Week 14

My first stop along the GNW was at Macquarie Park, where I stayed for a night before pressing onwards the next day. It was really interesting because I had to follow the M7 for a section alongside traffic, horns, traffic lights, people and then I veered off a bridge, walked under the bridge, and then all of a sudden I was in this lush valley heading to Thornleigh and Hornsby. It’s really surreal how beautiful it is in the guts of Sydney! I noticed the extreme difference and calming effect, spending the day back in nature and the bush, immediately had on me as I willed myself toward Hornsby. But I could definitely feel the elevation creeping on me with rocky terrain and valleys along the way.

The valley was really stunning and it surprised me how many beautiful and varied wild flowers were throughout that section.

I also thought that being so close to tthe city that it may have been trashed but I’m guessing that the people that are attracted to this walking track are like-minded ones that really relish in the nature emersion because I was taken aback by how stunning, clean, well maintained and respected this section of walking trail is. It was truly beautiful and heartening to see no vanalism or rubbish and Parks do an exceptional job maintaining this trail. It is also well sign-posted making it a really enjoyable section to hike.

I decided to cut a section of the Great Northern and walk from Hornsby to Berowra Heights on the side of the road which isn’t ideal but it was quicker for this stretch because the other way was going to add 30+kms that I didn’t really need to do.
The next walking day was from the Berowra Heights region and remember mistakenly thinking. Oh…. Brooklyn is only about 17kms away…… that’s an easier one for me….. I’ll do that in under 3 hours….. I’ll be across the Hawksbury River and onto the next section in no time….. I WAS SOOOO WRONG!!!

That 17kms took me over 8hours to do. It was hectic! When I first started the day I was walked down a gorgeous mountain, but the whole time I was walking down my gut was wrenching because I was on a downward decline for over 25 minutes and I know only too well that Newton’s Law of whatever goes down must come back up. I was right because the other side was equally as steep. that I had to climb and by the time I got to the top I was exhausted. I was hoping that was it…. the worst of it but I was in for a punish beacuse the whole way was full of mountains, valleys, ridges and big creeks with elevations of 800-1300mtrs in each climb. One section took 45mins to do 400mtrs because of the extreme incline and decline. It was crazy terrain made up of clay, huge rocks and boulders, beautiful climbing and the views are stunning but it is such a challenging section. It’s classified as a grade 5 walking trail and is absolutely exhausting with the elevations being the hardest (to my knowledge) on the Great Northern Walk. It was pretty spicy!!

To think that some people do the 100km Oxfam walk, through there in one day is pretty wild in itself!

I got across the Hawksbury River and continued along the Great Northern Walk on the other side and that was one of my most favourite sections I have done. It is walking and boat access only. There are no cars through there and it is just so undisturbed. The massive river is spectacular and the weather on that day was particularly beautiful with blue skies and gorgeous trails. Despite the fact that my Garmin misinformed me of a trail (that wasn’t actually there) to start my day, so I had to free climb up this cliff to get to the ridge at the top (which I wasn’t super stoked about) I truly loved this section …. I figure, I’m alive so, it’s alright!

I had an amazing close encounter with an echidna which was incredibly special.

I continued walking onwards toward Staples Lookout.

The next day at Staples Lookout I met the NBN crew and did an interview with the ‘NBN news’ and ‘The Today Show’, which was really cool. Even though it might not seem like it, I am actually a bit camera shy and get quite nervous when I’m being interviewed. I had this sick feeling in my gut and it was going live, so I had the pressure of not being able to make mistakes for it to be edited because it was a one take opportunity. Thankfully it went smoothly, and the camera people and TV hosts were all amazing.

I also had some of my friends and family around me that I hadn’t seen for 3-4 months, who had come to meet me at Staples Lookout so it was a real mixed bag of emotions and pressurised feelings that were a bit overwhelming but a good overwhelming feeling you get where you are scared but excited at the same time.

The true highlight though, was seeing my friends and family, and the support I had around me. It reinforced how many wonderful people I have in my life. Especially because I didn’t know who was going to be able to show up with it being 8:30am on a week day and so many of my friends and family who had indicated they wanted to be there, were unable to join me due to work and other commitments. Having an abundance of people, turn up at such short notice, was really really incredible. I am truly blessed!

The section from Staples Lookout, just south of Somersby where I was intending on walking was all closed. It is apparently another Grade 5. I have a lot of respect for grade 5 trails now because they don’t usually market them as a “walk in the park”. So, to have a damaged grade 5 trail, I wasn’t willing to risk it. There’s no way of getting cars into me if it does turn out to be unwalkable, and I would have to turn around and basically waste a day’s walking. Knowing that it was closed, I decided to take the Princess Highway and a different way into Somersby even though roads are my least favourite terrain.

I went and had a little walk around Somersby Falls. Not because I had to, but because I realise that if I do everything logically for the rest of this walk, I’m probably going to miss out on a lot of opportunities. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf of enjoying the moment, and also putting things in place so that I’m enjoying myself, and “filling my cup” as well, and not just walking like a robot up the coast. To fill my cup on this day, I went down to the waterfalls to have a swim.

It was sooo cold!….. But, I think it was exactly what I needed. I was having a bad mental health day and standing under those freezing cold waterfalls was momuntarily invigorating. It didn’t fix it, but it definitely didn’t make it any worse and I did feel a little more reset after I had done that.

Having an appreciation of nature and going for a detour on my walk, not because I had to be in a certain place by a certain time to reach an outcome, but just because I like walking, and being in places filled with life, and greenery and running water. That really recharged me and filled my cup!