Today, we decided to try to hike Mt. Keira, which is a 1500ft mountain that overlooks Wollongong. Amy, Katie, Jason and I set out to try to find a bus that would take us as close as possible. The schedules are pretty tricky to figure out around here. We ended up missing the first bus that could have taken us to the bottom of the mountain. Katie and I also realized that we had no money, so we walked 3 or so blocks back to our apartment to get our money. Once we got back we realized that we also didn't have our keys to the building or our room. Thankfully, a man walked in the door just before us and let us into the building.
Now that we were in the building the next step we to get in our apartment. Our roommate Kelly, had stayed back because she was sick and didn't feel well enough to join. Katie and I stood pounding on the door for about 5mins trying to get her attention. Unfortunately, she was sleeping and couldn't here us. We gave up walked back to the bus stop to learn that we had missed the next bus. I really thought this was going to be a failed mission.
Eventually a bus came around that said he could drop us off at the Keira post office. He seemed to laugh as us when we said we wanted to hike the mountain as though we were crazy to think we could. Once at the post office we began our hike up a main road. The road was about a 45 degree angle...aka very steep...and this was just the beginning of our journey. We eventually found some walking trails that weaved us up and around the mountain. It took a little over an hour to reach the summit. Jason and Amy seemed as though they were running up this mountain due to the pace. They work out daily and are in very good shape. Me on the other hand...not so much. My legs were burning as the incline increased. The trails were thin but rocks had been put in certain places to act as stairs.
After an hour of hiking (bush walking) we finally made it to the top! Thank goodness!! I we exhausted and drenched with sweat. We of course picked mid-day when it was in the lower 90's to go for a hike. Thankfully the view from the top was gorgeous and totally worth all of the sweat! We sat at a picnic table at the top of the mountain and took much needed break. After chilling out for a couple minutes, we took some pictures of the beautiful view and started our journey back to the bottom of the mountain.
The walk down was much faster, and easier than the walk to the top. I was so happy when we finally made it to the bus stop. We realized that the bus would be coming pretty quickly to. As we were waiting around an older man drove by us and then turned around and asked what we were doing. We told him we were trying to get back to town. He didn't believe the bus would be coming through, since it was a Sunday, and he offered us a ride. We gratefully accepted his offer. All four of us piled into his car. Within minutes he had given us a magazine with all sorts of things to do around town, and was giving us tips on where to go hiking next. He dropped us right across the street from our apartment. If we hadn't taken the ride from him we would have lived here for 4months without knowing about all the things that are going on.
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