife came out from it. (There's weird people everywhere). After this I decided I needed to go to the toilet. As I came out a lady and her two kids were talking to my Wife, and I had missed the conversation as Orla jumped up for a cuddle.
We walked towards the river noticing a sign.
Which I thought was a really good concept and I told my Wife that having these at the beginning of more hikes would be a good thing. I asked what she had been talking to the lady about. She told me the her two boys had wanted to pay Orla (because she looked cute) but the lady made he ask my Wife due to Orla's
halti, assuming it was some sort of muzzle. She explained it was to help control her as she pulls so it wouldn't choke her as she was too strong for us on her harness, and that she was a very friendly Dog, if not too friendly.
Further to our left there were more signs that I stopped to read, explaining some World War 2 history of the local area.
My Wife (who often gets annoyed by me reading these signs, as she doesn't really care about history) was even more annoyed by me photographing them. But I wanted to share the information for people who may never do the walk to read and learn about.
We walked down the slope towards the Wingecarribee River as I believed the walk would start down and follow along the river bank.
My Wife pointed up the embankment, noticing a trail so we walked back up the slope and continued on towards the campground passing a fisherman on our way.
We both commented that this was the sort of walk we had wanted to do with Orla. It was a beautiful spot.The beautiful river, lush greenery and crisp cool air.
Orla was loving it, she loves exploring and was joyfully sniffing and wagging her tail excited to be going on a walk and especially somewhere new. I wondered if it was the same for Dogs as for people. The same sights, the same sounds, the same places making life seem slow, and yet fast at the same time, rushing by yet feeling like nothing had really happened. Compared to a life of new sights, places, smells and experiences that make life feel more full.
We soon came to a little bridge that I was so picturesque we had to stop to get a cute photo of our pup on there.
The walk continued left after this bridge, though there was a path to the right that we never explored. As we continued there were more signs talking about the history of the German Internment Camps along the river during the war.
Up the hill you could see some of the remains of the base of one of the huts. We walked up to have a look at the remnants of the past.
The walk, through pristine beautiful woodland is also a good one for education, as a history buff every sign I read I tried to picture this location during this time and what life would have been like then.
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| What I assume is some remnant of the Crow's Nest Lookout |
I looked up the hill, wondering where the tree that had held the lookout was, but could not see it. I wanted to run up for a quick explore but my Wife walked on ahead, getting stressed that the Gumnut Patisserie would close before we got there and also, I think feeling pretty hungry by now (we had not eaten all day).
As we continued around the winding river we took turns walking Orla. I had to stop reading the signs and instead grab quick shots of them for here and for myself to read later. I saw a small path through the bush and just wanted to quickly explore it. I ran through with Orla a short distance and found the river looping around on the other side.
I expected the walk would take us around to here, so didn't walk all the way down to the river, instead turning back and going back to the path getting Orla to do some agility and jump some fallen logs which she did with ease.
Here the path split, to the left just heading down to the river, probably a frequented fishing spot, and continuing straight ahead to continue the walk with a wooden sign announcing the final display post ahead, much to my Wife's relief.
He we reached a lovely green piece of embankment and got a family photo together. My Wife assumed this was the end of the walk but the path continued on so I suggested we walk it to the end, though she kept stressing about time, saying we should have stopped in at the patisserie first.
We continued along I was really enjoying the work and beginning to stress that we would have to turn back, but kept assuring my Wife there was plenty of time to go to the patisserie.
Up ahead I noticed a small boulder and told my Wife I was going to climb it. She was against it but I quickly rushed up and was up in 2 seconds having a beautiful view of the river.
We began walking through the scrub with no clear path no, and my Wife had reached the point of agitation. I insisted we walk a little further until there was no further we could walk. I pointed out that if we cut through the bush to our right we would reach the path we had come across on. My Wife didn't understand. I tried to explain that when I had cut through the bush before with Orla, this was the part of the river we had seen, so if we went through the bush we would shortcut to the path (though I wasn't trying to suggest doing this, I was just saying it). She still didn't understand, loading up a map, confused by saying we would have to cross a river, I told her we were on the inside of the river that had looped around, finally getting through to her where we were and how it worked, reminding myself of my frustrations having to explain directions
while hiking with my friend Tristan on my previous two hikes.
We made our way back now with my Wife feeling more relaxed realising there would be plenty of time to get the the Gumnut Patisserie.
The walk back was a bit more relaxed with some of the pressure off, as we arrived back at the reserve I asked if we should walk to Lambies Well, and then down to the patisserie, but we just decided to drive in to town. We found a spot in a backstreet to park as the township was pretty busy while I lined up with social distancing to even get inside while my Wife waited with Orla. Finally I got inside and could see that the pies were running low, we had agreed to get a savoury each and a dessert. I asked which pies were left and the lady rattled them of very fast. I decided to get us both a lamb and rosemary pie. Two ladies where standing in front of the dessert section and I couldn't get a super good look at what was there. I asked about three different desserts that I thought looked really good but ended up grabbing us both the same, which was some sort of honey tart.
We walked across the road to a park where we got a seat at a wooden tables and sat to eat. The pies where nice, though mine had been a little cold inside, I didn't mind because we had arrived just after lunch, missing the lunch rush so it had probably been sitting there a while (just after we left the post lunch rush began and the line got massive). The dessert though was amazing, and I'm not even a huge dessert person.
While we ate I looked up at the massive trees commenting on how beautiful they looked while my Wife mentioned the bark looked like a mosaic.
Looking on Google Maps for where the Stone Quarry walk was I saw we were actually right by it, as it was supposed to be by the Church not to far from where we were sitting. My Wife went to walk to put our rubbish in a bin while I walked up to the church to see if I could find where the walk started.
It was very noticeable and hard to miss, so I just walked around waiting for my Wife to catch up before we began down the Stone Quarry Path.
We followed the pebbled path down heading to a section over looking the river where a grandmother was with two children playing in the water. I mentioned that there's no way I would go in (it was a freezing cold day) and my Wife mentioned as kids you don't really notice or care about the cold as much.
As we continued along the path we came around a bend to a great ledge giving you a clear view up the stream.
A lady was sitting on a bench here with her family and pet Pug. She asked what sort of Dog Orla was, saying she looked beautiful. I commented she was a 'mixa' and rattled off a few of the breeds (that we knew from doing a Dog DNA test).
She asked me to repeat Orla's name. I said it again, and told her it was Irish and meant 'Golden Princess' which she thought was adorable. We continued along stopping at a bench ourselves, we tried for another family photo asking Orla to jump up on the bench with us. Instead she jumped over the entire bench up onto the rocks behind us.
Just beyond here was some stairs and we made should Orla went down them slowly, not like her usual self to make sure she didn't trip and fall.
As we continued there was a stone that Orla for some reason wanted to climb up on so we let her. She looked so cute we tried to get her still enough for a picture.
The path continued on before coming to and end at a ford on the right, turning left up hill back towards town. Orla tried to run down some animal tracks as she could obviously smell them.
We headed uphill where we noticed a wombat hole dug right into the side of the path. We reached the top at the road with a sign highlighting the entry way to the Stone Quarry Path.
Though neither walk was particularly long, they were enough combined for a fulfilling day in the highlands. So we decided to head home.
The weekend after this we had planned to go camping with Orla for the first time, however my Wife ended up getting sick (not corona-virus). So we had to delay. Having no plans I didn't have much to do so sat inside and binge watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, ultimately finishing the show. On the Sunday, my Wife could see I was depressed from being inside and suggested I go bouldering with Tristan. (I was meant to have gone with him during the week, but ended up too tired from work). I told her I had already asked him about going on the weekend but he was busy. She suggested I ask my friend Stuart, who had recently been getting into climbing by his Wife Megan.
I sent him a message and he agreed. I met up with the two of them Sunday afternoon at Dynomite Bouldering Gym in Wollongong. We had some good climbs and I talked about what a rough year 2020 had been. I mentioned I wasn't even sure if I had been bouldering at all in 2020, and I literally couldn't remember. Towards the end of the night, as it was winding down, I tried doing a climb in the cave section. As I reached out to grab a particular hold, my hand slipped and I fell, landing with my ankle on an angle. I heard a loud crack and felt the pain and dropped down on the crash mat in shock.
Stuart and Megan rushed over to see if I was ok. I told them I heard my ankle snap. They rushed to get the lady who worked there, asking if they should call an ambulance while I was lying there not moving. I told them not too, (just in case it wasn't serious, as I didn't want an overreaction) saying I would just drive to the hospital in their car. The owner told them to call the ambulance (just in case) and began spraying something on my ankle that helped with the pain (and smelt nice).
I asked for some water and was told I wasn't allowed any just in case they had to operate at all.
"But I've been working out and haven't had a drink in hours!" I jested to Stuart, saying that not being able to have a drink was worse than my ankle pain.
Finally the ambulance drivers arrived, while Stuart and I made jokes about the situation (with pain coming in waves), they did some corona temperature checks on me, while checking my ankle before getting me onto the stretcher. I think they were pretty happy that I was in good spirits and lighthearted about the whole situation, as they were well humoured back.
As I was being loaded up I was calling my Wife to try to organise what to do with my car. Stuart asked if he should come with and I told him not to worry, to just enjoy his night and go home, but being a good friend he came in the ambulance with me anyway. He made a joke about
my Wife's Father's Shark Attack which Megan had no idea had even happened. "Stuart doesn't tell me anything" she said.
We soon made it to the hospital and had I had to answer some questions before finally getting an X-Ray. I thought it would probably be a sprain and nothing too severe and as we sat I noticed how badly swollen it had become. I recognised one of the nurses as a girl I went to Primary School with and said hi to her. People kept asking if I wanted pain medication but I felt pretty good. Probably due to the frequent jokes and banter with Stuart. I informed my Dad about it, but the phone was soon handed over to my overbearing step-mum who said I wouldn't "do that again". I asked "What boulder?" She said yes. I told her that of course I was going to keep climbing (my accident being nothing
compared to my Dad's)
Soon we went in for the X-Ray, and the guy doing it was interested in bouldering, saying it sounded fun. I soon went back to my chair to hear my results. The Doctor eventually came out, letting me know I had a 'avulsion fracture from the tip of the right fibula'. That they treat like a really bad sprain essentially. I was given a CAM boot, some crutches and told I was good to go, to rest it and stay off it for about 3 weeks.
I sent through one of my Facebook notifications into a group chat with the two, that I had received earlier that day, prior to going Bouldering.
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| Perfect Timing |
So I'm guessing it will be a while before I'm able to go on more hikes and continue the blog. Another drama in the year of 2020...
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Thanks for reading! - Steven
