So we've made a deal to take the secondary kids out on a trip every Friday if they are doing the right thing during the week. This week we headed out to West Claudie and had cake for Ray Ray's Birthday.


After that we went to the most amazing waterfalls I've ever seen. We went walking through this overgrown bush path that no one would ever know was there unless you had been there before. I still wouldn't know where it was! This path was so dense and windy that even the kids were struggling to figure out which way to go.


One of the boys found fresh pig tracks and warned me, "If it comes, climb up a tree Sir!" So that kept me on edge. We could start to hear the falls and then the path opened up to this:


All of the kids took off down the rocks to the main base of the falls and had a swim. They are crazy how fast they can get across the slippery, jagged rocks.


I was keen as for a swim so I said I'd join them. Two of the boys hung back to show me where to climb down. They were awesome! They were telling me exactly where to put my feet and which rocks were slippery. I got to this one section that I was a bit sketchy on so I thought I'd go across on my bum. The result wasn't pretty! The water washed me off the rocks and over the falls, down this jagged rock water slide and into a pool at the bottom. I just managed to stop myself before going over the next massive falls. I seriously thought I was going to die! I popped up down the bottom and the kids looked down with the most shocked faces and said "Are you alright Sir?" I just laughed and the next thing they're rolling around in hysterics! Afterwards I found that I'd cut up all of my left arm and busted my big toe. Silas was taking photos at the time:

Before:
After:

I eventually got down to the bottom of the water falls for a swim. Damien was the only kid that could get under the water fall and stand on the ledge behing the falls, as it was coming down so hard then washing down into the next part of the falls. The smaller kids tried but would get pushed under when they hit the part where the water was landing. It was nuts! All of the kids wanted me to have a crack so I did. I got under the falls but couldn't find the ledge and I was getting hammered by the water. I felt Damien's arm reach out and grab me and pull me onto the ledge. The next thing I heard was all of the other kids cheering from outside the falls. The next thing I knew, they were all trying to get under, so I ended up pulling them through the falls and onto the ledge. It was awesome!

Just after that it was time to leave. We had a few minutes before lunch time so we went to see if the croc had been caught in the croc trap at the boat ramp. When we got there the kids told me a traditional story about the locals chasing an evil spirit out of Lockhart. When the spirit got to the rocks on the beach, he jumped off the rocks and over to the next point. The kids told me that as he jumped from the rock, he left a footprint, and where he landed on the point across the other side of the bay, he left another footprint in the rock. The kids wanted to take me out to the rock and show me the footprint. I was keen as to see it but the rock that the footprint was on was right next to the rock with the croc trap. And I'd also heard that the croc was around the rocks the night before. So I said to the kids there was no way I'd be going into the water there! The boys piped up with "You no brave Sir!" They told me that I'd be right if I stuck really close to them. So peer pressure sunk in and out into the croc's territory I went. I kept telling the kids that I was stressing about the croc, but they told me the more I think of him, the closer he gets. So while I was freaking out, I tried not to keep mentioning it. I eventually got to the rock and the kids climbed up the slippery, vertical face like it was nothing. I had a go at it and couldn't even get out of the water. The rock face was straight up and slippery as. So I was stuck in the water up to my chest, thinking that at any moment the croc was going to have me. The boys ended up dragging me up the rock face and there it was, a perfect footprint in the rock.


As I got down, I pretty much ran through the water and up onto the beach. The kids were all laughing so hard at me! It was an incredible day out with so many things that people normally wouldn't get to see.