Greater Taree

I have a lot to share so am jumping right in.

Our journey up to Ellenborough Falls was treacherous, and I am NOT exaggerating, if anything I am under-exaggerating. 40kms on gravel, but not Canadian-style gravel, more like rocks, with lots and lots of pot-holes and ruts, but that alone was not what made it is treacherous. It was the fact we were on a very thin path riding up the side of a mountain with no barrier on the side of the road, dropping off so steeply and we were so high it was a long, long way down.

I knew it was serious, because normally on a bumpy ride, Wade’s eyes are not always on the road and for the full 40kms, they did not leave the road once. He was exhausted. I think we saw 2 other cars the entire journey there.

Eventually, we arrived at the car park and Wade told me specifically not to end the phone navigation, as there was no signal and we needed it to get out of there. I didn’t listen, thought he was exaggerating and just ‘paused’ it, not giving it another thought.

Once again, we find ourselves on a ridiculously narrow path with an enormous and steep drop off, thick with trees and flora that looked almost Jurassic again. I had to pass a termite hill that was equal in height to me!

Finally, we find ourselves level with the falls on the other side of the valley. 200 metre water fall and very beautiful. We carried on to the next look out for an equally stunning view. We headed back up to the head of the falls, listened to the gushing water watching it go over the edge, and read a sad plaque about an 11 year old child who played outside of the safety of the lookout area and tumbled over the waterfall to their death.

As we got back into the car and started up the navigation, it would not work as we could not get signal. We had to drive a while to ‘civilisation’ to a very solitary and rundown shack of a closed store and strangely managed to find free wifi. After waiting for my missed emails to finish coming in, we at last managed to reconnect to the route and found an alternative way out that did not involve quite as treacherous a journey and a shorter gravel road. After about an hour, we were back on the main road for our final 4hr drive back to Baulkham Hills to see Cath and Neil.

I was desperate for a glass of wine by the time we got home and it felt great to see Cath again. We got dinner on the bbq and proceeded to drink a couple bottles of Prosecco (later finding out that it was me doing the majority of drinking). We spent the evening laughing (and some tears from me), reminiscing, looking at Cath and Neils wedding guest book (1998) and laughing at my entry from 25 years ago. I just cannot believe so much time has passed for all of us on our different life journeys.Read more