Wildflowers at the Prom

Last weekend, we headed away from the Christmas rush and headed out to Wilson's Prom. We split the family up: The Gadget Man wanted to do a hike, and had been promising Princess Sleepyhead a trip away for ages. Bonding time. They need to bond -- too much acrimony between them. And I'm not up for a hike. I need an ankle reconstruction, which I'm not going to get anytime soon. And my general fitness level is not up to carrying an extra 20 kg of stuff. Sir Talkalot, who hikes a bit with scouts, didn't want to hike, so we took two tents and ST and I stayed at Tidal River, doing day hikes, while the other two did a four-day walk.


This was a big test for PH who has scoliosis and spondylosis (two back complaints) -- and as she's supposed to be going to Vietnam next year on a challenge, and will have to spend about a week on a mountain trek, carrying packs, we needed to know how she would cope. And she coped very well. The last month or two at school, she and the other girl in her year level who is going to Vietnam, both had to join the Year 10 "boot camp", which involved lots of running, push-ups, sit-ups -- everything. She said it was exhausting but reckoned it had improved her fitness level. Must've done something because GM wasn't able to keep up with her. So they had a great time -- apart from the first half hour, when GM dropped their tent over a tent (it fell from his pack) and had to retrieve it.


ST and I had a lovely time doing day walks (strenuous enough for me) and reading and putting up with the wind, which kept collapsing various parts of our tent. It was the tent's last outing: it has mildew, the mesh is ripped and the poles bent (which is why it kept collapsing!).


I was interested to see how the Prom had recovered from the bushfires two years ago, and it was good to see lots of new growth. I was amazed at all the wildflowers I saw, so over the next few days I'll document some of them. Apologies for the fuzziness in some photos -- what I wouldn't give for an SLR with manual focus!