Adventure weekend at the Blue Mountains

On the weekend of 4-5 May 2013, I decided that I wanted to experience being a bush ranger so I went to my first ever bush walk at the upper Wollangambe area of the Blue Mountains. It was a part navigation course involving map and compass reading so it meant that we were going to be off-track and doing some serious bush bashing! I went with 20 other people, all members of the Sydney University Bushwalking Club (SUBW). As a heads up, I was the only group member to join with absolutely zero camping/bushwalking experience! 

To give a bit of a background, bushwalking is a popular Australian activity. The term is synonymous to trekking, hiking or tramping. Sydney (and the rest of Australia) boasts of its well-preserved nature parks, national reserves and mountains so most Australians are into this activity. Mind you, I've met a few SUBW club members who go on weekly bush walks! 

Coming from the tropical Philippines, I noticed that their bush is different from ours. Their wildlife is literally the bush (as in thorny, wild bushes that sporadically spread atop the mountains) while in the Philippines, it is more  of the jungle/rain forest.

As we were a big group, we were divided into the Friday evening campers and the early Saturday morning group. The idea was for everyone to be at the meeting place/starting point at 8am on Saturday morning. I went with the Friday evening group so I won't be hassled at waking up extra early on Saturday morning. There were about 11 of us who arrived Friday night. Though we were going to be saved from waking up early on Saturday, this meant having to camp out at the gravel parking lot of the Bell train station in the Blue Mountains!

And so with the club tents and sleeping bags in tow (I had to borrow from the club as I do not have my own gear), we set up our tents which I discovered can be a bit of a challenge. I have never set up a tent in my entire life, or better yet, I have never been out camping EVER so you can imagine how much of a sissy I must have seemed. The club members were kind enough though to help me and show me how to do it. 

That's me in white!!

Overwhelmed with excitement and the idea of camping, I said with a big smile, "Oh my god, this is like being in the survivor!!" And laughing, one of the members retorted, "You think this is the survivor? We haven't even started yet! We are just at the parking lot!" I did not really give much thought to what he told me but as we went on with the bush walking in the days that followed, boy did I realize that he meant every single word! May is also autumn in Australia so you can imagine how cold it was sleeping outdoors!!

So we were up Saturday morning but with not much sleep because number 1) I was out camping for the first time and so my body had trouble adjusting; and number 2) The train was just soooooo noisy that it was not helping me at all in the adjusting phase!!! To mys surprise, it was actually warm inside the tent and sleeping bag! But anyway, as the other members arrived, we gathered in a circle and our team leader (an experienced bushwalker) explained to us the basics of navigation - topographic map reading and compass reading. Each was advised to bring his own for better learning experience. So I went out to buy my own map and borrowed my uncle's compass. After that quick brief, we begun the bushwalk. It was not too bad when we started because we followed a trail but as we went deeper and deeper into the woods, we no longer followed a track, which I suppose is the purpose of the navigation course. We had to use the map, compass and our memory to find our way through the woods!

If you are a friend from my childhood or a family member, you'd be laughing by now because the idea of camping in the woods is simply not in my nature. More so, the idea of carrying my own back-pack filled with a 2-day supply of food, clothes/thermals, water bottles, sleeping bags and thermarest. My tent was not even there and it was already so heavy! So as you can now imagine, I walked through the bush, climbed hills/rocks/boulders and crossed creeks/rivers with my heavy backpack in tow. Totally way out of my comfort zone!!! At one point, I was tempted to tell the group to just leave me behind cause I was too tired. Being a fighter, I pressed on of course, but requiring some assistance from the boys every now and then like carrying me to cross the river or giving me a quick lift to be able to climb the boulders. Though I do regular exercise (running/swimming), I found that bushwalking required a different level of fitness - you have to be more agile, be used to climbing and walking all-day!

It wasn't all walking, we'd stop every now and then for a quick rest or lunch and to enjoy the view of the mountains which is absolutely spectacular! At about sunset, we finally arrived at the campsite, our home for Saturday night. It was a beautiful sandstone with a swampy grass crater at the center. After we set up the tents and sleeping bags, we had the fire going and cooked dinner. It came as a surprise to me what others brought with them - they had lamb and chocolate cake, marshmallows and goat's cheese and crackers which were shared with everyone! Being a first time camper, I brought the easiest thing I could prepare - noodles, bread and ham/salmon/cheese/tomatoes for my sandwich. And of course I stocked on chocolates, some fruit and cookies! Our entire group gathered around the fire, stayed up late and exchanged stories. It was so much fun listening to different people from all over the world!  Then after a while, I felt exhaustion starting to creep in so I retired in my tent and had a better sleep than the night before.

Early Sunday morning, we set up the fire again for morning tea and breakfast then walked another path from the previous day, passing by the Wollangambe river and more amazing mountain top views. We arrived at the base site in Bell sation at about 3pm and I felt so proud of myself for going on this short adventure weekend and finishing unscathed with just some scratches on my soft hands from the thorny bush!!! 

Having only camped at the parking lot of my gradeschool for Star Scout, this was definitely an extraordinary experience for me. Now thinking of joining more bushwalks. But first, to go home and have a nice looooong bath. :) 

I am that tiny girl in blue climbing!