Easter Waterfalls Tour

The Rotary Club of Picton's "Waterfalls Tour" has been on my radar for a year or two. Our stars aligned today: as in Ted was feeling healthy, the weather was nice, and these two could join us.

Nothing like starting with a potluck picknic on a park bench in Picton. Alliteration at its tastiest.

Our first stop was at the Cape Vesey waterfall. It is a short distance east of Waupoos. Someone was happy to go on an adventure.

I never dreamed that the falls would be spilling into Picton Bay. Growing up in PEC, going to two waterfalls near our home was a highlight of springtime for me.

We will start with the top of these falls. Over the millennia, this waterfall has carved a giant scoop in the limestone.

Below is a better view of the limestone.

Hundreds of families and friends made their way down the narrow road to the bottom of the falls. It took no time at all to rotate to the front and take pictures.

Even where the water landed was beautiful.

The land at the bottom of the falls has been left natural.

Someone to had a spring in her step,

We enjoyed the falls for a while and then made our way....... back........ up...... the..... steep ........road.

Daffodils welcomed everyone to Jackson Falls, west of Waupoos.

On the way down the even steeper lane, you could catch glimpses of the falls through the trees.

I love how ordinary this event is. Like being invited to your neighbour's waterfall. No safety measures - you have to make your way across slippery stones to get there.

Before we even got to the falls, there was beauty all around.

I wish I could package the smell of the air there. We'll let that smell be our sponsor. It was crisp and clear and wonderful to breathe.

Oh Charlotte!!!

It was easier for some to make their way back up the hill than for others.

And, more daffodils bid us farewell.

I hope we rememeber to go back every year. The whole day was blissfull and beautiful.

Ted, on the other hand, mentioned that maybe he would like to go to the falls below next year..

Happy Easter!

EASTER BLESSING

"On this Easter morning,

let us look again at the lives we have been so generously given

and let us let fall away the useless baggage that we carry –

old pains,

old habits,

old ways of seeing and feeling

-- and let us have the courage to begin again.

Life is very short,

and we are no sooner here than it is time to depart again,

and we should use to the full the time that we still have.

We don't realize all the good we can do.

A kind, encouraging word or helping hand

can bring many a person through dark valleys in their lives.

We weren't put here to make money or to acquire status or reputation.

We were sent here to search for the light of Easter in our hearts,

and when we find it we are meant to give it away generously.

The dawn that is rising this Easter morning is a gift to our hearts

and we are meant to celebrate it and to carry away

from this holy, ancient place the gifts of healing and light

and the courage of a new beginning."

John O'Donohue