Wild Life

##Bushwalking – Part Two

Our second bushwalk was at Lane Cove National Park. The first bushwalk at Ball’s Head, which I described in a previous blog post, had been amazing, and I was in for another wonderful treat.

The Park is much larger than Ball’s Head and we were spoilt for choice as to which path to take. We settled on one that disappeared into shady trees and followed the river. It wasn’t long before we had our first encounter with a kookaburra. He was sitting on a branch that overhung our path. He just sat there and watched us. He didn’t laugh for us, but later on we heard a few cackles. It’s quite a menacing sound. The trees were huge and there was a distinct eucalyptsy smell. No mistaking which country you’re in.

We stopped for a late picnic lunch at a clearing with benches. We’d only had a few nibbles and a quick dose of caffeine between buses travelling from one bushwalk to the next. We were delighted to see some more kookaburras quite close by. We put our rolls and water on the picnic table. I was bending down to get something else out of my rucksack when there was a flurry of wings and next thing I knew, a kookaburra had buried his beak in my peanut butter sandwich! There were notices telling you not to feed the birds. They failed to add that you also had to stop them feeding themselves!

We spent ages watching this fellow, who stayed on the table for quite a while. He even jumped onto the bench and then down by my foot. He was well used to people and had his sandwich pinching down to a fine art. We got some great photos.

We reluctantly left our kookaburras and carried on walking. Every now and again there’d be a sudden movement and a scurrying as we disturbed a water dragon who was sunning itself on the path. Once they’d scuttled into the undergrowth it was hard to spot them again, but we got the odd glimpse.

We saw cockatoos, fairy wrens and mynahs, and lots of beautiful trees and shrubs. Many were still flowering despite it being mid-autumn. It was magical. And don’t worry, we didn’t get a tiny bit lost and have to come off-piste for a while to find a path that would take us in the right direction for our bus to Lane Cove centre.

We had a rendez-vous with some frozen yoghurt, but more importantly also with Caiti’s lovely friend Sarah and her mum Rose. Sarah and Rose took Caiti under their wing when she first arrived in Australia and have been amazingly kind and helpful. We had a lovely chat and then it was time to head home. Night falls swiftly and early in Australia. By the time we were back at Caiti’s flat we decided it was a bit too dark to go for an evening swim, as we’d done the previous evening at Coogee. We were rather weary after our energetic day anyway, so we had supper and an early night, in readiness for me to discover more of Sydney the next day.

Just one more kookaburra pic before I go!