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--- 195906 [2016/02/04 14:00] – [Letter to the Editor] kennettj
+++ 195906 [2016/02/04 14:04] – [On the Seventh Day] kennettj
@@ Line 237: / Line 237: @@
 enjoyment derived from Sunday walks, and to those confirmed "Friday-nighters" who sniff disdainfully down the full length of their upturned superior noses at the very thought of going on one, I raise the query "Do we make the best of the Sunday walks'?" In hopping up first to answer my own question, I say, simply "Probably not".
-Prior to the War (the second one, of course) when we used to enjoy a return train trip of a Sunday for the price of a single-journey ticket, almost invariably it was the practice to have tea in the bush at the conclusion of the walk, followed by a short sing-song or round-the-fire chin-wag, then catch a late train home. The river flat at Lilyvale, near the station, was always dotted by small fires on such nights, not only those of the organised walkers, but of the "Sunday Hikers" who were on the tracks in hundreds, so many, in fact, that at a now 'dead" place like Lilyvale the Railways employed a Ticket Collector on Sunday mornings!
+Prior to the War (the second one, of course) when we used to enjoy a return train trip of a Sunday for the price of a single-journey ticket, almost invariably it was the practice to have tea in the bush at the conclusion of the walk, followed by a short sing-song or round-the-fire chin-wag, then catch a late train home. The river flat at Lilyvale, near the station, was always dotted by small fires on such nights, not only those of the organised walkers, but of the "Sunday Hikers" who were on the tracks in hundreds, so many, in fact, that at a now "dead" place like Lilyvale the Railways employed a Ticket Collector on Sunday mornings!
-It was probably the curtailment of rail services during the War, combined with a grave shortage, due to food-rationing, of chops, sizzling snorkers, bacon, eggs and other appurtenances of the bushwalker's larder, that the insidious practice crept in of dashing home by an early train. Since then, for the want of being better-informed, are more likely, the absence of any thought on the feasibility of dining-art, the then established custom has not been revived. Another aspect, not to be overlooked, is that this early-train movement may have represented the earlier-known, and equally insidious, manifestations of the present-day 'White-ant" tactics! Who knows!
+It was probably the curtailment of rail services during the War, combined with a grave shortage, due to food-rationing, of chops, sizzling snorkers, bacon, eggs and other appurtenances of the bushwalker's larder, that the insidious practice crept in of dashing home by an early train. Since then, for the want of being better-informed, are more likely, the absence of any thought on the feasibility of dining-art, the then established custom has not been revived. Another aspect, not to be overlooked, is that this early train movement may have represented the earlier known, and equally insidious manifestations of the present-day 'White-ant" tactics! Who knows!
-Strange, but walkers are quite prepared, after a hard weekend "bash", to catch
+Strange, but walkers are quite prepared, after a hard weekend "bash", to catch a train, say, at Katoomba or Kiama, and land back in Sydney, dog-tired, about 9 pm. on a Sunday night with never a complaint about getting home later - just because that's normal. No obvious reason therefore, springs into my fertile mind, why one should not be equally prepared to arrive in Central about the same time, after the comparative ease of a Sunday walk (even if a test-walk) with its light pack, lighter hearts and little or no fatigue!
-a train, say, at Katoomba or Kiama, and land back in Sydney, dog-tired, about 9 pm.
-on a Sunday night with never a complaint about getting home later - just because that's normal. No obvious reason therefore, springs into my fertile mind, why one should not be equally prepared to arrive in Central about the same time, after the comparative ease of a Sunday walk (even if a test-walk) with its light pack, lighter hearts and little or no fatigue!
 Lilyvale has been cited, because with fire-wood and water right at the station, it is ideal for the purpose. At other spots, not sporting these mod. cons., we used to carry all available water bags to a location as near as practicable to the station, to make tea and wet down the fire. At Waterfall, water can be drawn from Uloola Swamp, or on the Western side, from the Heathcote Creek tributary rills. Similarly, convenient spots can be easily found at Heathcote, Engadine, Otford, Audley, Mt. Kuring-gai and Glenbrook. The present Railway Timetables provide for trains to arrive within a few minutes either side of 9 pm. For those who really want to be home early, it would only be a few hundred yards to the station from where the party would stop, and I'm sure the Leader would excuse you!