19

Bucket List

4 June

Googong

Hiking

Remnants of snow lay on the track up the first hill. Shade, still, cool. As we paced into step with each other conversations blew through me like a strong breeze in a downwind spinnaker.

Information shared on a 4WD trip I had etched in mind from hours poring over HEMA maps of deserts. Len Beadell’s Gary Junction Road linking with part of the Canning Stock Route then going west on through Rudall River to the Pilbara. Sounds perfect.

Koala surveys in the Tinderry area nearby.

Christmas Island Nature Week where people pay to volunteer with researchers looking into red tailed tropic birds and other wildlife. The volunteer fees fund the studies. Wow.

The track followed a high ridge crest most of the way. The sun warmed.

Rail trails for cycling suggested – Seymour to Mansfield, Orbost to Bairnsdale. I tucked these away in the mental archives adding them to the list.

My mouth gaped and my head spun with delight as I was related the intricacies of cross country ski routes in Norway. Villages linked by hundreds of kilometres of groomed trails. The Peer Gynt Trail. The Troll route.

We lunched by the still waters of the river into Googong Dam. Two swans ski landed nearby.

My bucket list was already overflowing.How to narrow it down? That was the trouble. Balancing the desire for full adventure with funds and loved ones and time and the planet.

In retrospect walking on that track on that day with those people was like being in the bucket itself.

Walking for Pleasure hike from Urilla to London Bridge Woolshed. 12 km

Karst country – London Bridge