Camp Fire
Kid’s breakfast
Crags
Protea
Limestone Pavement
Rocky landscape
Garth with sunshade
The first signs of smoke
Blue mountains
Dinner
Arch
Start
Long way up
Near the top
Sunset
Winding down
Me in the shade
View over the mountains
Camp by a stream
Ev, Gabby & Bill
Donkeys
Donkey men
Tall crags
Group photo
Dougal
Watering hole
Heavily laden
Our leader
Warming up
By the fire
Base camp
Our first trip to these wonderful mountains was with Garth and Evelyn. James was just being potty trained so the potty came with us. We walked up a river valley and it was very hot so we wore long sleeves and long legs to keep the sun off.
The next trip was very ambitious, organised by Piet. There were 20 of us, 10 children. It was an 8 day trip and we hired donkeys and a donkey man to carry the booze. We carried the food between us. Each meal was carefully planned in advance. About half way through the trip we experienced an earthquake. The children had just been put to bed and didn’t wake up. We thought the donkey man might be able to tell us if this was a usual occurrence but he was terrified. Sparks from falling rocks lit fires and they lit up the surrounding mountains. A couple of days later we met up with some other walkers who told us it was a serious earthquake that had devastated Tulbach and been felt as far away as Cape Town.
Another trip organised by Piet was at Easter and the weather was unseasonably cold. The whole party spent a couple of days sheltering in a small mountain hut, some sleeping crowded together on the floor and some on the table above them.