Bald Rock walk

Left home at 5.30am to be at the Cunningham's Gap carpark by 7am, in time to head off down the wrong track. So started on the right track at 7.20 and was on top of Mt Cordeaux by 8.30 having walked through spookily misty forest. Cleared countless spiders webs on the way so I was sure that no one had walked the path before me today. From Mt Cordeaux the view was clear to the west but a solid wall of white to the east. I watched the dense mist roll around Mt Cordeaux from the east to completely envelop the peak in minutes.

By 9.14am I was on Bald Rock, initially with views to the west between streams of mist blowing in from the east. The air was warm but the mist was quite cold. After a few minutes the mist thickened until there were no views in any direction and it was very quiet indeed. After a cuppa the descent started at 9.40am with grey rainclouds rolling in over the peaks. On the way down passed eight walker - four with poles - on their way up.

The waterfall at the big switchback was flowing strongly (see pic below), so I stopped there for a few minutes to take in the beautiful sound. By 11.30 I was back to the carpark having avoided making a blood donation to the many leaches that were out today.

Gap to Gap via Mt Coot-tha

Today Spence and I walked from the end of Paten Rd in The Gap to the end of Moggill Rd also in The Gap, via Mt Coot-tha. According to the signs along the way it's about 6.5km, but it feels further.

The route is basically our Paten Track from Paten Rd to the pond, Maculata Track to Sir Samuel Griffith Drive, Stringybark Track to the top of Simpson's Falls, the northern track of Eugenia Circuit, the northern section of Fairywren Circuit to Grey Gum picnic area, south on Sir Samuel Griffith Drive to Range View picnic area, then back down to The Gap via Highwood Road trail and Moggill Road Trail.

Gap - Simpson's Falls walk

Wet weather and alternate trails.



I haven't done a wet weather walk in years, so today I took advantage of the rain and cool temperature and did the walk from Paten Rd in The Gap to Simpson's Fall picnic ground - with some variations.

When Spence and I did this walk a couple of days ago, I noticed a flat on the other (southern) side of the creek-line from the junction at the start (western end) of the Quarry Trail , Kulgun Circuit, and Paten Rd Track. At the time Spence and I speculated on whether it might be an old vehicle track, such as a fire trail. Today, not far along the Paten Rd Track, I crossed the creek-line through heavy undergrowth to find out. Sure enough there was an old vehicle track. It's actually two tracks cut side by side - one higher, one lower - running parallel to the southern bank of the creek-line. The lower track looks like the older of the two as the trees overgrowing that track are higher (at around 10m) than those on the higher track (at around 3m). I followed the tracks west initially and found an easy by well hidden narrow access track from the sign at the junction mentioned above. Following the tracks east they peter out as they drop to cross a minor north-south watercourse with an old rusted iron pipe (see picture below), and then reappear after climbing back out of the watercourse. About 30m past the watercourse there were a couple of flat rocks, one atop the other (see photo below), on the left hand (northern) side of the track. Looking south and uphill from the rocks I could see what I thought was the walking track we usually use which runs from the pond at grid 966624 (where the eastern ends of the Paten Track and Quarry Trail meet) up the hill to meet the Bardon Trail. After following the overgrown tracks about another 170m east to where the turn left and peter out as they meet the creek-line, I went back to the stacked rocks. From the rocks I headed south up the hill to meet the walking track just below the big stump and bench seat at appx grid 962626, not long before the track meets Bardon Trail.

From there I took the usual route through to Simpson's Falls picnic area. Along the way it rained heavily providing the lovely wet weather walk I was hoping for. Simpson's falls were flowing much better than when I was there a couple of days ago - maybe 20 litres per minute compared to 1 litre per minute last time. Some 200m along the track from the upper cascade of Simpson's Falls I noticed an old wooden bridge, which I have never noticed before (see photo below). The bridge had no railings but was still very solid, and was on the path the track used to take.

Here are some photos (all taken with my phone so not great quality):

Gap - Simpson's Falls walk

Today Spence and I did the walk from Paten Rd in The Gap to the Simpson's Fall Picnic ground. This walk starts near our home, so it is the walk we do most often. Nonetheless, it's been some months since I've done it.

We started at 11.30am and finished at 1.10pm, after taking our time and stopping to look at various tree and plants along the way. Normally we take the Maculata Track from the pond at grid 966624, over the un-named hill with the comms tower on the summit (grid 957626), to cross Sir Samuel Griffith Drive at the start of the Stringybark Track. For a change we took the Bardon Trail passing directly beneath the comms tower. We haven't taken this track before, so it was interesting to see the tower and the discarded machinery nearby.

Everywhere there was new growth of grass, bushes, and trees due to the recent rains. However, despite the rain the water level in the pond was still about 1.5m below the outflow level. The eucalypts we saw had nearly all completed their shedding of bark, and some had striking new bark of green or pink.

The falls were flowing (finally!), but only just - maybe 1 litre per minute across the whole width of the cascade.

Here's a map of the area:



Here's a capture of the same map as an overlay on Google Earth:



And some photos:

The Team on Ngungun

Today we had a work team-building day for which we went to the Sunshine Coast. We had a great fair dinkum pub lunch at the Beerwah pub, then walked up Ngungun. I really enjoyed seeing everyone on the summit, even though there were more than a couple of bemused faces. Hopefully Baz and I can convince a few of the team to come on some of our adventures.

Here's some photos, some of which were taken by Brant (brantwinter.com):

Levuka trip

The first combined Fry/Wallace family camping trip. We gave the kids a day off school to make a long weekend and went camping in Northern New South Wales. Brant had told me about a private 4WD and camping reserve called Levuka, and I had spent a few months checking out the informative website. The main attractions for being that dogs are allowed, and campfires are encouraged (firewood provided by the owner).

Pauly and I packed up the cars to near bursting (his Caprice and my Navara) on Friday morning, loaded in Spence, Grace, Taylor, and Harvey (the Cavoodle), and headed off in the Navara. Mikarla and Kath followed in the evening with Nath and Jaz.

It was an enjoyable weekend of relaxing, kicking the footy, tending the fire, and a bit of walking. The kids hadn't been camping before with a campfire, and enjoyed the experience greatly. We were really just feeling properly relaxed on Sunday when it was time to leave, so an extra day or so would have been perfect - maybe next time.

I'd like to camp somewhere like this again.

Here's some photos: