Castle Hill Fiday 10 July to Sunday 12 July 2009 Kerry, Owen and Roman
Spring hit Sydney with a massive rainstorm that would last the entire long weekend in the first week of October, but that couldn’t stop us. Spring had hit Sydney with a massive wet bucket and we had lots of things to celebrate: there was Mat’s birthday, Michelle’s return Down Under, and of course there was the annual 6foot track! Even though the forecast was grim and the weather Gods did not smile on us, nobody really paid any attention and this time a total of five families made it up to Blackheath for the Grand Final plus some more personal action. The Crocker’s with Tuna, Gabriel, Rafaela, Larisa and Mat; the Stanic’s with Indie, Michelle and Jamie; the Donald’s with Liam, Martha, Asty and Will; Dave and Lyn with Taylor and Jake; and the Rosenbaum’s with Roman Junior, Chris, Louise and Roman. A record crowd of nine children and ten adults, wow this time we just beat the kids in numbers.
By common consensus the house in Blackheath near the golf-course was a good choice. In fact the golf course was more like our backyard, and the house had several isolated bedrooms. One converted garage with four beds and one granny flat below the main area. In addition there were three small bedrooms and two bathrooms. The barbecue was conveniently located in the garage and the place was equipped with a nice central kitchen and a High Definition TV screen for the rainy periods.
Bookings_and_Enquiries: http://www.bluemountainsescapes.com.au/properties/fairways.htm Email: info@bluemountainsescapes.com.au or call 02 4787 8231 to confirm availability.
Since it was a long weekend most punters arrived sometime on Friday with the rain coming down hard in the afternoon. Will turned up on Saturday and Dave stayed with his family (Lyn, Taylor and Jake) at the caravan park in Blackheath just beside the big playground. The bad weather set in on Friday afternoon and the majestic golf course vista from the lounge room turned into a sea of fog. Friday night was spent with watching movies on our High definition plasma screen and scrumptious chilli-chicken fajitas prepared by Louise and Mat. Mat’s beans spent their first day soaking away.
Saturday morning the little one’s got us out of bed to some strong coffee and some of Mat’s double smoked bacon. Poor Louise started her day by trying to fill a bucket and recovered for the rest of the day. The rain had continued throughout the night but by about 10:00AM the children were screaming for action. Even though our options were limited in the rain, Michelle and Jamie went to the Katoomba Aquatic Center (02 4780 5156); Lyn, Dave, Mat and Roman took the kids to the Scenic Railway on a family tour of the rainforest. The tour leaves the Katoomba plateau via the scenic railway and drops into the rainforest below. A short walk through the forest brought us to the cable car leading back to the top. The kids complained that the adults were walking too slowly but most of us were desperately trying to kill time – it was still raining.
By the time we took the cable car out from the rainforest the kids were frozen and we walked past an endless array of jam-packed coffee shops in Katoomba in search for some sugar for the kids. A couple of donuts and juices later Roman, Chris and Rafaela perked up again and we were on our way back to the homestead in Blackheath. Saturday night was barbecue night and more importantly the big boys needed to talk shop. Tomorrow the 6foot track would have to be conquered in appalling condition. So once the three types of snags: thin (nice) italian beef (nice and peppery), lamb and rosemary (especially nice) , T-bones and chicken breasts were expertly prepared on a barby in the garage, it was time, over a few beers, to convince poor Will that he was volunteering to get up at 4:30AM and drop us off at the start of the track near the Jenolan Caves. Will didn’t blink an eyelid and agreed to the 2 hour round trip in the wee hours of the morning. So everything was set for an early start the next morning.
Sunday morning started wet at 4:30AM with some bacon and eggs. Dave was waiting for us at the caravan park and we hit the ride just after 5:00AM. Conditions were miserable with light drizzle, fog and day-light-saving thrown in for good measure. Will dropped us off and within one minute of riding we knew that this was going to be very different. The trail was water-logged with huge puddles, which Dave and Jamie attacked with vengeance. Mat and Roman went a little more conservative and tried to get around these swimming poles but to little avail. Within ten minutes we were coated in mud, splatter and drizzle on top. The few campers on the trail just starred at us in disbelieve. Dave was pulling chunk size mud blobs out of his eyelid and the clayey constitution of the soil meant that we had to paddle downhill not to get stuck in the mud. All our childhood dreams came true at once as we moved through a whole day of mud-bathing. By the time we hit the rivers we just threw our bikes in for a wash. Saturated we moved towards the Cox river. The camp ground was full to the brim and we moved straight through deciding to take a break at the suspension bridge instead. It was time for the single track.
Jamie was going hell-for-leather on the wide trail but now the technical bits started to kick in and things became more dangerous. He punctured his leg on a slippery log step and was bandaged up for the remainder of the trip. Even though the single trail was reasonable dry, it was more difficult than usual in the wet conditions. Remarkably, most of us were glad to reach the grassy flats and hit bitumen again. By the time we hit the tearooms Dave’s front gear shifter had decided to call it a day so he was facing the huge uphill out of the Megalong valley without being able to change his front gears. That wasn’t enough to slow him down though and once he put on his IPod all was well. Jamie was in his element again and decided to go for a 5km uphill sprint all the way to Blackheath. The rest of us followed shortly after and we arrived back at our lodge near the golf course just before midday. It had taken almost five hours from 6:30 to just before 12:00AM (5.5 hours of riding with short breaks) to complete the course in some of the best/worst conditions we have ever seen.
Meanwhile Lyn and Louise had taken the boys to Kids Kingdom at the Aquatic Centre and Will and Asty visited Katoomba. After their return Will was getting itchy feet and headed off in blistering conditions to do Narrow Neck in record time. After a rejuvenating shower it was time for all of us to settle down to the Grand Final and watch the Storms win over the Eels! Unfortunately several families had to return that night so it was left to Mat, Will and Roman to destroy the last couple of beers and finish with Louise's homemade pizzas. The long weekend was almost over and even though it was wet we had lots of fun and are already dreaming of the next one. Last word belongs to Will who set off with Liam to traverse the Grose valley. We shall hear from them shortly……
Roman
7 October 2009
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