SOUTH WEST COAST TRACK

DAVES CREEK CIRCUIT

This is a beautiful rainforest/eucalypt 13km walk at Binna Burra in the Lamington national park 130 km south of Brisbane.
This a favourite day walk for us as it traverses a variety of landscapes and has panoramic views down through the cliffs to the Numinbah Valley and glimpses of the magnificent Mt Warning.

We usually make a late Sunday start on this walk and walk into sunset hours. Today we used our holidays to arrive there mid morning and complete the three hour walk in good time. The lunch stop at the Numinbah lookout is very peaceful.

The summer subtropical ranges were hot and humid. The covering shade of the forest was welcome. It was good to have the walk to ourselves although we had memories of an alleged tiger snake , doubtful, reported in the media some months earlier when we were here.

SOME TRAVEL IDEAS

I bought this book with a gift voucher. It opens up many travel alternates for this couch potatoed Christmas traveller..

A WRITE UP BLURB
http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk
Presenting 1,000 fresh and fascinating alternatives to hundreds of well-known tourist destinations and sights; including alternatives to the Carnival in Rio and the beaches of Thailand, the most-visited national parks, over-rated restaurants and holiday clichés. Written by a team of travel experts, and with a foreword by Bill Bryson, this book brings vibrant cities, enchanting sights, breathtaking natural wonders and unforgettable experiences to life with informative narrative and stunning photography.

Choose your destination by theme - Ancient and Historical Sights, Festivals and Parties, Great Journeys, Architectural Marvels, Natural Wonders, Beaches, Sports and Activities, Art and Culture, and Cities - or simply flick through this sumptuous guide and be inspired. Rely on practical advice on where to stay, where to eat and when to go, as well as useful 'Need to Know' facts, ensure that you get the most out of your time away. Less crowded, generally less expensive and often more spectacular and rewarding, these lesser-known wonders of the world remind travelers

GOOD NEWS STORY

Students from the Villers-Bretonneux have helped the children from a Victorian school gutted in Black Saturday

COIN by coin,
the students in the small French village of Villers-Bretonneux have raised more than $20,000 to help rebuild a Victorian school razed in the Black Saturday bushfires.

The French students of Ecole Victoria, and three other local schools, knew little about the children they would be helping at Strathewen Primary School. They only knew their great-grandparents had promised 91 years ago never to forget the 1200 Australian soldiers who died liberating their village from the Germans on April 24, 1918.

They also promised to remember every child in Victoria who donated a penny to help the village rebuild their school after Villers-Bretonneux was flattened in World War II.

This year, the Villers-Bretonneux students held a special fete to raise money for the children of Strathewen. Collection tins were emblazoned with the words, "N'Oublions Jamais l'Australie" -- Let us never forget Australia.


When The Australian travelled to Villers-Bretonneux for Anzac Day, the students of one grade 9-10 class had collected $240. With contributions from the community and one euro donated by the council for every resident in the village, the tally has come as a welcome surprise to Strathewen and its students.

Yesterday, when Strathewen Primary was given 13,000 euros ($21,100) from Ecole Victoria and the other schools of Villers-Bretonneux, a promise almost a century old was honoured.

WALK ON SOUTH WEST COAST PATH ENGLAND

We are looking at this long distance walk walk for 2010....
The best walk in England???

WALK ON. WALK ON. WITH HOPE IN YOUR HEART

WALK ON

NEIL YOUNG LYRICS





"Walk On"

I hear some people
been talkin' me down,
Bring up my name,
pass it 'round.
They don't mention
happy times
They do their thing,
I'll do mine.

Ooh baby,
that's hard to change
I can't tell them
how to feel.
Some get stoned,
some get strange,
But sooner or later
it all gets real.

Walk on, walk on,
Walk on, walk on.

I remember
the good old days,
Stayed up all night
gettin' crazed.
Then the money
was not so good,
But we still did
the best we could.

Ooh baby,
that's hard to change
I can't tell them
how to feel.
Some get stoned,
some get strange,
But sooner or later
it all gets real.

Walk on, walk on,
Walk on, walk on.




[ NEIL YOUNG LYRICS at www.AZLyrics.com ]

WALK ON

Walk On


Artist
U2

Composer
U2

Lyrics
And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring...
And love is not the easy thing....
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can't leave behind

And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
And for a second you turn back
Oh no, be strong

Walk on, walk on
What you got they can't steal it
No they can't even feel it
Walk on, walk on...
Stay safe tonight

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
You could have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom

Walk on, walk on
What you've got they can't deny it
Can't sell it, can't buy it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight

And I know it aches
And your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on

Home, hard to know what it is if you've never had one
Home, I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the hurt is

I know it aches
How your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on

Leave it behind
You've got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress up
All that you scheme.

RAINBOW TRAIL

Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail.

by Virginia Woolf

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart; and you'll never walk alone; you'll never walk alone.
Oscar Hammerstein II

AMAZING SCENES

THE WAYS OF WALKING

The Ways of Walking
Strolling, Sauntering, Meandering, Hiking, Wandering, Walks, Journeys, Trekking, Tramping
Quotations 1
Quotations, Poems, Lore, Quips, Wisdom, Sayings

Research by Michael P. Garofalo
May 12, 2008
Walking Quotations 2 Walking Quotations 3 Walking Quotations 4 Ways of Walking

"There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast."
- Paul Scott Mowrer
"There’s some end at last for the man who follows a path: mere rambling is interminable."
- Seneca
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
- John Muir

"Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you."
- John Ruskin

"The soverign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best."
- Thomas Jefferson

"It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven."
- Matthew Henry

"That's the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It doesn't matter much whether you get where you're going or not. You'll get there anyway. Every good hike brings you eventually back home."
- Edward Abbey
"If you want to know if your brain is flabby, feel your legs."
- Bruce Barton

"He who would travel happily must travel light."
- Antonine Marie Roger de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand, and Stars

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see."
- John Burroughs

"To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle. I have adopted the technique of living life miracle to miracle."
- Arthur Rubinstein

"If you look for the truth outside yourself,
It gets farther and farther away.
Today walking alone, I meet it everywhere I step.
It is the same as me, yet I am not it.
Only if you understand it in this way
Will you merge with the way things are."
- Tung-Shan
"We must walk before we run."
- George Borrow, Lavengro

"To follow a trail is to establish a link with the history of man. It is at once the most primitive and the most civilized of activities. A trail may well have been followed first by animals seeking food and water; Indians following the game wore it a little wider. Explorers followed the same paths, to be followed in turn by soldiers and settlers and men who poured concrete over footpaths. The concrete now goes just about every place we need to go. But we now have the leisure to travel just for the sake of traveling, and there is no better way to do it than by trail."
- Lennon Hooper, National Park Trails

"Like after a nice walk when you have seen many lovely sights you decide to go home, after a while I decided it was time to go home, let us put the cubes back in order. And it was at that moment that I came face to face with the Big Challenge: What is the way home?"
- Erno Rubik

"Our way is not soft grass, it's a mountain path with lots of rocks. But it goes upward, forward, toward the sun."
- Ruth Westheimer

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like falling leaves."
- John Muir

BORING, OH SO BORING

I usually respond to the usual "BORING" response that is often offered as a universal reply of the teenager with something like...well it is actually not the event that is boring, it is usually the person who is boring.

It's the old how you react to something and not the activating event.

OK so now I'm a boring person....... Holidays have started and I have lost the routine of work and need to start a holiday routine. I'm bored and boring
Have some good books to read and the self indulgence of a holiday...can't really complain.

Make some changes that's the best therapy...do something different...Well I can get prints of the CAMINO WALK before all those beautiful towns all are forgotten...mmm pretty boring..

Bike riding around the urban bikeways...too hot now might have a heart attack...and we walk every morning at 5am

Think I might change the name of this dreary blog...it's too pretentious...I wanted a title with "travel and "life" in it but it is a bit boring really

I'm really going to do something different I promise

WALK ON

You'll Never Walk Alone
(R. Rodgers - O. Hammerstein II

When you walk through the storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark

[ Gerry And The Pacemakers Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]
Walk on, through the wind
Walk on, through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk

MAYA ANGELOU

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah on her 70+ birthday.. Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older.

Maya Angelou said this:
'I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.'

'I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.'

'I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.'

'I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life.'

'I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.'

'I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back...'

'I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.'

'I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.'

'I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.'

'I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...'

'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

I bought this book at Charles De Gaulle Airport Paris before a long flight back to Australia.
I couldn't put it down and didn't get much sleep.

Then I found it was part of a trilogy and have since greedily read them all. There is a fascinating background to the novels and the now deceased author.

The u tube video give a glimpse into the fulm release but you may wish to read the books first as many have said the books are better than the film/s. Don't watch if you think it may spoil your reading.

CAMINO IMAGES

Saint Jean Pied de Port - Arles - Montgenèvre (GR 653); chemin de Saint Jacques et de Rome

keeping alive

Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion.

AVRIL SLOE



OK I pinched this from the solitary walker blog. Pretty hard to appreciate what you have at times....being alive is special really

What makes someone really come alive? Well that is the secret to living I think..

The love of a special person for me, my wife ....my stepdaughter.... my lovely and lively grandchildren,...my family

I also come to life when fronted with a challenge..... It is the essence of working towards a solution that enlivens me.
I see those who venture, who adventure, as being truly engaged and alive. They move into the unknown on their quest. It doesn't have to be a Jessica Watson striving to sail the globe ..It can be just the " everyperson" making a difference, trying something different, making something better, helping better lives....that is life giving.

This is not a search for the exciting, the new but a challenge to stretch personal boundaries...people have done this throughout history

Some did this in a manner that is recorded for hisevryday waystory..many more did it in a multitude of ways that permeated their lives and those around them in .

There may be many things that give you life .Whatever gives you life...grab hold of it
Being alive is certainly special

THE ROAD GOES EVER ON

The road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the road has gone,
and I must follow if I can.
Pursuing it with eager feet,
until it joins some larger way
where many paths and errands meet.
And wither then? I cannot say.”

–J. R. R. Tolkien in “The Hobbit”

INSPIRATIONAL TRAVEL

Jessica Watson is nearing the equator on her epic solo sail around the world. Agree or disagree with her young risky venture her courage against many difficulties is really inspiring.
http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/
Then there is the paralympian who has dragged himself over the 96km Kokoda Track in New Guinea. A path which is often described as like climbing the Swiss Alps covered in Rainforest jungle.
Inspirational Courage

COMING AFTER CAMINO

Since the last steps into Santiago de Compostela and the daily blogging for a month across the 800km way, I have been reluctant to add another word.

The http://www.stjames2stjames.blogspot.com/ diary finished and I toyed with the enevitable postscript/reflection whatever.

There was a great summary by a pilgrim on the pilgrim forum Camino de santiago de Compostela entitled " Did it"..He summed up many highlights/lowlights...Tempted to do something similar, but I thought I have had a lot of time for reflection and it was time to let it go.

Doesn't mean that Iwon't follow the camino blogs etc but there are now other paths to journey.

We have looked at some really great walks in England and the South West Coast Path around Devon and Cornwall is looking very promising.

Day 3 Packing it to Zubiri( from www.stjames2stjames.blogspot.com)

Ernest hemmingway lived in this town just out of Roncevalles

Forward 1/11/2009 : I remember that I was so tired from this day after crossing the Pyranees that I posted this on the wrong blog...so here it stays

After the blessing at the Roncevalles Church the night before , we thought that this would be good for the 25km with the packs. The pilgrim office said there were many ups and downs and she was really right...probably more ups then downs really.

The country though was again beautiful despite the early cold.

We have met some interesting people.

There was an irishman in a full kilt. ¨"Bad for the midges" he said. " And you have some irish in you haven´t you?" to which I had to agree.

There are two Australians from Canberra walking with us or we are running into each day. They have been good company and it´s good to share some experiences with them and also share info

each day

We have made friends with a group of Canadian women. They re going to Logrono and some are having their bags carried which seems good to us.

Couple of policeman on motorbikes

Bike riders who seem to have trail bikes as it is really hard country

We struggled into Zabiri after what seemed an etrnity of down. Nice refugio and after a hot shower the world seemed very good again.

We have Pamplona in our sights

BLOGGING OFF

We are just about on the camino and i will blog on thIS site for the journey.

http://www.stjames2stjames.blogspot.com/

BUEN CAMINO

EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY

As we get ready for what is a long journey and run into all sorts of problems, it pales against the efforts of Jessica Watson as she sets out on a solo voyage around the world.

Bon Voyage/Buen Camino

Report from the Brisbane Daily "The Courier Mail"
A 16-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl has set sail in the preliminary stage of her bid to become the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world.
Jessica Watson left Mooloolaba on Queensland's Sunshine Coast today on a 10-day solo journey to Sydney in her 10.4m sloop Ella's Pink Lady.
In-depth: Jessica Watson's amazing voyage

She will set off from Sydney on a date to be set when her preparations are complete and the weather is favourable.

In 1999, Jesse Martin became a household name and entered the record books at 18 by covering 27,000 nautical miles in 328 days by himself.
His record was broken last month by 17-year-old Briton Mike Perham.

But Watson, who has been sailing since she was eight, believes she can break the record by completing the journey by April 2010.
She said in her online blog the Sydney trip would be a good test.
"I plan on taking around 10 days to sail down to Sydney so that I get plenty of time on the water to test all the systems and give Ella's Pink Lady a good run-in," she said.
"Then there'll be time in Sydney to make any last minute changes before departing and heading out into the Tasman Sea."

Her mum Julie said she was relieved to see her daughter head out of Mooloolaba today.
"I'm feeling so happy we've got to the start line," she told ABC radio.
"Preparations have gone so well and she's in the right space."

http://www.youngestround.com/

DOWN THE SLOPES with packs

(web photo)

Overlooking Brisbane is Mt Cootha a small range which links up with the Aguilar Ranges of the Brisbane Forest Park. Three large TV towers and stations have been part of the Brisbane skyline for 50years.

It has also some good walking tracks about 15 minutes from the city centre.

From the Western side there are a number of tracks dropping steeply into the valley. One track has been renamed in recent years the Kokoda Track in memory of the infamous and legendary World War II New Guinea Track on which the advancing Japanese Army was defeated.

It is a good fitness track and we were fully packed again in a brief Sunday walk up and down the nearby Jacksonia Track. At last we are getting used to the packs and getting the weights down as far as possible.

Not long to go now.

RESERVOIR DAY WITH FULL PACK

(Photos from the web)

Since the disastrous river walk day, life has been full of other things as walking has taken a low priority. The walking hiatus finished with both of us with head colds ( in the middle of a mini heat wave...really)

Anyway we headed out for a late Sunday walk around the Enogerra Reservoir which is situated in the D'Aguilar Range west of Brisbane.

The Bellbirds were in fine tune and there was a variety of other bird life.

It was a confidence building walk in a beautiful setting.

ABOUT SANT IAGO OR JUST ST JAMES

The name "James" has been in popular use in many countries of Christendom in honour of James the Apostle.
The original Latin is Jacobus which became James in English. James is one of the most popular boys names in England.
Around Europe it became Jakob in Germany, Jacques in France, Jacopo in Italian.
It appears elsewhere as Diego as in San Diego in California which has historical ties to the Mexican-Spanish.
And then there is Santiago ( Sant Iago ) the final assumed resting place of the martyred apostle at Santiago de Compostela.
The origin of Compostela is also speculative . Some say it means 'starry fields' in Latin referring to the alleged origins of the discovery. Other suggest it is from the Latin compostium or burial place.
Whatever, to believe, it matters not... James the Apostle, first of the followers of Jesus to be martyred, Patron saint of Spain, has inspired centuries of pilgrims who carry their own beliefs to this place.

SNAKES ALIVE

Three days after we were walking in Binna Burra , three walkers were bitten by a snake. They were air lifted to hospital. Summer has come early and the snakes are starting to move around.

They were bitten on the trail we walked........mmm snakes like to sun on warm tracks

They were alledgedly bitten by a tiger snake which is a particularly aggressive and lethal Australian snake. Fortunately, there were no puncture marks.... maybe it wasn't a tiger snake...

Well I have been walking for many years and really as long as you have good footwear and of course you are making a noise walking...most snakes just go the other way. The danger is if you corner them, walk on them suddenly then naturally, they defend and strike......I have never been bitten thankfully.

Hope there are no more snake stories and walkers can share the trails with wild life safely for both.

PACK WALK DAY

We set our pack weights around the suggested 1o% of body weight and set out around the river. Well at least Betty did. I struggled under about 11kg and made soft progress, jelly legs, and it was a bad start to walking fully packed. Betty powered on and walked really well......mmm back to the drawing board and fitness trail

BINNA BURRA

Rainforest and ridges rambles in Lamington National Park

ST JAMES GATE

Traditionally, European cities had a gate through which pilgrims set out for Santiago de compostela. The gate was called ST JAMES GATE.

Notre Dame cathedral has a western door called La Porte st Jacques which leads to the la grande rue saint jacques.

AND IN DUBLIN

St. James’ Gate in Dublin was traditionally a main starting point for Irish pilgrims to begin their journey on the Camino de Santiago. Their pilgrims’ passport were stamped here before setting sail, usually for La Coruna, north of Santiago. It is still possible for Irish pilgrims to get their passports stamped here, and many do, while on their way to Santiago de Compostella.

It is the birthplace of the famous brewery Guinness which seems an appropriate place to begin a journey

MT WARNING

A TOUGH WALK UP A VOLCANIC PLUG WITH A VERY SLOW NEXT DAY AT WORK
(PHOTOS FROM WEB)

LOWER PORTALS WALK

A week end afternoon walk into a very pretty creek in the foothills of Mt Barney in South East Queensland. Just a short winter walk but it traversed a number of gullies which came off the mountain

MT MITCHELL WALK

More serious Camino walking up Mt Mitchell on The Dividing Range

Camino Documentary

Saw this on a forum ( Yahoo Group Santiagobis)

"This spring we will be filming about a half a dozen pilgrims, braiding their stories together as they make this extraordinary journey. One of our subjects will be Annie O'Neil, a comedic actress and spiritual seeker from Los Angeles, on the Camino to overcome her fears, including her unrelenting fear of death. Additionally we will be featuring a professional windsurfer, Juan Pablo Velilla, a 26 year old bilingual Colombian. He walks the Camino to mourn the untimely death of his soulmate/cousin, Francisco. Annie and Juan Pablo's stories will be interwoven with the other featured pilgrims of various nationalities, ages, religious and spiritual beliefs as well as non-believers, each with their own reason to walk this ancient mystical and arduous path. Approximately one fifth of the people who set out to do the Camino don't make it. Will all of our pilgrims make it all the way to Santiago? How will each of them cope with all the challenges? What lessons need be to learned? How does the Camino change them and way they live their life?"

Check out this site

http://www.caminodocumentary.org/

"What's your Hurry?"

"What's your hurry?....there's nothing up ahead that is anything better than it it is right here"

This is a quote from the 60's classic 'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' which was a reflection on the meaning of life in a road trip metaphor.
I guess it is about ' stopping to smell the flowers' or about the modern cliche on the journey and not the destination.
The Camino is getting closer and it is beginning to take on a bit of a scary look....the distance is huge....However, We won't be in a hurry actually and we will journey by foot and if not by transport.....

I think the camino will not be about a path but about PEOPLE. It has been more interesting to follow blogs about the people walking than just learn about the WAY
That sounds a bit 'soapy' but I am looking forward to this regardless of how far we walk or pilgrimage

So we will festina lente - hasten slowly

really " what's the hurry?........."

Waterfall Walks and Stops (what's the hurry?") Barrington Tops; North of Sydney ( July 09)

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