We had to walk through the souvenir shop to reach the walking tracks. When we left the shop we to start our walk we noticed a construction site. A little bit of the beginning of the track was closed off. Some renewal of the wooden board walk had been started. The wooden boards are being replaced with a less slippery cover. Presumably some recycled material is used for the new track cover. Something that does not rot like wood does.
Not far from the entrance to the falls we had actually seen a dead wombat near the road side. It had probably been hit by a car.
Soon we could get a glimpse of the waterfall and the vast, vast gully.
Termite Architecture
I tried to capture a few of the signs along the track.
Another glimpse of the waterfall at the other side of the gully
Peter found a seat next to some more signs.
The following is the sign that greeted us near the beginning of our walk. Well, we made it to the Jersey Lookout. I took a rest there while Peter walked a little bit further. When he came back, he took a lovely picture of me (if I may say so) with his tablet. I have to ask him to give me this picture so I can publish it.
So we never made it to the Twin Falls or to the Grotto. More than forty years ago we actually made it to the Grotto with two of our children. We think it was Monika and Martin who were with us at the time. I wonder whether they can still remember that we went to the Grotto with them.
We spent a bit more time on the walking tracks of Mt Keira. The next lookout was totally closed off too. But the sculptures we were looking for were all there. We rested on some rocks. Peter discarded his long distance glasses on one of the rocks while he was busy doing something with his camera. When you have a very close look at one of the pictures, I think you can make out the glasses. But they are really hard to see.
After we had walked back on another very even track to where our car was parked and Peter wanted to put on his glasses for driving, he couldn’t find his glasses. He figured out that he must have left them on this rock near the sculptures where he had been sitting. So he went back all the way. Sure enough the glasses were where he thought they might be. And he assured me that they were awfully hard to see on the rock. Interesting that later on in the photo I could barely make them out. They absolutely blended in with the rock!
Back to the sculptures now. while we were sitting there a man with two kids appeared. The kids were full of beans and straight away started climbing around on the sculptures. They were overjoyed that they had found them. Apparently their Dad had told them they would be looking for the pyramids. And there they were in all their beauty! It didn’t take them long to look around. Soon all three of them disappeared again on another walking track.
So this big lookout to the Five Islands was closed off too. Nothing we could do about this. We sure didn’t want to risk falling down the cliffs!
After Peter had found his glasses again we could leave the mountain. Our way back led us along the Freeway. The Nan Tien Temple is close to where we had to pass. We hadn’t visited this temple for a while. So I suggested we could stop there for a cup of Chinese tea. Reluctantly Peter agreed. But a cup of tea doesn’t cost all that much, right? – Wrong.- We ended up each having a great vegetarian meal as well. The meal was excellent and, I think, really worth the expense. It’s just that Peter wants to save up for our trip to Germany. This trip starts in about three months! We really have to try a it harder to save some more money.
At the temple we took heaps of pictures again. This time we didn’t enter the temple. Walking around the gardens outside there were lots of motifs for taking pictures since the gardens are full of sculptures. We went along a way which leads the the Pilgrims’ Lodge. This is a place were ‘pilgrims’, that is visitors to the temple, can find overnight accommodation.
All in all, we had a truly lovely day. Afternoon coffee we had at home with Danish Apple cake, a frozen cake that we baked for half an hour in our oven. The oven warmed up our kitchen. And the cake was delicious.
Can you see the glasses on the rock?
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At the cafe at the foot of the Buddhist temple we had a lovely meal.
Peter took this picture in the cafeI took quite a few pictures inside the cafe
Quite a few ornaments were for sale
Looking out through the glass doorsWhen we arrived we noticed the walkways were a little bit wet, but the rain had stopped already.
Where is Peter?The cafe is downstairs on the left of this picture
From where Peter sits he can look at the big staircase to the templeThere’s a roof above Peter’s seat
I sat next to Peter and took a few more pictures of the steps
Lots of sculptures greeted us along the way
Further up is the entrance to the Lodge
Calm waters in an autumn landscapeBack to where we came from
It’s actually called a ‘Tea House’ not a cafe. But you can have coffee also.
Walking along a secluded way back towards the carpark
This is what we saw first on the way in from the carparkPeter noticed some fish in that pond on the way to the lodge.
Today in between uploading these pictures we had a nice soup for lunch as well as coffee and the rest of yesterday’s cake, which was delicious warmed up a bit and topped with custard.
Thanks to Peter for letting me use some of his photos.
AuntyUta 