Today we decided to do the other long walk this time through the canyon which promised waterfalls and a walk along the canyon edge. It also said that this walk shouldn’t be attempted in the rain, snow or adverse conditions which seemed a little strong at the start of the walk but about two hours in the reason for this advice became very clear. This walk is easy to get to as it starts just over the road from our hotel so after breakfast we packed up what was left of yesterday’s picnic (which was quite a lot) and started the walk. The first part is along boardwalk and through quite a forested area, very early in we saw our first waterfall which was Pencil Pine falls, this has been named after the trees rather than anything to do with pencils. It is quite an impressive fall and for a change you get a really good view of it as the viewing deck is directly in front of it. We took a few pictures here then continued on to the next waterfall which was Knyvet Falls, this wasn’t quite so easy to see as the viewing platform is directly above the falls but it does give you a feeling for how much water is rushing over the top! As we were walking along Chris stopped to take a photo and just to our right was a wallaby (or possibly pademelon) who was just sitting on a branch watching the world go by and not paying any attention to us at all! We continued on, and for the rest of the walk we could hear various waterfalls but not see them, or occasionally catch a glimpse through the trees but not really be able to see them at all well. All the same the walk was lovely and we were just wondering about the signs that told us to beware and that certain parts would require ‘scrambling’ over rocks when we came to the first part that was challenging, this seems to want us to walk down the side of the mountain but worse still was the fact we had to climb up what seamed like a dry waterfall bed to get up from the canyon floor, all of a sudden the advice not to do the walk in the rain made perfect sense. We stopped a couple of time to admire the view or try and spot a waterfall and at one point we actually met the people that were running the canyon abseil / float, they were just coming to the end but it seems to be that they abseil down the canyon to the river at the bottom, float along for a bit to get a view of the river then climb the waterfall track we did (but in wetsuits) to retrieve their cloths before walking back to wherever it was they started – although they said it was great fun I am not convinced! After about 3 hours we finally reached the end and walked back to the hotel. It was a lovely walk and a little shorter than yesterday but definitely harder terrain so I am glad we didn’t do this on my birthday. Also there wasn’t really anywhere to stop and have lunch so we decided to head back to the hotel and eat at lunchtime rather than this evening. We went to the bar and had a nice meal then decided to try our hand a pool – we both felt that we used to be a lot better than we were today – I think it is a case of practice definitely makes perfect and as we haven’t played for about 10 years the is room for improvement! After a lot of near misses and some rubbish shots Chris won so we finished our drink and came back to the room just as the weather seemed to be clouding over a bit so we lit the fire and settled in for a relaxing late afternoon / evening.
