We started early Saturday morning, being driven to our departure site. After a few quick photos and collection of gear, we set off through the bush of the park. As I was later reminded, Australians don't have "forests", they have "the bush". Very soon, we were out of civilization and were marching through some very dense growth. Luckily, the sun was obscured by clouds so it wasn't too hot. There was a thunderstorm warning, however, and we could see many dark clouds slowly moving about the sky. We hoped only that the weather would hold until we had set up camp.
We stopped for lunch at a place we called Sunscreen Rice Cracker Spot. This was because on a previous reconnaissance excursion, 2 of the instructors had stopped at this place, eaten rice crackers and applied sunscreen. I rather like the ring of that name.
We had some problems which held us up a bit, notably an inability to find the trail we were supposed to use. In the bush, many parts in the shrubbery can look like trails. It took a while but we eventually found the trail. After some more hiking, we made it to our campsite. As I stood in the middle of the field, I felt, very slightly, water from above.
The kids and we instructors managed to get camp set up just before the rain came down. We had set up camp at a designated site not too far from Wollengambe (woo-len-GAHM-bee) Creek. The rain then began to really come down and there were terrific claps of thunder, almost directly overhead. But the rain quickly passed and we weren't that much rained upon, all things considered. After some quick dinner, we managed to get a fire going in the pit area which made the evening much more enjoyable, not to say warmer. One of the kids, who had a lighter with him, received the nickname Pyro because he played with it quite a lot.
The next morning we set out to the nearby Wollengambe Crater, which isn't a true meteoric crater. It's actually a box canyon, which is to say an erosionary feature with only one exit; the valley is surrounded on 3 sides by high walls. Actually it was somewhat anticlimactic and it wasn't very interesting or exciting, though it is the source of Wollengambe Creek.
Walking back to camp, we had a bit of fun. One of the boys, while crossing a log, decided he would break off a branch. Holding on to another branch he started jumping on his target and I think you know where this is going. The target branch didn't break but the one he was holding onto did and he fell right into the creek. From then on, his nickname was Stacks, because to "stack" oneself in Australian slang means to get into an accident or hurt yourself. Although soaked, luckily the sun was out and his clothes were nearly completely dry by the time we got out. I'm told that this is sort of a tradition in that on every hike, Stacks always does himself a mischief. I'm also told that being rained on is another tradition --- 5 out of the last 5 hikes. One more person ended up on the injury list, a girl about 183cm (6') tall. She banged her knee on a rock and spent the rest of camp hobbling around with a bandage on her knee. Her nickname was Princess to which I added "Peggy", for peg leg.
Soon after Stacks' little incident, we packed up and headed back to our pick-up point. On the way down, one of the instructors had placed red tape at regular intervals so getting back was easier. With the sun shining we made it back to our pick-up spot without much trouble. Tired and dirty, we were driven back to our main camp for some rest and showers.
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