LOOKING FOR RUFOUS, FINDING VICTORIA

[iandsmith]

From my email at the time: "The morning before I’d noticed there were birds beside the motorhome; lots and lots of them. I’d dragged the camera out and spent a little time before the weather intervened taking a few snaps. I determined that today I would make a greater effort and so spent over an hour desperately trying to get a shot of the elusive rufous fantail. The problem isn’t that you can’t see them; it’s that they never stop moving. Still, there were plenty more and I saw my first flame robin so it wasn’t a waste.
There were even more birds this morning and I managed to snap a few others as well*. However, today was golf day. Blackheath is one of the prettiest golf courses in all Australia. Its picturesque setting in a small valley surrounded in part by stately homes and their ordered gardens makes it wonderful just to walk around, let alone play golf. Reflecting on my score it’s a decision I should have made, I’m sure it would have been more satisfying.
I was so tired after golf I had lunch and wondered about my decision to go to Victoria Falls so I read the guide book again. “Although the return journey from Victoria Falls is rather gruelling (a whopping 380 metres ascent) the waterfalls themselves are so beautiful that the trip is well worth it.” I concentrated on the last bit but it was around 2.30 when I finally reached the remote carpark at the end of a one and a half lane dirt road about 5kms in.
I couldn’t face it and slept for an hour; when I awoke I didn’t want to go but eventually put on my backpack and thought I’d see how I went. After returning once to get my other tripod fitting I started down on the listed 2 ½ to 3 hour walk. I wasn’t looking forward to over 1,000ft of descent but plunged on anyway.
It was a stony trail that soon zigzagged down the cliff face, under ledges and along precipitous drop-offs but in less than 40 minutes Silver Cascades were in view. I thought hard but couldn’t recall seeing a more wonderful cascade in all my walks in Australia. I could see why people rate the place and I hadn’t even seen the main falls yet.
Victoria Falls themselves are another few hundred metres further down. A spectacular overhang is itself worthy of viewing but with water going over it’s even more special and then, there’s beyond, down the Burra Kurrain Trail. If you think you’ve done some tough bushwalking and look forward to more, then that trail is for you. It takes you to the Blue Gum Forest deep in the Grose Valley where you overnight and come out at Govetts Leap.
I ventured down a couple of hundred metres and had to strip off to ford the river and get down another couple of waterfalls; scaling slippery rock faces with the utmost caution. It’s not a place for the faint hearted or uncertain of foot but I like to think I got some nice shots of the falls.
I tarried a while, around 45 minutes, totally entranced by the whole scene and thinking how lucky I was to have seen it all when I was going to give it a miss at one stage.
The return ascent I managed in just under 50 minutes, shirtless and sweating like a proverbial pig; although they hardly sweat at all in point of fact, unlike my body at the end of a hike. It had been immensely satisfying and it caused me to change my plans for the morrow."