Last Friday we left bright and early for our bush walk at Girraween! We got to the National Park around 11:30 to check out a few more items that we would need for the 4 days and then we were off. There were four groups in total that went. Two groups started the route clockwise and the other two went counter-clockwise (or anti-clockwise if you are Australian). We went counter-clockwise. Our group name was Legend...wait-for-it...DAIRY, which consisted of Emy, Nicole, Luke, and I. The other group that was with us most of the time was Threesome which consisted of Nicole Johnson, Erin, and Jacob. Sparky was the instructor who was following us to make sure we didn't get too lost and Steve (our lecturer) followed the other group. The purpose of this trip was for us to use everything we have learned in class to plan a trip and then carry it out. We were not supposed to see the instructors hardly at all, just once in a while on the little side trips (Sparky seemed to fail at not being seen though).
Day 1
Our group headed off on our trek. Since we only had a half day for the first day, we did not have far to go. After we walked about 2.5 km, we stopped at Old Stone Cottage to have lunch. Sparky stopped for lunch with us, but he was rather antisocial so had to give him a hard time. He realized that he was being a grump and lightened up after that. When lunch was finished we headed off again for another kilometer or so. While walking along, we saw our first snake. It was a Black Snake and pretty big. We are guessing it was probably a meter or so long. Quite exciting!
At the river junction it was time for us to take a bearing and go off track. Legend...wait-for-it..DAIRY went first. This first off track was only about 1.5 km and we dominated it! The other group left about 10 minutes after we were off. They did pretty well, but they thought they were lost for a while. It was funny though because we could hear them talking when they thought they were lost. Once we met up again, we were off to our campsite.
The rest of the day we just had to follow a trail so the only time we took out the map was when we came to a junction in the trail. At one point we had to cross a rather deep river. Fortunately there was a log that went all the way across. Some of us were uneasy about crossing the log with our huge packs and the flowing river. Luke went first to make sure the log was steady. He got across and said, "It's not that bad." After stepping off the log, everyone said, "It's not that bad." That phrase stuck with us the rest of the trip. Camp was not far from this river.
Again Sparky caught up with us and took us on a little side trip up South Bald Rock to see the sunset. The walk was probably about .5 km, but we went up 100 meters. The entire mountain was made from granite which was really weird to climb on. I don't really know how to describe it, but basically we could walk all the way up this huge rock. There was so much traction because the granite it pretty jagged. However, the granite is like ice if it gets wet (fortunately we didn't have any rain the entire time we were out there). We got to the top just in time for sunset and it was magnificent. Up on the summit it was pretty chilly with the wind and the sun going down so we didn't stay up there long.
When we got back down to camp we made some dinner. Legend...wait-for-it.. DAIRY had a 2 minute noodle stew. We bought 2 minute noodles and then cut up potatoes and carrots and put peas and corn in it as well. It was very yummy (we ate better on trail than we do back in Lismore). It still gets dark pretty early so we made dinner in the dark and then went to bed almost right away. Since we were in a National Park we could not have a campfire.
For this trip we had to carry 6 liters of water with us because there are only a couple of places to fill up. Unfortunately, Emy's water spilled in her bag so her sleeping bag got drenched. For the night we unzipped my sleeping bag to use it as a blanket. We both froze that night so we got very little sleep.
Day 2
On the second day we wanted to get up early to get up to the summit of South Bald Rock for sunrise. Regrettably, we took too long to get up and moving and the sun rose earlier than expected so we missed it. We still had brekky up on the mount; then it was time to do a little caving.
Sparky took us to this area in the rocks were we could go in. We could either go the short, easy way and see a cute little moss garden or we could go the long, hard way and see a moss garden that is hundreds of years old and not a lot of people have seen. Of course we chose the long, hard way because we are the Legendary Threesome. While going through this cave there were a few areas that were pretty scary to get through. Obviously our phrase, "It's not that bad." was used frequently on this little adventure. Once we made it to the garden, all the cuts and bruises from getting there were forgotten. It was absolutely gorgeous. There were all sorts of mosses growing on everything and huge trees and ferns. Words nor pictures can begin to show how amazing it was. It was even more special because hardly anyone makes it in there to see it. At this point we were on the other side of the mountain so we had to climb up to the summit and then down the other side to pack up camp. We left our area around 9:30 and then we were off for the day.
Most of our day was on trails that were already established so all we had to do was make sure we took the correct trail whenever there was a junction. We walk about 7 km on the trail. It was then time for lunch so we stopped at a picnic area near Bald Rock. At this area we were able to fill up our water and even use a biff.
When lunch was over, Legend...wait-for-it..DAIRY took off up to the summit of Bald Rock. Threesome was pretty tired and decided not to trek up there. They waited a little bit and then took off down the trail towards camp. Sparky went up to Bald Rock with us so we had some time to get to know him a little better. It was such a wonderful site once we reached the top. Like South Bald Rock, the entire thing was granite. At the top we could see for kilometers! There was also a book that we could write in and we of course we got some pretty good pictures. Additionally, while we were up there we picked some wild carrots. They taste just like carrots with a little spice. At this point we decided it was time to get going to camp.
When we got to the bottom of the rock, Sparkles gave us a head start since he was not supposed to be with us. It was not a long walk to camp (roughly 7 km), but there was heaps of uphill sections we had to walk and we were all pretty tired after the long day. It was a relief to be able to take our packs off and stretch once we made it to the campsite. We didn't have anymore side trips for the day so we just enjoyed stretching and watching the sunset from amongst the trees.
For dinner night 2 we had heaps of pasta!! We seriously had to push ourselves to finish all the pasta because we didn't want to have to carry it out with all our other rubbish. Again it was an early night since we had a long day and it was rather cold with no fire. Emy's sleeping bag dried while we were walking in the sun so we both got to sleep in our own sleeping bag. Both of us slept wonderfully!
Day 3
We got to sleep in so we were not up until 7! We got packed up and headed out by 8:00. Day 3 was a big day for us. The first kilometer we walked was just on the trail again. However, then we had to turn off track to do our feature based navigation course. We did wonderfully for this section. Every time Sparkles would radio us for a grid reference we would be spot on! While we were doing this section we saw some wild pigs! There were two adult pigs and two babies! Very cute, but I am glad that did not come close to us! We also saw some huge kangaroos! Some were 2 meters tall! There was also one that had a little joey in her pouch!
Once we made it to the road, it was time for our groups to split again and do our final bearing. Threesome went first this time. They got off on their bearing right away, but since they were so off they found a road that lead to where we were supposed to end up so they had it pretty easy. We left a little after they did. Once again we were doing awesome, but then we got to this area where we could see a road to the north and we should not have been able to see it. It was clear to us that our bearing was off so we looked at the features and figured out where we were. From there we decided to finish the course using features. At this point we accidentally ran into Sparky, and he informed us that the maps were off so if we would have stuck to our bearing we would have been spot on still. Since we knew where we were, we took a new bearing that would lead us to a junction and then we would be able to follow the river to the road. While walking on this new bearing, we came across some awesome waterfalls in the granite. It was so beautiful and not a lot of people see them since they are off trail and not marked on the map. Again we did really well with our bearing, but there were creeks that were not on the map. This made it really confusing to find the junction that we wanted. We crossed so many creeks. Sparky caught up to us and informed us that the creeks we were crossing were unmarked creeks. Again we had to devise a new plan. This time we just decided to head northwest, because we knew that we would hit the road or the river that we wanted. Finally we got out! Sparky informed us that we would have rocked this bearing if we had better maps that were more accurate.
Here we took a lunch break. There was a little creek and an area where we could swim. We spent a good amount of time just lying out in the sun at this little area. The running water was so soothing and the sun felt wonderful!
Sparky took us on another little side trip down to Underground Creek. There were so many waterfalls here! Again it was beautiful! Some of the group climbed down into a little cave to see the creek that went under all the rocks. There was also a spot where we could fill up our water, but if we filled up with this water we would have to put iodine in it to clear the parasites that live in it. I had plenty of water so I did not have to experience this. It was then time to start heading again so that we could make it up Mount Norman in time for the sunset. On this walk we saw an echidna! If it would not have moved we would have just thought it was a plant of some sort. Very cute.
Camp was only about 4.5 km away, but again there was a lot of uphill area. Nicole Johnson had a stuffed up foot, but she was a trooper and we made it with enough time to set up camp before we had to head up for sunset. Nicole Johnson and Erin did not hike up Mount Norman because of Nicole's foot, but the rest of us set off to get up there for sunset. It was quite the hike. There was a mix of granite and land. The granite sections were pretty steep so that took a while, but we made it just in time to see the sun set! What a view it was! We stayed up there for a good amount of time just soaking in the beauty of the scenery and made some good conversation. When we started to head back down it was dark already, but we had our torches and made it down just fine.
It was then time for our final dinner in the bush. The plan for dinner was cous cous and veggies. However, the vegetables went bad for some reason. The bag that they were in leaked in Nicole's bag so all her stuff smelled awful as well. Good thing it was the last night was all we had to say. Since we didn't have veggies, we had a very bland meal of just cous cous, but that was alright. Again it was an early night. We wanted to make it up Mount Norman for sunrise in the morning and it is quite a hike to get up there.
Day 4
We had a pretty cruisy last day since we did not have to go far to get to the bus. We got up at 5 to head up Mount Norman for the sunrise. We got up there and Sparky informed us that the sun might be rising on the other side of the mountain where we could not get to see it. As one could imagine we were all very disappointed. However, Sparkles was wrong and it came up right in front of us! There is nothing like eating brekky on the side of a mountain and watching the sunrise! After it rose we went up a little further to an area where we could do some more caving.
The first one we went in was pretty sweet. There were not as many jumps and sketchy parts as there were when we were on South Bald Rock, but it was still a blast and I finally got a little more comfortable climbing all over. There were a couple of sections that were pretty tight, but we all made it through them and had fun while doing it. After we made it out from this cave, we set off for the Sphincter.
I was not too keen to go into the Sphincter, it was described as a little tube that one has to lie on their belly and wiggle through with dealing with water and basically no room to move. Luckily, I have some good friends that talk me into doing these crazy adventures. We went in with Nicole leading the way then Sparkles, me, Emy, Nicole Johnson, Jacob, and Luke followed. Erin decided not to do it because she get claustrophobic. For the first part we were on our hands and knees, but not too far in we had to switch to just lying on our stomachs and scootch through. Sparky knew that I was a little worried about getting stuck so he thought tried to get me to go this other way that anyone would get stuck in! So mean. Then we when we saw light at the end of the tunnel, Nicole and Sparky were out and I was coming up the the hole and Sparky decided it would be funny to put a big boulder in front of the hole. By this time I was a lot more comfortable down there so I found it funny. We all made it out without a problem! We were pretty dirty though.
At this time it was only 9:00 in the morning! The walk to the bus was only about 4 km so we just relaxed on Mount Norman and chatted. Then we headed down to camp and did a little debrief, packed up and then we were off. About a kilometer in we decided to stop for an early lunch because we would rather sit at a pretty area than have to wait around for the bus. Finally we set off on our final leg of the trip. All along the trip we were supposed to tie a piece of fabric at certain areas and radio Sparky to let him know where we were and what direction we were heading, but we seemed to fail at this for the first couple of days so we decided to tie all our pieces of cloth around the locked gate to let Sparky know we were on the right track. We got down to where the bus was to pick us up. There we had to clean out our stoves and return the stuff that we checked out at the beginning of the trip. The bus was a little late, but we just enjoyed taking in a little more sun and scenery. We got back to Lismore around 4:30 and I had the best shower of my life!
We had heaps of fun on this trip and got to see so much wildlife. It was great to get out of Lismore and see some more of Australia. The weather was perfect for us the entire time we were out there! Before heading off they were forecasting rain all weekend and we didn't get any. We were so thankful since we would not have been able to do any of the granite stuff if it had rained.
This week is going to be a pretty chill week for me. I just have to do a couple of small assignments that won't take long at all. If the weather stays nice, we are planning a day trip to Mount Warning for Saturday. Nicole and Emy have heaps of assignments due soon so they will be busy working on them. I am hoping for sun all week so I can be outside instead of cooped up in the brick.
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