Drawing Room Rocks Hike with my Best Friends

A Hike: Drawing Room Rocks @ Barren Grounds Nature Reserve, Brogers Creek Road, Berry NSW. All photos taken on Canon D70 DSLR and Google Pixel 3 XL.

When the work week is over and we don't get to share our lives because we are so busy answering emails, taking work calls, looking after children and taking care of ourselves, its so nice to reconnect with friends.

I have lots of friends, but few best friends such as Erin, Jaye and Betty <3

When we plan trips, it's almost like we share one mind and come up with similar ideas. Three years earlier, we made the trip to Berry to eat their famous donuts and do the local Drawing Room Hikes and we just decided to recreate those memories. Also we must've been in the mood for some delicious donuts. The two hour road-trip meant we spent the entire time sharing what our work weeks were like - frustrating co-workers, our ten to twelve hour work days, what Betty's kids learnt that week, quests to move to other countries for love. We also talk about what snacks we bought along for the hike, as sustenance are essentials. Usually Betty made us cupcakes or sandwiches and Erin brings a big bag of lollies.

Arriving in quaint Berry, one must embrace life and go get some fresh, steaming hot cinnamon donuts from the Famous Berry Donut Van with a side of hot coffee. We did just that, lining up patiently for a bag of them. We sat outside and devoured them like little kids, playfully convincing each other that we would burn off all those calories at the hike. We were wrong, we just kept eating them while on the hike, haha.

We did this hike a few weeks ago but I only thought it was a good time to blog about it now as we actually completed a different hike at the Blue Mountains today. I guess I'm feeling sentimental and I just wanted to share my love for these girls who constantly make me laugh and feel so comfortable. 

Here is a story I shared with my friends today, from one of my days at the office. 

- My soul left my body this week at work. I had to reset the factory settings on my Walkman because it started to corrupt. All was fixed but it meant that I had to reconnect my work speaker by Bluetooth again. I always listen to music at work but at very low volume so I can only hear. The work speaker decided to reset itself to a louder volume so of course at 8am in the morning, when all was quiet in the office, I played my first song. Which was of course... Cardi B's WAP (Wet Ass P*ssy) and is a pretty explicit and crude song and definitely NOT safe for work. Anyways the first few seconds of "There's some wh*res in this HOUSE" played three times so loudly that my SOUL DEFINITELY LEFT MY BODY. I scrambled around to shut down that work speaker so quickly. I did and I found my breath again and almost threw my Walkman away in embarrassment. Although no-one commented on the song that played, it felt like the loudest sound in the world to me. LoL. A lesson was learnt that day. Mistakes were definitely made.

Knowing my dirty-minded friends (actually I'm just looking at Betty here), we all had a good laugh and it felt so nice to let some walls down and share stupid life fails with them. It really takes your mind off on how mundane the week can be.

The Drawing Room Rocks Hike is simple and only a few minutes drive away from the Famous Berry Donut Van. You have to park at Brogers Creek Road, but do not park in front of any private properties. It's hard to U-turn so ensure you are confident you will find a parking spot before reaching all the way to the top. The walk is just straight up - 4.5km return and about a 2.5 hour round trip. The Lookout is rewarding as you can view NSW coastal line and the surrounding valleys.

We took our time navigating the slippery path (it was raining that week) and talking about how unfit we were heading up and how weak our legs were when descending. We spent thirty minutes at the lookout eating lollies and enjoying the view, taking some sweet photos of each other to celebrate making it to the top. Walking down we danced to "Walk like a Man" like they did in the movie Heart and Souls and sang the theme song to Moana and Frozen 2 as they were Betty's kids' favourite songs that week.

We always have such a good time together, always heading home with a belly full of food and cheeks hurting from laughter. We already started planning out next outing which would be around mid September. Can't wait <3

Carrington Falls, NSW

Hike at: Carrington Falls NSW
Notes taken from 'Best Bush, Coast & Village Walks of The Illawarra'

Hi everyone. I will be keeping it short and simple today as I missed my one week deadline for blogging on Monday. My goal to blog once a week went out the door and I wasn't very happy with myself! Hai even tried to remind me that just because I fell off the bandwagon once doesn't mean I give up, it just means I get back up again and get back to it.

So, this is a hike that I did with Hai, Lisa and Sang almost 1 and a half year ago - and I finally get the chance to blog about it.

It's a super simple one, with it being more of a lookout and picnic area. I got some beautiful shots overlooking the waterfalls, but please tread carefully if you're doing this.

1.  Park at 'Thomas Place' that is also signposted "Carrington Falls Lookout".
Here is a picnic area, with tables, toilets and an information board.
2. Take the path to the left that leads towards the south rim of the upper Kangaroo River gorge. Along the way there are a number of lookouts (around four lookouts) that face Carrington Falls, that is on the north rim. This path loops around back to Thomas Place.
3.  Left of the picnic area is a track sign posted "Stevos Track" and here is dry forest for around 360m. On our hike, we realized there had been a bush fire recently and all the trees were charred black. It was eerie but beautiful.
4. You'll find a detour to your right, that goes for about 200m and take you to Izzard's Lookout, giving you views that stretch down the gorge.
5. Heading back to Stevos Track, you can also turn left again to head back to Thomas's Place (you can continue to turn right to continue the track to 'Stevos Pass', but this track is not maintained well and can be dangerous).

Note: The hike is graded as Easy, and is around 5.5km return and takes approximately 2 hours.

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On a personal note, the reason why I didn't get to blog this Monday was because I took a sick day due to the pain I felt after doing the charity walk "7 Bridges Walk" where me and my bestie group walked 17km around the city crossing 7 bridges. The true walk is 28km but we cut it short because we had a baby with us. I did feel the pain next day - my legs cramped up and my thigh muscles were burning.

Also, I get to see Taylor Swift in concert tomorrow for her Reputation Tour in Sydney! Hai bought the tickets a year ago and now the day has finally come. I'm just too excited!
In my experience leading up to the concert, I find that alot of people like to lecture me about why they don't like Taylor Swift as soon as I mention her name. And it gets boring and repetitive.
My thoughts are - I don't tell you why I don't like your tastes in music so if you've got nothing  nice to say, then don't say it. Also, one of the reasons I hear most is that she is too "mainstream", which is a poor and lazy excuse. This sort of thought process means you're just trying too hard to be 'cool' and 'unique'; but in reality you're just a negative person who is missing out on so much music out there.

Anyways, I'm loving Tay Tay's refreshing new sound on Reputation (Getaway Car, Delicate, King of My Heart, Ready For It) but I'm also a huge fan of all her other albums - I love all of 1989, Red's 'Begin Again', 'Back to December' and 'I Almost Do' all of Speak Now and Fearless; I even love the songs she has done for the Hunger Games soundtrack.

I'm just too excited! Lucky I don't have to go into work on Saturday in case I need to recover from all the dancing I'll be doing. Watch this space for a quick turn around on a new blog post. And hopefully it will be by this Sunday, as I'm determined to make up for my missed blog post from this Monday. <3

Kiama's Hoddle's Track Bushwalk

Hoddles Track Entrance

Hoddle's Track - Unsealed farm tracks 

Letter Boxes along the track

Walking Past Private Property and Farmland

On the right a dam with a small jetty with a rusty utility vehicle

Beautiful building overlooking a view

After a steep incline, a T-junction with the Hoddles Track sign

Turning left at the T-junction, to see a beautiful view on the right

Reaching Barren Grounds Nature Reserve

Noorinan Mountain Cliff edge

Hoddle's Track to Noorinan Mountain. Starting Point at cnr of Hoddles Road and Foxground Road, Kiama, NSW Australia. Completed 1st Sept 2018
Wearing: Asos Top, Timberland 6 inch Boots, 5.11 Tactical Wyldcat Pants, Vans Backpack, Fitbit Versa Watch
Photos taken by myself and Hai

With 16 posts to go until 2018 is over, I decided to blog about a recent Hiking adventure instead of reaching into my photo archives. Two weeks ago Hai and I wanted to take advantage of the first day of Spring weather and hike the Hoddles Track in sleepy Kiama.

We followed the walk guide 'Hoddle's Track and Saddleback' on page 204 from the book 'Best Bush, Coast & Village Walks of The Illawarra'. Below are a few points from the "At a Glance" section:

Grade: Medium
Time: 3-4 hours
Distance: 9.5km return
Ascent/Descent: 450m / 450m
Conditions: Hoddles Track is steep and eroded; take care near unfenced cliffs

1. We parked the Jeep at the corner of Hoddles Road and Foxground road in Kiama. As you drive down Foxground road which is unsealed, the entrance isn't as obvious as I thought. We approached a open wooden fence with an old green sign overlooking farm land.

2. Hesitant at first (it looked like private property), we walked over easy hills with the path lined with kangaroos and cow's manure. It then became obvious then we were on the right path. The path stretched out towards the trees, which starts to ascends and I found myself out of breath. We then passed through gates lined with letter boxes giving us indication that we were going to pass some houses.

3. Soon on the right, we took notice of an old utility vehicle that had rusted away on top of a small hill. Next to it was a sad little dam with a tiny jetty.
We kept walking and we reached open farmland again, passing by some cows chewing on grass.

4. A lonely wooden building appears on the right. You will be able to see a weathered bench overlooking a magnificent view. However remember we are walking past private properties so please do not trespass.

5. The track climbed steeply and through some gum trees. It really puffed us out as we took 10 minutes to reach the top. I kept muttering to myself "when is this bloody hill going to bloody end" until we reached the T-junction. A nice grassy area with a track sign that said "Hoddles Track" appeared before us and I rested to eat my snack.

6. We took the left path towards Noorinan Mountain, past a crumbling wall on our left. To our right, there is a spectacular lookout with a view of rolling hills of Jamberoo and Minnamurra that leads to the sea. We continued upward passing some marked posts painted green and the 'Barren Grounds' sign to continue upwards.

7. We veered left, and kept climbing over fallen tree trunks and up the crumbling path. Above us the cliff rocks tower. We eventually reached a stone on the ground with an arrow etched in pointing right. We suspected that a hiker was trying to indicate that you could climb the cliffs for another view. But we knew it was not part of the official path so we continued on straight.

8. We eventually reached a slightly open area with a big boulder sitting on our right. Momentarily confused on which path to take, Hai then found the path towards our left. We climbed through the narrow path flanked by grass tress and could hear the sea waves crashing. We carefully found a rock with an arrow etched into it pointing up. We climbed up and the ground became sandy. Finally we reached a rock platform with a beautiful view over Foxground and to Saddleback Mountain.

We ate our lunch (pork rolls and cheese and bacon rolls) and then made our way back. Thankfully it was alot easier and quicker to descend the steep path, making the return trip feel alot shorter.

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For us, we had set ourselves a 2-3 hour time limit so we only completed the track up to Noorinan Mountain and back, instead of going right at the T-junction to Saddleback Mount (as indicated by our Guide book). It instead took us about two and a half hours, 5.6km return and around 11.6k steps (according to my handy Fitbit).

Hai and I were using this hike to celebrate our anniversary which was between the 2nd (our official first date) and the 5th (our wedding day date) of every month. Usually we eat out at a nice restaurant but this time decided to hike, because it had been so long since our last one. And the weather was bloody beautiful that day, reminding me that Australia is still wonderfully unique; despite our year long hiatus.
Next roadtrip/hike planned: another visit to Laurel Hill to visit the Sugar Pine Trees, with friends Betty, Erin and Jaye.