From Desert to Water

A change of country and a change of scenery: from desert sands and the "triumph" of man over nature to water and the triumph of nature over man. Well, sort of anyway. 

A gorgeous Goldilocks day to be outside; not too hot, not too cold - just right. The Hawkesbury waterways and in particular today's Berowra Creek, are semi-tidal waterways which are largely undeveloped (i.e. not too many of man's triumphs are on display) and it doesn't take very long, even in a canoe - or should that be "kayak" - to find yourself surrounded by nothing but nature, imagining that this is how it was thousands of years ago before any permanent settlement. What a nice place to lose yourself for a day, paddling serenely with no particular objective or timetable.

Life in the fast lane

Today was also interesting insofar as this was a bit of a return to my origins - the playground of my youth in some ways. Although I never spent much time on the water, I spent plenty of time in the bush around it and Berowra is where I grew up. And my companion for the day was an old friend - always a risky and potentially ambiguous term, since we might be talking about a friend from a long time ago or a friend of advanced years, or even both - who also grew up on and around Berowra Waters. She was my canoeing instructor for the day and I was a complete novice.

After unloading the kayaks, checking our supplies, and getting some basic instructions, I was off and paddling. My instructor graciously put me at ease by falling into the water herself right at the start of our day, which I thought was a very thoughtful gesture on her part. She was to repeat this thoughtful act again later on during the day, making me feel much better at the end of the day since I had managed to remain dry for our entire trip. 

Apart from the unplanned immersions, the day was spent reminiscing about the past (was it really so long ago?) with both of us trying to recall details of various events and people we knew when we were at High School, each of course remembering things from our own perspective. Since we were on the water, it naturally brought back memories of what was probably the last time I was on these waterways: that was in 1976 - an unbelievable 38 years ago - when I and some school friends celebrated the end of school by renting a motor cruiser for a week of swimming, exploring, drinking, and general mucking around. Ah, those were the days! So much better than celebrating the end of school by drunken debauchery in Bali or the Gold Coast as seems to be the fashion nowadays.

Lunch was briefly interrupted by an enormous goanna (a rather large type of lizard) appearing, climbing a tree while deciding whether we were a threat or food, and then disappearing again once he'd decided we were neither. Not something you'd see in Abu Dhabi or Oman (or France, for that matter).

Berowra Creek (Wikipedia)