As far as bandwagons go, you’re either on them, or you’re not. There’s no such thing as being half on. In my books, anyway. Sometimes this kind of stubbornness gets me in trouble. For example, towards the end of last year, I realised that I missed the “20 things in 2020” bandwagon for this blog. Of course, I couldn’t just start with only a few months left to go for the year. Instead, I’m making it more difficult for myself by deciding to attempt “21 things in 2021” instead. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, basically I’m picking a few categories of things that I want to do in 2021. And then I have to accomplish 21 things in each category over the year. It’s pretty tricky because it means that I need to do 1 thing from each list every 17 days, on average. I’m not sure that I’m quite that organised to pull it off. But I’ll try my hardest. Because now I’m on the bandwagon, and I am fully on.

So, what are these categories of 21 things that I’m going to do this year? There are five of them, and I’ve listed them on this page of my blog (easier to keep track of them this way … of course the idea is that they’re all empty now, but they’ll fill up). I had to whittle them down from more than 30 categories. In the end, COVID-19 restrictions probably made it easier to choose. I realised that it might not be such a good idea to commit to 21 museums in 2021, for example, because they could be asked to close at any time. And it’s also probably not such a great idea to try and attend the festivities of 21 different cultural groups, because if mass congregation numbers continue to be limited, then I’m not likely to make it onto many guest lists.

And so now that all that housekeeping is out of the way, let me tell you about some places that I visited BEFORE I started doing 21 in 2021. It means that they won’t make it onto those lists. Because I like to make things even less straightforward for myself. And because my stubbornness won’t let me cheat, even a little bit. Well actually, I’m sure that Royal National Park will make it onto the list by the end of the year, because I’ll go back again. It’s a stunning place. Most Sydneysiders will agree with this, regardless of whether they’re outdoorsy people or not. Not to mention that it’s so massive that half a blog post based on one little visit would never do it justice.

Another reason why we’re proud of the Royal National Park is because it’s the second national park to be established in the whole world. Yup, only 7 years after Yellowstone. This 151km2 swathe of land was set aside in 1879, and dubbed “the National Park”, because we weren’t feeling particularly creative as a nation, and because there was only one of them, so why bother with a longer name? I realise that this makes the National Park only about a 60th of the size of Yellowstone, but bear in mind that it’s pretty much urban. You can catch the suburban train there. Which is what Queen Elizabeth II did in 1954. Well, she caught the train *past* because she wasn’t about to get her royal shoes dirty by going hiking. But in commemoration of this moment, the “Royal” was added to the name of the park. I wish I had similar powers in life, in that I could change things simply by catching the train past them.

The walk that we went on was to the Winifred Falls. Those of you who know the trail know that it’s only short, but a good one to ease back into the bushwalking business, with some flat bits, some downhill bits, some uphill bits and some Hawkesbury sandstone rock exploration bits. And some watery bits too, of course, given that the destination is a waterfall at a fraction of its full glory because it’s summer and things dry out a little bit more. They’re still well-loved waterfalls though, as evidenced by the number of people there with us. Somebody in the crowd decided that we weren’t going to pretend that this was a peaceful spot anymore, and brought along some speakers to pump out some summer beats. Unfortunately the thumping bass and the intrusiveness of all the people brought a huge brown snake out of its hiding spot. That was one good way to clear a crowd.

Walking back from the waterfall, I looked around me and thought about how sometimes I loved the landscape of our country so much that it made my heart wants to burst. But at the same time, this land was not mine to claim.  The Royal National Park belongs to the Dharawal people, and to that brown snake and all the creatures there. I just hope that these owners will continue to tolerate my visits (sorry Mr Snake for overstaying my welcome), because it’s a truly special place.