Laura Seabrook's Ramblings

I went for a bush walk today (the route is shown below):

My dietician wants me to exercise daily. Right now, that's hard to do, so I'm attempting (at least at first) to exercise in a major way every 2nd or 3rd day. The bush walk today was part of that. I drove the electric moped down to Wakefield, chained it up to the fence, and walked about down the vehicle and animal tracks in the area (and finally drove back the way I'd come).

The walk took me about 2 hours. That's at a constant rate of staggering around, down tracks, over creeks, around (and under/over) dead trees, and along power lines. I loved it! I haven't done this "properly" for some time. It makes a difference to me emotionally to do so - when you walk through the bush (even if only down the trails) you can't but notice the incredible variety and variation, the mixture of living and dead fauna and flora, the traces of humanity (it's really hard to go too far without coming across either a burnt out vehicle or coke bottle) and despite (or because of) this, the sheer beauty of it all. SMILE

I felt a little guilty that Pegasus wasn't there with me. When he was more agile he'd love to go through the bush with me, sniffing things out, climbing mountains, and chasing (but never catching) roos and such. But Peggy injured his leg yesterday, and even if I could get him there (in a trailer behind the moped?) he'd have difficulty with it now. I'll walk him tomorrow.

The above panorama shot was taken at the "x" on the map above. Looks desolate, doesn't it? And yet, such power lines make a good part of walks around here. I used to be upset with how their presence affected the landscape, but in truth in terms of geological time, it's nothing, and it's pretty hard to get lost when you can see them (after all, they all come from/go to somewhere)!

Next time I go bush walking I think I'll ride the push bike instead of the scooter. The scooter's more for shopping and getting to and from places independent of local buses. The push bike is more fun, and more exercise. Also, I need better shoes! I know where I might get them too - in an opp shop in Stockton!

I might have made a mistake by walking Pegasus this morning.

Don't get me wrong - I normally enjoy walking Peggy, and especially through the mist. We were outside for way too long. The mist (according to Kevin) didn't lift until after 11am. As it was, we got back a bare 20 minutes before I had to catch a bus. I had to rush, and only had the enough for the fare when I found 30c at bottom of my backpack.

It was funny - the mist was quite thick until the bus got to Cardiff - and this after 9:30am. It was a sort of a dream-scape, that almost matched how I was feeling earlier today (in a bit of a brain fog).

They had a copy of Google Earth installed at NUSA, and I had a look at the Newcastle area.

I added some place markers, like Barnsley (where I live), Callaghan Campus (where I am now) and Newcastle City.