Dave the Rucksack at Karloo Pool

A beautiful Autumn day that promises to go sour in the afternoon sees us heading off into the bush by mid-morning.
Once again, a well-worn path, this time to the Karloo Pool in the Royal National Park. At least it is a 3 hour round walk and medium grade, so for a green adventurer like me, this is good practice:lots of broken-up terrain and sandstone plateaus to negotiate with the promise of a swim at the end to sweeten the deal.
Theres lots of Banksia Ericifolia in bloom, lighting up the scrub with their orange candles. As we wind down, down down into the valley I admit to groaning a bit at the thought of having to ascend all this a little later. Confirming this, a walker passes us coming up from below; he is not smiling and looks far fitter than I. Oh God.
But all concerns are washed away when we reach the soothing green vista of the Karloo Pool. With a lovely mantle of green bush behind it, the pool just beckons for a swim leaving you gasping and invigorated in it clean chill waters. We sat on the bank, eating sandwiches and enjoying all the squeaking and carry on of anyone game enough to go for a swim. I loved the mineral smell of the creek and the sound of wrens in the undergrowth, but at some point , with weather threatening, its time to get back. My thighs are crying silently at the thought, but I shoulder Dave bravely and off we head. Along the way we are thrilled to see some baby bearded dragons ( I think, since I've never seen one so small. Well, they weren't brown snakes and that is the main thing).
We'll definitely head back down to the lovely pool again sometime soon.