Thursday, March 20, 2014

Waterfall...

A day of rest. 
My husband and I realised a couple of months ago that week in, week out, we were too often cooped inside with work never-ending at our fingertips. 
Adventurers at heart, we'd somehow lost our wonder at the world around us, so we made the decision to take one day a week as our day of rest and go exploring. We pack lunch, water and our cameras, before climbing into Luigi (our old 4WD) and heading north, west or south on a journey of discovery. 

Last Sunday we headed north along the highway for about 45 minutes, before heading inland along a dirt track to climb a mountain and see a waterfall. 

We parked Luigi below, in the National Park, and with water bottle and cameras on hand, we began the climb.

 
You can see that fire has been through here by the 'crackling' bark on the Gum Trees...


To get to the base of the mountain we had to climb down to the creek bed...


There are some areas with wooden tracking to help you get across, and others where you need to climb rocks...


It's incredibly beautiful along the creek bed. The speckled sunlight appears and disappears, glistening on the rushing water...


The trees are magnificent; giant guardians of the creek bed...



About 45 minutes later we arrive at the base of the mountain track. It's a vertical zig zag that climbs up the mountain face for another 45 minutes...


We stop often under shady trees to take more photos...
 

...in stare in awe at the variety of ant armies all around us.


Finally, exhausted and squeezing the last drops of water from the bottle, we arrived at the Jourama Falls lookout...


If only I could have captured the thunderous choir of the waterfalls as they each fell, one upon another to the creeks below - it was spectacular!


We were soaked with perspiration, hot, thirsty, and feeling the physical effort of the climb when we turned to retrace our path down the mountain. And yet, buoyed by so much beauty, our descent was slow because we needed more time to examine, explore and photograph...


In so many ways this adventure was like walking through Fangorn Forest (Lord of the Rings) imagining the tall trees looking down on us, turning this way and that as we climbed over rocks and splashed in the creek, always looking upward to gaze into their foliage, constantly capturing their faces in photographs that we can keep forever. 

Climbing up from the creek to return to the start, another Lord of the Rings moment washes into my thoughts and the shutter snaps on an almost mythical scene.
 

Time to leave; we head off across another creek in our trusty Luigi.
What a beautiful day God blessed us with.


I wonder where our next adventure will take us?
Hope you enjoyed seeing a little more of my Australia...

hugs


34 comments:

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

How lovely!

Victoria said...

What great shots!! I noticed your dragonfly picture & have decided to use the idea in a quilt. See, it was a good thought for you to take this day away!

Victoria said...

Jenny,
I just noticed that you had your sidebar of Blogs back. Thanks so much for working out the bugs you had with that.

Terry said...

Thank you for sharing all the beautiful pictures! They make me wish I was there! :0)

Jenny of Elefantz said...

After Mr E restored my website it surprisingly appeared again, Victoria. How bizarre, but I'm quite thankful!

Jenny of Elefantz said...

Now wouldn't that be extra special, Terry!? xxx

Jenny of Elefantz said...

Ha ha! Glad to be of assistance. ;-)

Christine M said...

Lovely photos Jenny. What a glorious place to visit. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Marilyn said...

Thank you for showing your lovely photos. As I was looking I was reminiscing about going on the walk to the waterfalls when we lived up there about 35 years ago - and helping our 2 young children along the way. Loved that area (among others that we visited).

loulee said...

Thank you for sharing a wonderful walk.

miss~nance said...

Beautiful photo's of God's gorgeous creation. Thank you for sharing.....

carla said...

Oh Wow!!!!! That is so beautiful!!!! Love the pics!!!!! Really beautiful!!!!! So great you and hubby can go and share such a wonderful adventure!!!! Thanks for the pics!!!! I am going to share them with my hubby!!!! I bet he will think it looks like something out of Lord of the Rings also!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Your country is wonderful. I'd like to visit someday. Line, Saint-Ulric QC Canada

Cindy said...

Thank you for taking us along on your adventure! My favorite thing is to hike in the woods and walk along creeks. (We often have Lord of the Rings moments too:) It's fun to see what this would be like in another country.

Sew Useful Designs said...

Absolutely stunning photos Jen! I am almost perspiring with you... it all looks so real! Beautiful... beautiful... xoxoxo

Unknown said...

Gorgeous. Thank you for sharing more of your beautiful country with us.

Jeito Mineiro de Ser said...

Lindo passeio!Belas fotos! A Australia é muito bonita! Venha conhecer o Brasil, as paisagens são parecidas.
Um abraço!
Beautiful walk! Nice pictures! The Australia is very beautiful! Come to Brazil, the landscapes are very similar.
Hugs!
Egléa

Chris said...

Beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing with the world. Today is the first day of spring and in northern Wisconsin, US, we have 2 feet of snow on the ground.

wendy said...

Thank you so much for sharing the beauty of your bit of Australia. It has been a wish of mine to visit some day and your pic's bring it "home" to me. Blessings to you, enjoy your times together!

Country Whispers said...

I so enjoyed your pictures. It looks like a fabulous day was had.

Carrie P. said...

great photos. it is fun to go exploring.

Elizabeth said...

Thank you for your blog and for sharing these beautiful pictures. I don't think I'll ever get to your corner of the world so I very much appreciate you sharing it with us.

vernagrace said...

I always love seeing your photos of your Australia! What a beautiful place! Thanks you for sharing.

Apple Avenue Quilts said...

Thanks so much for sharing! The photos are beautiful. I would love to visit Australia. It's so different than here and looks so interesting.

Robin (RsIslandCrafts) said...

Your Australia is amazingly beautiful! I loved following your explorations.

Thoeria said...

Absolutely stunning Jenny!!! Thanks for sharing a little part of your world :) it's no wonder you're so creative! All that beauty and splendor!

Rosie said...

Lovely place, but I haven't been there for a while now. My knees ache at the thought! LOL!

Tammy said...

Beautiful. Love love love these pictures.

Jenny of Elefantz said...

You're welcome, Elizabeth, (and every one else!)...I realise I am blessed to have all this on my doorstep, and love to share it with my readers. xx

Jenny of Elefantz said...

I hope you soon see little buds pushing through the earth, Chris! xx

Jenny of Elefantz said...

I'd love to visit Brazil! xx

Anonymous said...

I did enjoy the view, thank you. It made me more homesick for my well-known Rocky Mountain hiding places.

Lin said...

Thank you Jenny - what a lovely day out and stunning photographs. xx

Carla said...

Someone would have had to carry me out after all the walking y'all did. Loved the creek and waterfall shots especially but enjoyed them all. Wished I was there and not tied up in an office.