after an evening spent “self-medicating”, the boy woke up to the 6.30 alarm, called in “sick”, went back to bed, woke up again, had a slice of chocolate cake and said, “shall we go for a little adventure?” woohoo.

to get to mount tomah botanic garden you get to drive through the city, and then the north shore, and then the seminal suburbs of greater sydney, and then some farms, and then a couple of historic old towns, and then apple orchards, and then just the long and winding road up the mountain. there will be birdsong and the smell of green. when you arrive at the garden, hungry, you will discover that the kiosk is closed and that the only other option for luncheon is the fancy restaurant where a filled bagel will cost you $12, and anything else, much more. so you will walk around the shrubbery for a couple of hours, fueled only by a small package of lemon yoghurt candies.

when you find yourself weak with hunger and unable to unwrap another sweet, you will get back in the car and follow the windy road round to blackheath where one of you will acquire a big lot burger the size of a small marsupial, and the other, me, a steak sandwich of a more modest scale. both come with beetroot, hurrah! there will also be a pile of fat, hot chips sprinkled with chicken salt, and everything will be bundled up for a picnic in the park. later, when you throw a cold chip at a native bird, you may feel slightly disturbed that as well as probably more salt than a bird should consume, this bird is also eating bits of ground up chicken.

engh whattya gonna do. anyway, it is already late afternoon and there is still a mountain to climb halfway down to, a waterfall to gawk at, the upward journey, the drive back down the mountain, the rush hour city traffic, the three pieces of watermelon out of the fridge, the final slow climb up the stairs, the sinking into bed. all before 8.30.

i want to sleep for a week.