Part 1- Kelly's Falls walking track
Immediately upon leaving Madden's Falls to head to Kelly's Falls, after being unable to purchase a cider Tristan asked if he could stop in for a coffee as it was on the way. After pulling up Tristan jumped out of the car to grab a cup of coffee.
Soon he was back and we continued on to Kelly's Falls. Driving past the Sri Venkateswara Hindu Temple Tristan commented he couldn't believe how packed it was.
"You'd think we're not in a pandemic anymore." I said.
"Yeah dude, but not everyone is in your situation, most people just don't give a fuck anymore, they just need to get out."
"I guess if I wasn't in the medical condition I'm in, and I was double vaxxed I would probably be like, fuck it, too. I wanted to go to that Hindu temple." I told him. "We drove past it I think of the way back from when I went Hang-gliding."
We soon pulled up in the car park area.
"Now before you start having a go, I'm going to have a smoke." Tristan said as I immediately started criticising him and trying to get him to go the day without having a smoke, even using the cancer card on him, all to no avail as he lit it up.
I walked away to inspect the sign at the start where there were two tracks. To the left, the Kelly's Falls walk, and to the right, the Princess Marina walking track.
As I was reading at least 4 sets of cars rocked up, making me a bit worried about overcrowding, as I was still trying to avoid exposure to people. As people made there way past I moved out of the way, standing awkwardly in the middle of the carpark out of people's way and clear of Tristan's secondhand smoke.
I had no idea which walk took you to the waterfall but going off the name I assumed Kelly's falls did. We started down the track at some a good interval as there was no one around us.
It was a short walk before we hit our first cascade that the track continued over.
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| Tristan at the cascade |
There was a ledge down below this and Tristan asked if we should attempt going down. I looked at the edge, finding very little grooves and noticing a decent height and extremely slippery surface and told him not to worry about it.
We continued the walk, which was beginning to get busy with families with young kids making their way along the tightly spaced trail. We moved into the bushes to let many of them past, nodding a greeting but secretly holding my breath each time. We reached a fence over looking the gully that the falls washed down into. It was just a sea of green curving around and leading out towards the ocean.
From here we could see a large number of people standing at the base of the falls, making me slightly wary as I wanted to be avoiding people.
We soon reached another point with a stream gently flowing off over the edge.
"This looks like a scene out of Lord of the Rings." Tristan said. "Can we come back dressed as Sam and Frodo and get a photo?"
"If you want." I replied.
We crossed over and continued along the trail moving away from the falls. Moving on we passed a random trail off to our left heading further away from the falls, I wanted to go up and explore it but Tristan was adamant there would be nothing up there as it moved away from the water. He said it was probably used for bush regen groups or led to property. He told me he had forgotten that on walks with me how excited I got over wanting to know where ever little path led, and asked if that's why I loved the Mount Jellore walk we did together so much.
Continuing on we came across a group of 3 different couples all standing around up against the same fence looking back together at the waterfall, we made our way past them giving us some distance before stopping as we looked back and got our first glimpse in the distance of Kelly's Falls.
As we walked on we continued talking, blabbering at 100 miles an hour, we soon passed a rock that I noted to Tristan reminded me of an area on the way to 'The Castle', he knew what I meant having first done the walk himself while I was in recovery from my Stem Cell Transplant.
"Dude what a walk." He said.
"Easily my favourite I've done." I told him.
"In my top 5 for sure." He replied.
I told him the story of how when my Dad had first done it with HASH (Hash House Harriers) it had been pouring with rain, and the section looking like the photo above and people under it seeking refuge from the down pour.
I began to explain to Tristan that when he had done the walk I was at a point in my recovery where I was so sick, and that seeing people out and about doing stuff was just depressing me too much that I had to take a break from social media, stopping viewing what others were doing and just focusing on my recovery.
As we continued we noticed a strap around a tree signaling the way, I had assumed that this walk would somehow lead down and loop back to the bottom of the waterfall.
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| Looking down into the valley |
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| Tristan, next to me, also looking down into the valley |
Just down from here the walk abruptly came to and end with a sign posted onto a tree in front of us.
I began inspecting the map posted on the sign, to our left was a wire fence also displaying another two of these signs and a keep out sign.
"Is that it?" I asked, incredulous that the walk literally lead nowhere.
"I told you dude." Said Tristan.
"Why is it closed?"
"Well it's probably private property, maybe it didn't use to be so now you can't go any further."
"Well, where did it use to fucking go?" I said in frustration.
Tristan shrugged. "This really annoyed you didn't it?" He asked.
It just felt unfinished. We began our way back to go and do the other walk.
"Does the other walk lead you to the bottom of the falls?" I asked.
I felt like Tristan was skirting around a direct answer just to annoy me.
"I don't recognise this spot." He said.
I looked around a realised we had somehow walked a complete different way back.
Tristan pointed up, saying our trail was supposed to be "up there", but we decided to continue walking along it anyway, in case of some secret track to the bottom of the fall.
We soon found a bit of a cave that we mentioned would probably be a good place to camp under, although I said I didn't like the idea of camping under big rocks, no matter how sturdy, just in case they did end up falling.
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| Don't look too happy |
Somehow the topic got back onto my cancer, and I began complaining about how I didn't like being bald and how my fourth round of chemotherapy has been so harsh that it had damaged the hair follicles and so my hair would no longer grow back thickly on top, leaving me to now just constantly shave it. Tristan asked, "Do you even have cancer anymore?"
I explained that they could find no trace of it in my Bone Marrow after my Stem Cell Transplant, contrary to after my first 3 rounds of chemotherapy were they still detected it in my marrow even though I was in remission.
"So you don't have cancer then?" He insisted.
"Not that I'm aware of." I told him.
"Well quit whinging then!" He joked.
We reached a point where we could walk no further and headed back for the proper track. We bumped into a guy and a girl and Tristan started talking to them. He asked if they liked sticking to a path and the guy commented that he just liked going with the flow or wherever things led.
Tristan turned to me and said maybe I should walk with them instead. It took me a second and I turned to the couple and said "He's just cranky cause I walk off down every path." We wished them a good day and continued back. The fence where previously six people had been standing was no empty and we noticed a bird doing loops. Discussing what sort of bird if was I suggested a Falcon, while Tristan said it was a Sea Eagle, however in my mind I somehow thought he was saying it was a seagull, and was thinking he was losing it. We watched for a bit as a second Sea Eagle joined and the two flew around each other. I attempted to get some decent footage but every time they would fly out of sight.
The topic became bird centric with Tristan saying either the coolest bird (or bird name) was a Hawk. I mentioned that Hawk was a DC Character (having previously made a Falcon and Winter Soldier joke).
We passed the unmarked trail and I again suggested exploring up it with Tristan insisting there would be nothing up there so I gave in and we continued back to the Lord of the Rings stream, while I was on a diatribe about how bad season 3 of the TV Series Titans was compared to the first two (getting on the topic because of fictional character Hawk).
I asked if he wanted to try exploring up stream a little and so we made our way inwards following the water up.
As we made it further up I questioned out loud whether or not that trail would lead to something that was upstream from here. Tristan still refused to accept it. Suggesting we bushwhack a bit off to our right. I followed him up a small dirt track that led no where as we began hearing two people talking. As we came back down to the water there was an older couple coming down from further upstream.
"I recommend going further up." The lady said. "It's worth seeing."
"Yeah?" We asked.
"A metre high waterfall."
We thanked them for letting us know, and both worked our way up the stream. Until we found the little waterfall she had mentioned.
While I admired the little fall and took a photo, Tristan had already climbed up to the next bit on top of the falls. I looked to the right to where he had climbed up, and further to the right I noticed a little trail.
I pointed to a path off to the right.
"I bet that was the trail you wouldn't let us go up, and I bet it leads here." I told him.
"I think you're right." He acknowledged.
I made my way over to climb up where he had.
"No listen." He said. "You're not going to hear this very often. I was wrong." He gestured to himself. "You were right." He gestured to me.
I climbed up and admired the lush scenery.
We continued upstream going separate ways. I went to the left while Tristan took the right. He reached a rock clearing that I was soon no longer able to get to.
"You went the wrong way bro." He said, before telling me to bush-bash to my left and make my way up and around to him, which I did keeping an eye out for snakes.
I reached the clearing across from him but noticed wire fencing up ahead and started walking ahead from Tristan as he called for me to wait up. He soon caught up to me as I was looking at the wire fencing off the property, stretching even across the water as the ground was covered with horse manure.
"He must bring his horses down for a drink." I mumbled.
I led the way as we went to make our way back along the path I had come up, before Tristan trust his arm out stopping me, nodding me to look down just to the right of the path where a Red Belly Black Snake was.
We decided not to go that way, instead crossing of the stream the way Tristan had come and making our way back along the trail to prove it linked up where I said it would.
It opened to a wide area absolutely littered with horse manure and for some reason it brought the lyrics of the song 'Jesus Ranch' by Tenacious D to me and I began singing:
"I'm taking a walk in the woods, and it's nice outside.
Smells of shit.
Liggaguie, lig-a-gig-a-gig-a-guie-o-go.
I come upon a striped mushroom and I,
Fly-la-la-la-ly-la-ly"
I then started on a rant about my annoyance at the Super Mario Movie voice casting (because Jack Black will be voicing Bowser.) Before coming out at the exact trail marker I had told Tristan we should explore up, saying it was lucky we had bumped into the woman when we did or we might have missed exploring further up.
We were soon back at the carpark just as a new family had arrived and were looking at the sign. I didn't want to stop and have a discussion about whether or not to continue the walk or do it another day, so quickly started down the Princess Marina Trail.
Part 2- The Princess Marina Walking Trail
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| As I went to photograph the steps, Tristan joyously raced down in the way |
After a short path and these not very long or very steep steps, Tristan spun around to look at me pointing in two separate directions.
With his right hand he was pointing off the trail, on a path leading down to the waterfall's base. With his left hand he pointed along the Princess Marina Track. He told me I had to choose one, and that would be the one we would do (knowing full well it would annoy me because I like to do all the trails).
I stopped and thought for a bit, knowing the base of the falls would be the ultimate destination, in truth it was the one I wanted to go to more as well. So I thought, he probably would prefer to go to the bottom, so if I selected the Princess Marina track I could call his bluff. So I pointed down the Princess Marina Track.
"Fuck it we're doing both." He said as he started down the trail to the base of Kelly's Falls.
We went down a little and looped under an overhanging boulder back towards the direction of the Princess Marina track as Tristan explained he planned to do both anyway but just wanted to see what I would pick.
I explained my reasoning to him as we reached a section of rope going down.
"This is the most useless section of rope." Tristan said, making his way past without using it.
Just below was another, much steeper section that had a rope too, but had a ladder placed over the top of it, leaning up against the rock wall. I went first, beginning my descent. The ladder didn't feel solid, the material it was made off made it feel like it was going to give out under my weight at any moment. It wobbled as I climbed down as the bottom of the ladder was sticking through a hole in a tree root. As I reached the bottom the the ladder I noticed the final rung of the ladder was gone and jumped down. I held the ladder steady at the bottom for Tristan to climb down (as he had done for me from the top).
We continued our way down, the path that reminded me of the walk to and from 'Jump Rock'. Look how far down we are Tristan said, pointing out the overhanging boulder we had looped around high up above us.
As the path bent back in towards the falls we reached a bit of tree branch to duck under just as we approached the base. I looked up (as I had been watching my footing) and in front of me was a girl, with her back facing us, attempting to put her bra back on. I looked up a bit more and standing just in the water at the base of the falls was a guy with her, standing and grinning at us. I nodded with an awkward smile and politely said with an awkward tone "Hey, how are ya?".
We walked past them and their camera they had set up, filming or photographing them and the falls. We moved over to the right to get a good look at the falls while the girl was still awkwardly trying to put her bra on.
After getting the photo and admiring the falls I began scrambling up rocks and boulders to see if I could reach where the initial water from the falls was landing, seeing if the waters impact had made little pools. I scurried over slippery wet and moss covered rocks soon making it as far up as I could, just shy of the spot I wanted to get too. I was surprised by my own stamina as I didn't seem to struggle at all. I looked and could see Tristan still standing down at the bottom, so made my way back down to him. I sat on a boulder just up from him as he stood next to it. Talking about the waterfall and admiring it's beauty. I commented that it was nice to see both this, and Madden's Falls gushing with water compared to our time going to Belmore Falls. We soon decided to make a move, as being there with the couple who were a bit 'lovey-dovey' was a bit awkward.
As we begun our way back up I could now feel the fatigue, noting that I still had a while to go to fully recover and regain my fitness and strength.
I continued to struggle on the way up, just instantly feeling fatigued. I was determined not to break until we reach the base of the ladder where I stopped and finished off my bottle of water. We climbed back up and soon popped out at a different section of the Princess Marina track noting we had taken a different was back up. We had come up just opposite and big stone seating area, and Tristan quickly hopped over the fence to sit in it.
As we sat were could hear constant banging along the fence and a family with two young children walked past, one brushing the railings with a stick. Tristan wanted to continue walking but I was adamant we wait for them to pass before continuing. As we began walking again Tristan began running a stick along the railing and I instantly told him to stop, as it was super annoying. As we walked I could see old concrete of what I assume where bits of lookouts from back in the day that had fallen in disrepair.
We reached a little indent in the ground that someone had either placed a plank of wood over (or it was left from a decayed wooden bridge), that I was more than excited to cross as I had a love of walking over things, probably instilled in me from watching cartoon adventure shows as a young kid.
As we walked up a bit more along the trail I thought I saw blood splattered on the ground, calling Tristan back for a look.
"Maybe someone flicked off a leech." I suggested as Tristan picked it up and gave it a sniff, saying he couldn't smell anything. He then suggested it was probably tree sap and we looked up at a big tree overhanging the area. "Ah yeah, that's probably a bit more likely then blood".
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| Angophora costata |
We arrived at another stone object as Tristan told me to be quite as he heard something rustling in the bush. I took a photo of the object and went up the stairs leaving him peering into a random spot in the bush.
Tristan finally came up, giving up from whatever he was doing. "Oh this is cool." He said.
Suddenly there was a loud sound, a high pitched screaming. Like a woman being murdered, but in a single short burst. We both paused. "What the fuck was that?" I asked, as we stood silently. It happened again in a short burst, the same length. "Well that can't be someone actually being murdered, because surely they wouldn't scream in such intervals." I said, as it happened once more. I thought it could just be a random girl down the track but the way it was happening began to make us wonder if it was an animal noise, and we began to discuss what animal could make a sound like that. "A Quoll?" I suggested, having no idea what a Quoll actually sounds like.
I picked up a stick from the middle of our concrete area to continue our walk (as a precaution) I told Tristan, who instantly made sure to pick up a thicker and larder stick.
The track took us to the right of the stone seating feature and away from where the screaming had come from and we soon found feathers of a bird that had fallen prey to something scattering the path.
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| I think that's actually blood there this time |
"My stick is bigger than yours." Tristan made sure to tell me.
"It's not the size that counts, it's house you use it." I retorted.
"Is that what your Wife told you?" He replied.
"No, it was in Robin Hood; Men in Tights." I said. Commenting, "That movie was my sexual awakening."
There was a little pause.
"Not the men in tights, Maid Marian in the chastity belt." I assured him.
He nodded in agreement.
We soon reached yet another stone monument, this time shaped like a bus stop with two love hearts painted on the side facing us, and a sitting area on the other side.
Just past here we heard another weird noise, Tristan asked was it was, I told him I didn't know but that to me it sounded like Jimmy Carr laughing.
The bush soon opened up with the track expelling us on the side of a road across from this this:
I told Tristan to throw away his stick as we both looked a bit suss standing on the side of the road holding sticks. He said he didn't care. "If that scream was a murder I don't need to be blamed for it." I told him as we threw our sticks into the bush.
Tristan decided we would walk back along the road (which didn't sound like that much fun to me). But I agreed and we began along the road to walk back to the carpark.
We walked up a short way before there was a fire trail to our right leading back into the bush which we decided to walk instead as Tristan said he was already sick of the noise of all the cars going past.
I told him that it reminded me of walking to and from High School everyday along Tongarra Road from Albion Park Rail to Albion Park.
I then shared with him the story of how in High School I had been dating a girl who lived just on the other side of Tongarra Road, and after seeing her late one night I had walked back home along it only to arrive at school the following morning for her and a few friends relieved I was alive. I told him I was confused what all the fuss was about, being told by her and the friends that a woman walking along the same stretch of road that night had been hit by a car and killed. I remembered reaching the end of Tongarra road that night, just where it met Croome road, and walking past a woman (this was the middle of the night), it then clicked with me that I had walked past the woman that had been killed by the car.
"Shit." Said Tristan as I told him. "So you were probably the last person to see her alive."
"Yeah." I said.
Tristan then kicked out a random bit of newspaper from out of the bush and I asked him what he was doing. We noticed the paper was burnt around, like someone had done it on purpose.
"I wonder if this guy did something so people set him on fire out of hate?" I asked, but it's just another random thing we saw on our walk.
Our topic of discussion changed to overnight hikes and wanting to do them in the future when I get a little better, telling Tristan I wanted to re-do Otford to Bundeena, but in reverse as a test for my long term walking and to make sure I was definitely recovered enough before I started looking into those longer hikes.
The bush to our left soon became wired fencing and we noticed it was someone property. I saw an oddly coloured tree on our right, excited by the pretty colours before realising someone had simply painted it as I walked closer.
The walk soon churned us out at a picnic area with wooden tables directly across from where we parked.
"Well that worked out well," I said. "It's like a loop track, that's way better than just turning around and having to just walk back the way you came." I said, and Tristan agreed.
We were all ready to head home but Tristan stopped for another smoke while I ate a piece of banana bread my Wife and baked.
"You could have brought some for me." Tristan jested.
I told him my Wife had told me too, but I was meant to message asking if he liked it first (as I had previous brought something with chocolate for him, and weirdo that he is, he does not like chocolate). I told him I forgot to ask, and now he would get no banana bread.
"It's really good too," I said as I ate it. "It's got walnuts in it, they give it a nice crunch."
Finally we finished and jumped in his car to head home. On the way back Tristan turned to me telling me to look up the sound of a Rusa Deer, believing that was the screaming sound we had heard. I found a few videos and clips of that and a few other types of Deer screams that sounded similar, but just a bit off. We both agreed that it had been a Deer we had heard.
Finally we arrived back at mine, satisfied with the fun time we had and planned to go for bigger and more exciting adventures as my recovery continued.
