Ruined Castle and Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens
Categories: sightseeing, australia, bushwalking-hiking
Date: 16 August 2009 10:55:09
With me dwelling on my agitation from Friday, I needed to get away today. I do not like to miss Sunday Liturgy at church, but I felt I needed to be out and walking to not only get those endorphins going but be captivated by my surrounds to keep my mind off things. [Thankfully we had a parish retreat yesterday afternoon for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos so I did get some spiritual sustenance: as my friend said to me when we visited the Holy Monastery of Panagia Gorgoepikoos, you may not feel something after attending Church, but you definitely feel something during the week if you do not -- I find that true.]
And what a glorious day it was to be out: an unseasonally warm winter's day, even up in the Blue Mountains. I decided to do the walk to the Ruined Castle [a rock formation: we do not have castles in Oz]: and what a wonderful walk it was. Beautiful views of the valley as I walked down the Golden Steps; walking through the rainforest with trees towering above and lush ferns adding vivid green to the often dry and brown Australian bush. Along this path I met several people: and had two interesting encounters. (1) I made a woman scream and jump who was obviously a million miles away with a "Good Morning"; (2) I stumbled across a woman getting changed in what she thought was a quiet area with no-one around: her partner, in between laughs, spoke to me as I looked the other way.
The direction sign before the final climb ["Steep hard climb"] was true: mercifully the climb up was short. It was then across, with the wind picking up [not a sound while I was on the forest floor], to the Ruined Castle. The rocks are easily climbed, though there are some narrow gaps, and give great 360 degree views:
After a snack of dried fruit and nuts, and some water, it was back along the track and to my car. A short drive and I reached Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens.
Mount Tomah Botanic Garden is 1,000 metres above sea level and focuses on cool-climate plants from around the world, especially those from the southern hemisphere. It is managed by the Botanic Gardens trust who manage two other Botanic Gardens, both in Sydney: the Royal and Mt Annan Botanic Gardens. While it is winter, there were still a large number of flowers in bloom -- a joy to see, and in many cases smell as well. I had a very nice lunch, Moroccan style kebabs, followed by [I thought I earned it!] a pecan-espresso friand and coffee. I then set off to wander around the beautiful gardens. From tree-covered paths to open areas to specialised areas with informative and interesting information, it is truly a varied place [see the map] and well worth a visit. Children seemed catered for too with many fanastic animal displays [such as this Griffin] -- I assume these form some kind of "treasure hunt": kids with walkie-talkies and guides following rushed past me at one stage pointing them out.
A wondrous day out: thanks and praise be to God.