Year of Hell

It was meant to be easy!

Category:	Adventure
Date:	Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
We had planned to start off the Year of Hell by doing one of the easy outings at Jenolan Caves, but due to unforseen circumstances, we decided a better option would be an easy bushwalking outing at Wentworth Falls instead. No point after all in killing ourselves too early in the year, and as it was on the list, we figured it was a good jumping off point. I knew I was being overly optimistic as I trotted down the reasonably un-steep stairs heading down to the ‘Weeping Rock’ at the top of Wentworth Falls – the surroundings were beautiful and despite the large number of people in the area, even peaceful. Matt and I both joked about it as we moved happily towards our destination; after all, this was the easy bush walking option, a 1km round trip to the ‘Weeping Rock/Queen’s Cascade’, described as taking no longer than an hour. Wasn’t meant to be hard, and I must say – with the beautiful scenery to behold, the trip to the Weeping Rock was more than pleasant and we were pumped to see more, chatting amiably about how the Year of Hell was shaping up to be a lot of fun... On our way down to where we were hoping Queen’s cascade was, we noticed a beautiful stop off which we admired, but moved on swiftly, hoping to jog along to our next destination. The steep steps downward arrived, and by this point I had to admit I was a bit worried about the trip back up, but then, the sign had said it was one of the easiest routes in the area, so shrugging we continued on. Twenty more metres downwards, we looked over the rail to see that the stairs kept going down and wondered how far exactly this Queen’s Cascade was. A passing couple happily informed us that we had already passed our destination and had in fact started the 4-5km National Pass walk down to the bottom of the falls. Oh my... looking back up and realising exactly how many stairs we had cheerfully moved down, with the realisation we now had to start heading back up ,was not fun. Matt jogged up... For me, I think the word ‘dragged’ myself up would be more sufficient... By the time we made it back up to the Queen’s Cascade, that small little ‘stop off’ we had noticed earlier on and on to the ‘reasonably un-steep ‘ stairs at the beginning, I had already convinced myself that I was about to pass out! Another level up, I needed a rest... there were six year olds happily running up past me... not to mention a one year old I was severely jealous off, hitching a ride up, happily in the arms of her father. By the time we got to the top, I was ready to use Matt as a crutch and looking forward to hugging the car. The sun was starting to go down, though new visitors were only just starting their journey downwards, laughing happily and chatting as optimistically as we passed them; and all we could do was laugh... suckers...