MOONLIT MOUNTAINS

On the night of the August full moon, from the four corners of the earth, they gathered to participate in the Woodford to Glenbrook ritual walk.

In actual fact, it began with the 9.02 pm train from Sydney Terminal… but the leader was “Con Anglaise”, the lone, fair damsel an erstwhile Canuck, there was a Gaucho from the pampas plains of Argentina and a Korean Wind Walker (explanation to follow). I felt quite out of it really, having first seen the light of day in a Sydney suburb. At 10.40 pm we stepped off. I’d not done the walk even in daylight, so navigation was going to be easy. I would not let Mike out of my sight. I had perused NPA’s “Bushwalks” map and would endeavour to mark off some of the checkpoints.

Except for a few eroded downhill sections, the firetrail was easily followed with the moon full and the temperature benevolently mild. We reached “The Circles” at 11.45 pm, the “Bora Ground” at 1.40 am. At 12.5 kms from Woodford, the NPA map notes “a wheel in a tree…marks the area known as The Wheel.” This was unknown by those present and remains a mystery. Has anyone seen this phantom wheel? The Oaks was reached at 3.25 am and at 5 am, at the Red Hands Picnic Area, we brewed and consumed the requisite ceremonial ambrosia. At 6am we took the Camp Fire Creek Track to The Causeway, to rest briefly before tackling the steep climb. If you have read Heinrich Harrer’s “Seven Years in Tibet” you will know the legend of the Wind Walkers. From the causeway, our Korean Superman RAN up to Glenbrook Station. We mere pedestrians trudged along, arriving at 7.30 am.

While the walk is reasonably long, the terrain is not overly taxing and the weather was extremely kind. It was a great night, and what else would you want to be doing on an August winter’s night, with Mike Pratt, Julia, Tony, Chang and Frank?

Frank Davis