After dropping my daughter off at school this morning I thought that I would drive down to the Morialta Conservation Park, as I had a little time to kill and I hadn’t been there for quite some time. It’s actually been many years since my last visit and I was wondering if it had retained the serenity and beauty that I remembered all those years ago. It wasn’t a good start as I took a wrong turn but I got there in the end and I noticed the first change, one that I’m sure most people will notice if they haven’t been back there for some time.

I had to choose between the $5 entrance fee or to turn left for the free park option. Always ready to save a buck I was going to decide on the free park option but changed my mind rather quickly when I found that the walk to the Morialta Falls was going to take 3 or 4 hours depending on what path and I just didn’t have enough time. Damn, when did they start charging an entrance fee for vehicles? Oh well I suppose it all goes to the upkeep of the conservation park, so in the car I get as I drive to the closer of the car parks. As I exit the car I notice a drop in temperature and a feeling of peace and tranquillity. I head off in the direction of the falls looking for possible subjects for my Panasonic Lumix DMC FX50 Digital camera.

I first notice some heavy machinery and workers oblivious to the beauty around them, that definitely looked out of place. I thought of saying hello but they obviously did not want to be disturbed and so I moved on. Once I left them behind I once again felt absorbed by the surrounding landscape. It was as if it was welcoming me into its embrace. As I walked briskly along, I could smell the freshness of the air and hear the rustling of the leaves and the gurgling of the water as it rushed over the rocks.

I looked around me and noticed the high cliff faced walls and wondered if they were the same ones that were party to the rock climbing accidents of years gone by. I walked on, every now and again passing others like myself who had obviously come here to admire the beauty of the area. As we passed each other, there was always the friendly ‘hello, how are you today’, something that you heard infrequently in the outside world. The women always walked in pairs, whether for security or merely companionship I could only surmise. Some older men were alone and I wondered if they had lost their partner or perhaps they could not convince them to leave the harsh world of reality for a few moments of tranquillity.

I moved on keeping to the well-traveled paths, taking the shorter routes and keeping to the bridges rather than attempt crossing the shallow creek. It seems that the small rainfall we had received was not enough to break the long drought sufficiently to fill the waterways and I was hoping that there would at least be enough water flowing in order to allow me to get some nice shots of the falls.

As I continued to walk I couldn’t help but wonder that this beautiful spot could exist in the middle of civilization so close to home. I actually felt a little envious of those who lived within walking distance, for although I only lived 15 minutes away it was far enough to make it almost unreachable. Damn this world for sucking the life out individuals through stupid necessities such as job commitments.

Still, I push those thoughts into my subconscious, as I didn’t want to pollute Morialta with negative thoughts. As I was heading towards my destination whilst admiring my surroundings a slim jogger passed me on the way to the falls and the momentary feeling of attraction was blown away by the presence of way too many tattoos. For the life of me I can’t see a woman’s attraction for tattoos. I mean a man may get them from a momentary lapse of reason, or even from a drunken stupor but a woman has always claimed to have more sense than mere males, but perhaps they were misconstrued in this perception. As she jogged passed the ghostly eucalyptus I wondered if it would reach out with its tentacle like branches, bring her into its clutches and wipe the graffiti from her body. Alas, it wasn’t to be and she jogged safely by.

Damn, I thought that I would have come past some real honeys on this excursion, but it wasn’t to be. Perhaps that was fortunate as being happily married I wouldn’t know what to do if one happened along anyway. As it was, whilst taking a photo of something along the way, there was one woman, not all that bad looking, who stopped to ask what I was looking at, and dumb old me was too tongue tied to say anything that made any sense and so she walked on by with a puzzled look on her face. I shrugged my shoulders as there wasn’t much I could have done anyway, I was married after all and I had more important things on my agenda, the quest for the falls. It wasn’t long after that I came around the corner and saw the object of my search. There it stood in all its splendour, not as much water as I had hoped was cascading down the falls and the momentary feeling of disappointment was quenched by the realisation that at least I had a good reason to lose myself in this beautiful world of the Morialta Consevation Park.

For those of you who want to find out a lot more information about Morialta falls I would like to direct you to the South Australian National Parks And Reserves web page.

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