What went on in Watagans.

More to the point what are the Watagans. Well we look at them everyday whilst we have our breakfast. Not sure if they count as Mountains or big hills, either way the view from the top was impressive. I won't bore you with the view and if I told you we could see the whole of Lake Macquarie, beyond Swansea over to Newcastle with Stockton Beach in the distance that would just be tedious and mean nothing to you if you're in the UK so I won't bother telling you that. Anyway here's a family shot at the top instead. In case you were wondering the photographer is John who along with Lisa, Sarah and Emily were taking us on another Pateman 4WD adventure. To be honest our cursed Ford Falcon could have probably managed the journey but with its latest rust problem it wasn't worth the risk. We might have lost half the car.



Apart from the gum trees and the hills and the big slabs of grey rock; the Watagans has quite a "New Foresty" feel to it.




It was treacherous in places though, as a flash flood had taken out this bridge and large warning signs advised not to attempt to cross the creek.



We decided to risk it...





and survived


I think the signs would be more relevant after some rain. You could easily imagine crystal clear waters cascading over this dam, falling in a raging torrent to the creek bed below. On this particular day though it looked brown and a bit crap but the viewing platform next to this concrete structure suggested we were just a bit unlucky.



No dramas though. The sun was shining and the cricket season is about to start. I tampered with the tennis ball by whacking it into the creek and soaking it as my "competitive Dad" instinct took possession of me as Alex came up to bowl. Then again it may have been Sarah who was hitting the ball in the creek tempted by my wayward bowling. The memories are hazy.



Tina took a break from deep fielding to turn some kebabs for thirty seconds. Just long enough for Lisa to take a photo.



The barbie also tempted some feathered visitors with more of those darn magpies, sitting in the trees watching us and a lone bush turkey of which we had heard plenty but had not really had a close encounter with. Unlike the Kookaburra it has not had songs written about it. I wonder why?