Roman's Fortieth

From Friday the 8th to Sunday the 10th of December several intrepid families made it to the Blue Mountain to celebrated Roman's 40 birthday . Participants in this coming of age ceremony included The O'Donalds (Will, Liam, Eszter), the Fumeaux (Gary, Ute,Max, Lauren,Luke), the Crockers (Mat, Larissa, Tuna, Rafaela), the Dagassans (Amy, Patrick, Zoe, Noemi) and the Rosenbaums (Louise, Roman, Chris, Roman junior). The ratio of kids to adults was 9:9 so it was going to be an interesting weekend to say the least. Bruce's guest appearance for dinner finally tipped the balance to the adults advantage. Throw in a birthday celebration, the six-foot track, bouldering and swimming at the dam cliffs and you have the perfect plan for an adventurous weekend.

Things started early for the birthday boy Roman who left Sydney with family at 6:30AM sharp, arriving at the midway McDonald playground around 7:30 for coffee, hotcakes and the spaceship castle for the kids. This usually settles things down for the remaining one hour to Blackheath. After talking about it for years the Rosenbaum's stopped at the famous German bakery in Wentworth and went wild shopping for sweets. Arriving around about 9:00AM at Will's house in Blackheath we met up with Mat, Tuna and Rafaela shortly afterwards. Friday morning was spent lazing about and eating the bakery delights as the rest of the families arrived throughout the day. Saturday morning was six-foot track day.

Saturday morning dawned early and the boys were eager to get an quick start. Thanks goes to Uts who drove us to the drop of point near Jenolan caves and Larissa, Amy and Louise for minding the troops at home. The plan was to hit the track hard and fast and finish it in around 4 hours because this time we had no female companions so we figured we would be fast! (My apologies) It was a hot day, in fact it was a stinker and Will's brand new tyre blew in the first hour of downhill. It was Patrick's turn just after the river crossing and the prize must go to Gary whose ancient Swiss-cheese tyre withstood the hole track without a hitch. By the time we hit the big uphill everybody was sweating profusely and the Heat was taking its toll. By the time we reached the Cox River at the halfway mark the Heat was staggering and to our surprise the river was completely dried out. It was well past midday and we still had the punishing single track before us. After a short break we set of and crawled along the single track in blistering heat. We reached the gate at the Megalong valley road just after 14:00PM, taking about 6:00 Hours to complete the track. The last 5 kilometers to the tea rooms were particularly punishing and all thoughts of riding out on the steep ascent to Blackheath vanished with a cold bottle of Gatorade. We swallowed our pride and crammed in the back of Gary's people-mover just in time to drop Louise off for her horse-riding session. The afternoon was spent with the girls going for a powerwalk to Porters Pass and the boyd lazing about and watching Monsters Ink with the young ones. Saturday drew to a close with a gourmet meal prepared by Mat and a visit from Bruce.

Sunday morning started early with excited boys and girls rising at the break of dawn. Today was swimming at the damcliff day. After a lavish breakfast all 5 families set of for the damcliff via the picturesque Bells line. The water level was unusually low but that didn't stop us from rope jumping, bouldering and diving from the top of the damcliffs. Max pushes the envelope and did a huge leap from halfway up the cliff. No climbing this time but lots of fun in the sun for everyone. All in all a fantastic birthday thanks to everyone.

And Finally some action shots of the Hard Boys:

HUGS

Roman