Back in 1958 when I was in 4th Year High School and I was 16, a group of us formed a hiking club. Early one Saturday morning we all met at Waterfall Station. We had backpacks full of food for a picnic. We set off down the trail, leading us through The Royal National Park on the outskirts of Sydney.
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| We stopped for refreshments. |
We climbed and climbed up a steep hill and came to a plateau. We stopped here for a rest and a drink. Some walked faster than others so we formed two groups. I was in the last group. The fast walkers were in front and the slower ones were behind but we kept in view or earshot of each other. Just as well. Suddenly, we heard the leading group scream and shout "Hurry up! Run! Run!" and we saw arms waving beckoning us to run ahead and catch up. We wondered what was happening so we didn't hesitate to run. As we passed a small clearing in the bush, we heard a man's voice call, "Hey girls look at this!" Just the sound of his voice made us run even faster but out of the corner of my eye I could see him waving his willy at us. We screamed and collapsed into the arms of our friends up front who had been surprised by the flasher and screamed and then called out to us.
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| We found a waterfall. |
From then on we stayed together and all ran on for the next half an hour with our hearts thumping and our lungs ready to burst. We lost our weirdo, who was busy doing something else with his pants round his ankles. When we were sure we were clear of him we stopped for a rest near a pretty waterfall. This is probably why the village is called 'Waterfall'.
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| Me cooking lunch |
We felt safe in numbers and walked on happily putting it behind us. Soon we found a nice spot to make a fire and cook some sausages for lunch.
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| We enjoyed lunch. |
After lunch we continued on to the next village and caught the train home, tired and giggling over our scary experience with a flasher.
Diane, your hiking group sounds like fun. Do you think you caught the flasher skinny dipping at the waterfalls? It is always better to travel in large groups. I loved the photos, especially the one of you cooking.
ReplyDeleteIt's so terrific that you have photos of your outings.
ReplyDeleteA great story, glad you were in a group and could laugh about the silly man afterwards. I once met a flasher on my own in a tunnel when I was a young girl. But they do no harm, they just want a reaction from you. Well I did, my head coloured red and didn't know how fast I could run away.
ReplyDeleteThe world will clearly always have its weirdos! It was fortunate you'd gone in such a large group and were able to watch out for each other. Apart from that unpleasant interruption, it seems as though you'd all had a great day out in the fresh air. How super that you've kept all of these treasured photographs and memories and are now able to capture them for 'eternity' and share them with all of us! :)
ReplyDeletesounds like much fun except for the flasher. dirty old thing. those sausages look tasty :)
ReplyDeletePity you didn't have your camera ready to take a picture of the flasher, for this blog post, he he.
ReplyDeletenow this is a flasher story like none i have heard before. thanks for sharing memories. like those photos to
ReplyDeleteHahaha ! I can hear you screaming ! I had a similar "adventure" I was walking with a girlfriend through the park near our house when suddenly a guy jumped out of a bush and showed us his family jewelery (that's how it's called in French) I was wordless and didn't move but my friend said :"What ? is that all you have to show ?" the guy disappeared like a flash. Apparently she was better informed than me, lol !
ReplyDeleteWhat a creep! So glad you girls were in a large group, and that you didn't let it spoil your outing!!
ReplyDeleteDiane, I am laughing at the irony of all of you girls eating sausages for lunch after that experience..lol! It's so ncie thta you have so mnay wonderful photos from these years.
ReplyDeleteYes , Pat, I had a giggle myself when I wrote the caption.
ReplyDeleteHi Diane! 1958... Lovely times... ;)
ReplyDeleteI’ll be out next week, but Blogtrotter Two has something new for you... Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend and week ahead!!
Great photos even though there was a scary flasher involved. I can just see the scene of you girls running like the blue blazes.
ReplyDeleteToo funny. Glad that there wasn't really too much to that scare ;>).... ... I was walking a path along the Snake River in Idaho/Washington a few years ago when a lady up ahead came back to tell us (loudly and excitedly) to turn around because there was a flasher up[ ahead. (We were a group of "older" ladies and so we went on...he didn't "show"...Some of the ladies were disappointed ;>)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, except for that, it sounds like it was a lovely outing and a hiking club was a very cool thing for a bunch of high school age girls to do.
Hi Diane, I can imagine how you all screamed! It is rather funny now, perhaps then it was not. The photos are great and you are rather serious about to provide lunch.
ReplyDeleteAye yie yie...a flasher! How rude..glad you girls were traveling in numbers!
ReplyDeleteHaha, that's funny!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh!
ReplyDeleteLooks like so much fun - well, except the flasher.