glenbrook: an entrance to a wonderful wilderness

When George and Agnes invited me to tagalong on an upcoming bushwalk to investigate some aboriginal cave art, I of course said yes. I mean, who doesn't love a 4 hour hike that's kind of difficult in the Blue Mountains during the summer?* And cave art?! BRING IT!

Our hike started in Glenbrook:

I knew right then that this was going to be a tough day. Glenbrook was no joke--they even had the cutest nursery right next to the train station (where I later bought some super cool plants to take home with me).

Then, not five minutes into things we see our first signs of wildlife; a blue mountain puma! Vicious for sure and just a little bit pretentious.

We hurried by, praying the little crazy cat stayed put so we could continue our hike without looking over our shoulders every three minutes. But then it got more interesting.

An albino Australian dingo (that apparently just had a perm)! These buggers are almost extinct-we could not believe our good luck! I snapped a photo before it became aggressive and started chasing us for any small children we might be hiding in our bags or bacon Cheetos. Dingos love Cheetos.

The minute we entered the national park, the scenery changed. All the concrete gave way to narrow, unkept trails with ferns and gum trees and wildflowers reaching up over our heads.

I love the forest. It's so peaceful and quiet...and green...and full of.... AGHHHHHH!!

I'm so glad Em and George had the lead at this point--and I have to admit it was quite confusing to see them running for their lives while having a strange chuckle on their faces. At first I thought we might be running from a wombat. But then I thought, "George would never run from a wombat." That's when I realised it was an 8 foot diamond python--> actually, I take that back. We had no idea it was a diamond python. It could have been the most fatal taipan on the planet for all we knew. But it was at least 8 feet long. Steve; the most bravest man I know, fended it off for us with a big stick. After that we picked up the pace to our halfway point where we stopped for some refreshments and to look at the "surely this is a crime scene" tree.

After resting a bit from the last two hours of super-excitement (oh yeah--i forgot to mention that I took a typical-linzi-fall on some slippery rocks while examining some aboriginal tool grooves etched into the river rocks), we headed to Red Hands Cave.

Get it? Red Hands? This is some of the only existing aboriginal art in New South Wales. The park has had to put a fence up around it so people don't vandalize it. Why in the world a person would vandalize an archeological treasure such as this, I have no idea. Humph. But, the cave and the art were beautiful and I'm so glad we made the hike to see it!

Halfway done. We looped back and made the final few kilometers on the same path we started on. The day was getting hot, and we were getting a bit tired. Finally arriving back in Glenbrook, some ice cream and sugary drinks went down nicely (while we waited for a few others in our party to come back from a hilly de-tour).

The best part of the day came last.

A yellow-tailed black cockatoo. Sigh.

Stay tuned for more bushwalking adventures! ::dramatic musical exit::

* Actually, Vincent might not--he blew us off to go play tennis. (To be honest, he's just probably still scared to hike with me after the incident in the Royal National Park. ::coughchickencoughcough::).

** George, Agnes, Emily, Steve, and me!