For a while now Soren has been a keen mountain climber. His first conquest was Mt. Arawang right near our home and, really, a very gentle start to his mountain climbing. Perhaps that was just as well as he was only 4 when he tackled Mt. Arawang.
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| Ready to head up the track to Mt Arawang |
Since the first conquest we have climbed Mt Taylor and Mt Majura.
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| About to head up Mt Taylor |
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| Made it! At the Mt Taylor trig point |
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| Having lunch at the top of Mt Majura under the watchful, and hopeful, eyes of the resident magpies |
To add another element into the adventure camping has been added to the excursions.
In late January we headed out to Mt Coree to both camp and climb Mt Coree. There is a camping ground at the foot of the mountain and after a latish start to the trip we eventually arrived at the camping ground and set up camp. We had the place to ourselves. That was the advantage of doing the trip on a Sunday. By the time we ate dinner and headed up the mountain the sun was setting. That meant interesting light but a dark walk down the mountain. Even so it was a great adventure for 5 year old Soren and 7 year old Astrid.
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| Tents set up |
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| Dinner underway |
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| Heading up Mt Coree |
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| The sun had already gone down before we reached the top |
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| Sitting up the top of Mt Coree in the gathering gloom |
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| Carfully putting out our camp fire after breakfast |
Soren and I tackled Mt Ainslie next. Yes, we were ticking off all the mountains close to the urban area.
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| Soren about to tackle Mt Ainslie (24 January 2019) |
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| Having a well earned snack up at the top |
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| One of the views from the track on the way down |
Easter saw a return trip to Mt Coree. The aim was to climb the mountain in daylight. While our first stay at the Mt Coree camping ground was very peaceful as we had the place to ourselves our second visit was very different. There were quite a number of other campers and a significant number of day trippers heading up the mountain, mostly in 4 wheel drives although the odd vehicle was just an ordinary sedan ... and these did not make it to the top! Many of the 4WDs sported P-plates! There was a group of cyclists who tackled the mountain, too. Quite a challenge.
We were certainly the exception as we headed up the mountain on foot.
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| A timely warning on teh way up Mt Coree |
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| A view from the track across the ranges |
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| And there were definitely cliffs and long drops! |
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| We made it ... Astrid, Antony and Soren with the fire spotters tower in the background |
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| Astrid standing under the trig point at the top of Mt Coree |
Camping locally during the winter was not the best option for our next trip. Instead we headed down the coast. Leaving just before 9 o'clock on Sunday morning meant that we could do some short coastal walks before an overnight camp followed by a mountain assault. This time it was Pigeon House Mountain.
The short walks were centered on the Meroo area. The first one took us down to the lake and the beach. It was a chilly day and the the wind was whipping spray off the top of the quite small waves. There was plenty to see along the track including a big, old tree that had a burnt our hollow. It was still going strong.
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| Astrid and Soren standing inside the tree |
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| The tree is in the middle of the photo right next to the track |
There were some great geological features.
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| Astrid investigating the composition of the layers |
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| And there were some striking layers |
Then there was the lake which must have had a reasonable population of fish given the bird activity in the area.
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| Meroo Lake |
We continued on down onto the beach until the cold wind got to us and we headed back to the car park.
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| Spray blowing off the top of the waves |
After lunch we headed off along another of the tracks which took us to a lookout.
On returning to the carpark it was agreed that it was time to head for the camping ground at Yadboro on the Clyde River. Once we left teh Princes Highway the road went through various stages of roughness getting progressively worse the further we went. It was a relief to finally arrive at the camping ground. After inspecting the area and noting where the other groups were camped, there were only three other groups there when we arrived, we selected a spot and set up camp. There was running water in the nearby river and two toilets a short walk away.
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| I'm pleased we were not tackling this mountain ... at least not from this side! |
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| Anto quickly had the fire going and dinner underway |
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| It didn't take us long to have our tents up and set up for the night |
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| Sunset produced some glorious colour on the clouds that were rushing by |
The highlight of the night was not the food, although that was pretty good thanks to Anto, but the wombat. We girls were heading up to the toilets when Astrid discovered a wombat just behind her. It didn't seem at all fussed by our presence and we saw it again as we returned to our camp. The wombat eventually wandered into our area and Anto said that it was still wandering around a 1 o'clock in the morning.
We had a very windy night. Fortunately the tents stayed put. The wind died down a little after 3am only to be replaced by rain which had cleared by the time we got up.
After breakfast we broke camp, loaded all ouf stuff into the car and headed for the objective for the trip: Pigeon House Mountain.
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| Nothing like driving through the Aussie bush ... lovely tall trees |
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| One of the creek crossings |
We finally arrived at the Pigeon House Mountain carpark which was surprisingly full given that it was a Monday. It didn't take us long to get moving towards the start of the track.
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| Heading up the track |
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| A cave caused by the erosion of some of the rock layers |
In the first km we climbed 243m. There were loads of steps on the track and they varied in both the height of the step and how the steps had been formed. In some cases tree roots had been used. All in all it was a pretty tough first km.
The second km was fairly flat walking with only 45m of climb.
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| There were some great views |
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| Our objective in the background |
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| Astrid and Soren sitting on teh first of teh steps/ladders |
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| Looking across some of the rugged country |
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| A cliff, anyone? |
We stopped for a break and snack just before we hit the final part of the track which were steps which ended looking like ladders the closer we got to the top.
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| Right at the top of the mountain it was crowded and we eventually found a spot to sit down and have a snack before heading down. |
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| Looking towards the coast from the top of Pigeon House Mountain |
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| It is a long dropdown from the top |
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| Astrid getting ready to do the descent |
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| Astrid on her way down with Anto helping Soren down the next section. Note the area of steps on the right of the photo. They were quite a distance down. |
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| Looking out past the rock face ... yes, we were going down that! |
Once at the bottom of the steps/ladders it was once again on a track with lots of steps. It was a relief to get to the middle section with just a modest slope before tackling the final section with the many and varied stepdowns.
The flora along the track was constantly changing. There were quite a few plants in flower. Of special note was a glorious banksia:
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| One example of the banksia that I came across |
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| Another of the banksias ... with Astrid's hand indicating just how big it was. |
All up we covered 5.33km. The total ascent was 477m. It took us 3 hours 32 minutes and 13 seconds from start to finish. This time included the 32 minutes that we had stopped for breaks.
I'm sure there will be more camping trips and other mountains to climb in the near future.
