The Sound of Music

Letting your soul sing is challenging especially when you find yourself competing with an out of tune rendition of Old Macdonald had a Farm. No matter how far into the silent wilderness you manage to wander it is difficult to escape the white noise that is parenthood. Even in the 'wildest woods' a two year old is still a two year old, full of incessant questions and mutterings.

This harsh and somewhat disturbing realisation comes after the completion of our first overnight mountain bike trip; a two day and two night exploration of Barrington Tops National Park. At 1500m it was going to be a subalpine adventure along the Barrington Trail in an area we had never before ventured. The drive to where we would leave the car was slow and windy as we ascended some 1400m up the escarpment and onto the plateau.

Those first few wobbly pedal strokes out of the car park were satisfying indeed. We were on our way. Everything we needed for the next 48 hours we had firmly strapped and loaded on our bikes.

Barrington Trail

The Kit

You could say that it was a journey of discovery. We now know that one and a half sleeping mats between a family of four really isn't enough, that even a couple of days without coffee will in fact bring on withdrawal symptoms, that padded bike shorts are essential, that although the food gets lighter throughout the journey the nappies just get heavier and that the one time you choose to ignore Tahlia's whining in the hope of teaching her some resilience turns out to be the time that she's trapped inside the chariot with a spider crawling on her.

But we also learnt how satisfying it felt to ride into camp at the end of a long day, to be self sufficient and to know that we had everything our little family needed right there, to collect water from the tiny creek at the bottom of the campsite, to sit and watch at dusk the wild brumbys cautiously make their way towards us and to spend a few days and nights lost in our own little world. Maybe there was some music of the soul after all.

Our First Campsite

Morning Tea Time

The Tent Makes a Great Play Pen

Down and Out

We were procrastinating. The hike back up to Long Point was going to be tough. By now it was the middle of the day and we were feeling lazy having spent the last few hours chilling out on the banks of the Shoalhaven. When you climb a mountain you know that your efforts will be rewarded. Your goal is the summit and each step is one step closer to the top. Once you reach your destination the rest is easy, a downhill cajole to the bottom. We did the opposite, which I guess is what happens when you live at the top of an escarpment. The morning was spent meandering our way down a narrow and steep spur line. The views were spectacular and what was best of all was that we had them all to ourselves.

The track down from Long Point to McCallums Flat is not on your typical tourist walking map. It was perfect, we felt like we were in the middle of the nowhere but we didn't have to hike for three days to get there. The spur at times dropped off on both sides being perhaps only a couple of metres wide in sections.

The valley below slowly started to encroach and the winding river became more visible. We dropped off the side of the spur to avoid King Pin Mountain and before we knew it we were there; on a grassy flat, shaded by Casuarinas, on the banks of the Shoalhaven. Our little oasis for the next couple of hours.

After sitting in a back pack for what seemed

like an eternity it didn't take Tahlia long 

to strip off and jump into the river. 

She could have stayed there all day. 

At her age it seems the world is full of little 

adventures to be had. Wet bare feet on pine 

needles.....it's what childhood's all about right?

Eventually we had to face the fact that there would

be no escaping the steep climb back out to the car.
So we reluctantly dried our feet in the sun, dusted
off the dirt and put our shoes back on. It's worth
noting that only 1km into the walk that morning, both
of Marty's trusty old hiking boots lost their soles at the
exact same moment that one of mine also lost it's sole.
Luckily strapping tape comes in handy for all sorts of
things. It's also worth noting that Tahlia, despite being
given a talk about appropriate foot attire for such an
outing, insisted on wearing her 'pretty' shoes. Seems
that she is much more fashion conscious than her
mother and although she didn't say anything at the
time I think she was secretly quite smug that her shoes
were the only ones that actually made the journey
without falling apart!