As soon as Mum let me out of the car, I was very excited: I had this feeling I had been here before with her and dad, and remembering that made me very happy. I ran here and there, sniffing, to be sure. There were some nice people having a late breakfast, so I explained to them that Mum hasn’t fed me for three weeks, and they kindly shared what they had with me.
Soon enough, Mum and Carrie were ready to go, so we went along the path that went down to the Cygnet River. I led the way, of course, as they were a bit slower. The day was quite hot, so as soon as I saw a pool in the river, I jumped straight in. That was nice and refreshing, but then I couldn’t get out, as there was this very slippery black moss, and every time I dug my claws in, they just slipped away. Mum got all frightened, which was unnecessary, as there was a full thirty centimetres’ expanse of rock before the next a big drop. Her voice got very anxious, especially when, after I finally got out of the pool, I went to the edge to see where I would have rolled if the water had carried me away. Mum seemed to think that everything was slippery, and that I should be careful. She worries about me a lot. Even she slipped a bit on the moss, so I can hardly be blamed for my problems. She called me from the edge, and on we went, heading up the river and away from where I had been last time with dad.
After a short while, we hit a sort of dead end, as cliffs came in on either side, and the water was deep. Mum and Carrie both think their cameras are very expensive, and so they didn’t want to swim. They said we had to climb a cliff, and Mum said she’d lead the way.
I got impatient, as Mum was being careful, just because the cliff was vertical and she only had a tuft of grass for purchase, which she said wasn’t very safe. She put her weight in the right position so she wasn’t really trusting the grass, and up she climbed. Carrie wanted more time to consider this, and I wanted to join Mum ahead, so I sped past her so I could help Mum see if there were any other tricky sections before Carrie climbed this one.
The next bit was actually quite embarrassing. It’s not just that I was suddenly flying through space; it was more the fact that I made such a VERY loud plop when I landed in the pool below. Mum says I need to lose some weight if I don’t want belly flops to sound like a thunder storm or a gun going off. The bang echoed around the walls. Mum said she was relieved it wasn’t Carrie, which I thought was a bit rude and uncaring, but then I realised it was because Carrie had her expensive camera.
Not long after that, Mum stopped. Now there was a big drop here. I could see that, but there was a nice, slightly sloping rock with green moss that offered an excellent view. Mum was a spoilsport and wouldn’t let me inspect. She said I’d courted danger quite enough for one day. Carrie’s voice sounded very nervous here, and she announced this was a fine spot for photography and she didn’t want or need to go any further. Mum agreed. She stayed there, and Carrie went to a spot with a bit more room, so I went there too to sit beside her while she worked. I liked that. They both took a while, but I’m used to that with photography.
Thought I’d throw in a self-portrait to liven up this blog.
At last we were off. Mum said she didn’t like the idea of going back down the bit with no handholds and the big drop, and Carrie agreed, so Mum said she’d try to find a way up the cliffs rather than go down and around to retrace our steps. She tried a few leads. Carrie did a fair bit of slipping and saying a couple of slightly naughty words that I am not allowed to say, but she was still happy – just annoyed at herself for slipping down the hill so often. We couldn’t climb the cliffs, but Mum found a good route that was a kind of compromise so we didn’t need the dangerous bit. The scrub was quite thick, but very pretty, with lots of lush green ferns. Now my confidence came back, so I tried to push ahead, but lost my grip on moss again, and landed on my backside. It is good that those people had fed me so I wasn’t skinny, as my new fat protected me. It might have hurt otherwise. I did get a little clumsy every time I tried to lead, and Mum got bossy and told me to tuck in behind her, and insulted me by saying I don’t have good bushcraft and should let her lead.
Me relaxing at home. Trying to be a star.
Somehow she managed to steer us up through the bush to where the track was, and we followed it back to the car. The other highlight of my day is that Carrie is on a diet like Aunty Lena, and eats only eggs for lunch, but she is bored with them, so gave me over half her lunch. I am not bored by eggs. Mum shared none of her interesting smelling roll. She and Carrie filled my waterbowl, chatted about what a great adventure they’d had and off we drove home. I like bagging waterfalls.
