If you were to ask me what my favourite day of the week is, I’d simply look at you, smile a big smile and inform you: “Friday is my favourite day, ever”. I think it started when I was a baby, probably on the day I was born…a Friday. My love of Friday continued throughout school (I always seemed to have sport on a Friday) and then into my working life. Particularly now, as I work part-time, I don’t ever work Fridays. I just love Fridays. I can’t exactly put my finger on why I love it so; perhaps the thrill of the weekend ahead, the promise of new memories, adventures. Or perhaps at this stage of my life, it just means two lunchbox-free days 🤔. Anyway, Friday is always on my mind – I love them!

Well, make sure you don’t ask my other half if his favourite day is also a Friday. He will stare at you with ice in his heart, and say he hates Fridays. He’ll tell you that Fridays are the day where everything goes wrong, a reminder that he has to work Saturdays, and that we’re all doomed to a hell-hole of despair. He will tell you that Fridays always remind him of the hopelessness of human nature. Brace yourself for the positivity that isn’t, when you talk with Grimace about Fridays.

It’s really only one of a few topics that we’re not on the same page.

Anyway, moving right along from the hell-hole of despair, last Friday was the last* of our summertime Friday afternoons (until next summer, anyway). And I wanted to mark it with the kids by doing something outdoorsy, something filled with adventure. Something that included splashing in water. We’re in the Blue Mountains, on the East-coast of Australia, and this summer has been impacted significantly by the 2020–21 La Niña event. This has meant lots of rain and we’ve not had the opportunity to explore our local swimming holes as much as we’d like (and please, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the rainfall. It’s been a heaven in comparison to the the hell that was 2019/2020 summer).

So, with adventure in mind, I packed an afternoon tea picnic, everyone’s swimming and reef shoes, and collected the kids from school. We headed to Blue Mountains National Park in Glenbrook, where we walked down into Glenbrook Gorge. The afternoon was beautifully warm and featured bright blue skies; the creek running at a good speed from the recent rain. Once we’d made our way to bottom of the gorge, the kids and I rock hopped until we found a nice little spot on the creek to swim.

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I had a moment of parent pride and joy, as I watched all three kids splashing in the water, laughing together. The Friday afternoon adventure was so worth the extra effort to get us there, particularly as I was able to watch them enjoy the outdoors.

The Glenbrook Gorge walk starts from the National Park car park, just behind the NPWS Office building. It’s a beautiful and fairly easy walk, being well-marked and easy to navigate. There are a number of stairs, so the walk out is less than lovely, but it’s very achievable – I managed it fairly well whilst carrying a 7.5kg baby on my front and a fully-packed day pack on my back. The kids even managed it with very little complaint.

Anyways, it’s good that today is Friday, as I’ve got Friday on my mind. Just don’t ask Grimace.