By Karlene Brummer
Every year Hornsby Council runs a series of free guided bush walks across various locations within the Shire. The walks are graded according to their difficulty and there are trails available for all levels of experience.
This year I was fortunate enough to join the Smuggler’s Ridge hike situated within the Marra Marra National Park at Fiddletown.
As I fronted up for the sixhour walk, I realised that I may have bitten of more than I could chew as I saw how ‘kitted out’ the other hikers were – with industrial looking back packs and trekking poles. Several were repeat offenders, and they eyed me off with pity: uh oh. A newbie.
The rock engraving of a wallaby
Bob welcomes the group
Our guide, Bob, had almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the multitude of spring wildflowers and trees along the trail and he also pointed out a few wallaby tracks in the sandy path as well as sugar glider marks on several trees, where they scratch to extract the sweet sap to feed on.
We were fortunate enough to even see an aboriginal engraving of a wallaby; only discovered in the past several years by a fellow ranger.
The walk was actually classed as ‘difficult’ however I had mixed it up with another of the scheduled hikes which was ‘moderate’. My bad. For a less experienced hiker as myself I did find parts of it quite challenging – especially the descent (and then ASCENT) from the Marra Marra Creek.
My knees were wobbling as the lactic acid built up in my legs and I envisioned myself on hands and knees crawling the last 2km to the car park. Fellow hikers Min & Peter took me under their experienced hiking wings and fed me sugar and loaned me a trekking pole and I slowly finished the hike upright, albeit shaky.
Our guide Bob Conroy
The start of the trail
A group photo at the end (proof of life, Bob?) had us all looking a little worse for wear – however no injuries occurred, and I think all of us managed a smile as we celebrated: 1. We’d all made it. 2. The beautiful sights we had witnessed.
Then it was off home for me to enjoy a good foot soak in some Epsom salts with a nice cold glass of sauvignon blanc and an early night to bed – with a possible appointment at Specsavers on the cards as well.
For further information on future walks visit: https://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/bushwalks
