On Saturday 18th October 5 members of the 'Horlychi & Rusalky' group and 3
adults went on a 2 day hike through the Yanchep Cockatoo trail. We met at
the starting point at 9.00am and by the time we registered and were given
our food packs by Andrij Mandyczewsky and a final check that we had
everything we headed off on our trek. Just after we started the walk trail
through the bush we spotted a Joey and it’s mother and along the track
there were all the different wildflowers that are out at the moment. We
walked for 50 minutes and then it was time to stop for a 10 minute break,
most of the kids went through there packs and then the swapping of food
rasion’s started, then we continued until it was time to find a shady spot
for lunch on the track. After lunch which was lovely tuna and crackers we
headed to our shelter for the night. On arrival we were the only group at
the shelter but the girls wanted to sleep in a tent, so they helped to put
up the tent, then they went exploring through the bush. At the campsite we
had a baby Gego, which seemed quite contented making himself welcomed on
the ground near our food table, and he would bury half of his body in the
ground and every so often you had to remember that he was there or someone
would scream and yell out to you watch out for it. At night we had noodles
for tea and later that night while the campfire was going the kids had
toasted marshmallows and then they went to sleep in there tent, which they
pitched up a few yards from the shelter, it seemed a good idea during the
day, but once it got dark they were a bit scared, but they braved it.
On Sunday morning while we were having our breakfast of hot oats, we saw a
green parachute flying in the distance, and then it flew over our shelter
and the motor made quite a bit of noise, but it was interesting to see
that in the middle of the bush. Once we were ready we started the walk
back to the starting point of the hike, and Olanka was the leader. She set
a roaring pace trying to get out of the bush as soon as possible, as they
were a bit concerned that they would come across a snake. We told them to
sing a song to keep their minds off them, so Louise started singing Slim
Dusty’s song, Love to have a drink with Duncan, she changed some of the
names using the girls names in the group. After walking for 50 minutes,
we stopped for a break and then it was Mikayla who was the leader and she
walked right past a Bob tail lizard, and did not see it, but the other’s
got a bit of a fright at first but then stopped to look at it, then later
on a bird suddenly fluttered out of some trees and that gave us a startle
as well. Mikayla said later on that she was certain that she saw the tail
end of a snake as it slithered into the bush, and only mentioned it in
passing to Olanka and good of them not to make a big deal of it, so as not
to scare the others. We finished our 17 and a half km hike which was
suppose to be 8 hours there and back, but we seemed to have done it in
3 hours there and 3 and a half hours back to the starting point. We ended
up having lunch on the grounds of Yanchep Inn and were a can of tuna and all
that was left in our packs.
Thank you to all the girls who came on the hike, and especially to Kasiana
our most youngest member as this was her first overnight hike, and she did
very well on the hike, carrying her own backpack. Thank you to Andrij
Mandyczewsky who organized the hike and also putting the food packs
together, also Erica and Dorica for supporting Andrij with the group on the
hike.
By the way, next time you go hiking please remember to leave all ticks in
the bush, some of us like Taisa,Mikayla and Dorica brought some home with
them.
To see the hike click here.
