Allyn River Weekend

Great Success! (Borat, anyone?)

This past weekend was sooo amazing.

On Friday I went into town to meet up with Kristian, an exchange student from Denmark. We planned on going to the Allyn River, near Barrington Tops, in the Hunter Valley, to go Bush camping early Saturday morning, and luckily the rain held up for us and we did just that!

Kristian, Linda (from Austria), Aleah (Wisconsin), Mum, Jade, and Mitch (Jade's friend) and I came along and did we ever have a great time. As the pictures illustrate, the Allyn River and Ladies Wells have some amazing water falls, rapids, and deep watering holes, perfect for swimming, jumping, and thus climbing. Almost the entire weekend was spent in the water. We pretty much got right into it, jumping first off of an approx 3 metre cliff into the water below, Jade of course showing off his diving skills, and I well, just jumping and hoping I hit the water. Being the intelligent human that I am, I thought I'd ask Kristian how to dive. "Just jump in but with your head first!" Right. I failed to put my hands over me head, and consequently ended up with a bloody nose.

Moving on to bigger things, literally, we climbed up some very slippery rocks to the larger jumpable cliffs, the smaller of which is 8 metres. Fair enough. I managed that one fine, albeit with some nice pains on my feet for hitting the water flat footed, and we promptly climbed even farther to the 10+ jump, in which you have to get a running start or else you, well, die. Quite a bit of coaxing was needed, but the fall was indeed amazing - you spend so much time in the air it's unbelievable.

More of jumping, using a rope at another well, and some sliding down the safer waterfalls ensued. On Sunday we needed water for hot dogs and the dishes, so me and Kristian walked the short distance to the waterfall closest our camp. I had the bucket, Kristian the saucepan, I removed my thongs, leaned over the waterfall, and as the bucket began to fill, I lost my balance and began the descent down the waterfall to the rocks below. Yes, it hurt. My tailbone, or coccyx, specifically. I still have a bruise. At the same time as I fell, Kristian stepped on a bee. Smart. The falls were so noisy that no one heard me fall or yell for help, so I just gritted my teeth, retrieved the bucket, and had the walk of shame back to camp. The fam's been getting a LOT of mileage out of this one. "We though someone had fallen in! HAHA." "We never catch the funny action on the vidcam!" Yeah.

More swimming before we went home, and as I was climbing up the on of the moist rock cliffs to have another go, I just peaked over and saw my friends, and lost my footing, sliding down the rock face, rather, falling, and again landing on rocks below, this time on my hipbone. Expletives ensued. HAHAHAHAH from everyone else.

Bruised, battered, dirty, I think it was the best weekend I've had in Australia so far.

Remember to check my web album, linked on the sidebar, for more pictures!