Sunday, 29 December 2024

South Bald Rock remote campsite- Girraween National Park, Queensland. 16km return.

 


A quick trip down to the Queensland/ New South Wales border region on Christmas Day.

I hadn't visited beautiful Girraween National Park for over 20 years.  Fun fact: I camped in the park for around 5 months at one point in 2003 while working for a nearby winery.  The tent came down every morning and I played a little game of dodge the park rangers (who am I kidding, they knew I was there and they could have kicked me out any time they chose to) and learnt to exist and subsist on canned food and muesli bars.

Kinda like an average day on a long trail.

The easy, undulating wander into South Bald Rock remote campsite is accessed by a tiny sloping car park you will see on the right hand side a few hundred metres before arriving at the Mt Norman day use area.  

Wherever you are coming from, head for Wallangara, Queensland and then jump onto Mt Norman Road.

A few kilometres before the day use area is reached, there is a farm gate that requires opening and shutting as you drive through. However it was bent as all hell and busted up and smashed off it's post -presumably by drunk bogans on Christmas day- when I headed back home the next day.  

Otherwise the Google directions are solid and the trail starting point is easy to locate.

I chose to park in the day use area overnight, (I really don't know why) and walk down the road to the stone arch where the sloping car park and the walk begins.  

My Suunto measured 8km each way from the day use carpark, a relaxing 2 hours point to point.

Map sourced from Google maps.


Mapping sourced from AllTrails.

I found the temperature quite a bit cooler and far less humid than where I currently reside 200 kilometres north of Girraween.  There's a bit of elevation gain and whopping huge granite boulders and cypress pines and stringybarks and wattles sprinkled about the landscape.  

Kick off under the stone arch and push past the stone cottage that appears on your left, follow the fire trail, hop a few creeks and you will skirt some sloping granite and bump into a flat cleared area with a 'no fires' sign and you are there.


I left my pack at the campsite and hiked up the granite to the top.  

There is no formed path, just follow the line of least resistance and wear footwear with solid lugs, you'll be right.

Stupendous views and as the campsite has to be booked (more information below) and it was Christmas day and only one booking can be made per day, I was the only person up there and I had the blue skies and the sunshine and entire place to myself.  Weirdly though, I was constantly picking tiny spiders off my arms and legs.  And no I wasn't off my guts on mushies either.  


Campsite bookings can be made via the Queensland Parks website here.

Water was collected from a trickling stream just behind the 'no fires' sign.

I utilised the AllTrails online, downloadable mapping on my phone for directions.

I chucked my tent up and got baked and snoozed and dozed and read and eventually slept 12 hours straight through to the next morning.  Wallabies thudded about and black cockatoos ripped up the tops of tall gum trees.

Next morning: a no brainer retrace back along the same path (mind you I still managed to head off in the wrong direction for 30 minutes, dumbass) and back to the hectic world of post Christmas Australia.

Fuckin awesome to be back in Girraween, love this protected area!  Go get it.

Tuesday, 17 December 2024

End of year wrap December 2024


I've had a hard year, a dark year.  A large, smelly bag of dicks.
At times it has been utterly bleak, loaded with loss and change and also oddly hopeful as well. 

It was all about putting on my big boy pants and pushing through the shit stain, yeehaw! 

I don't usually take life so seriously and I don't plan on doing so in 2025 but it was what it was this year.

That's the bad stuff.   
I did however have a blast smashing dusty trails and road tripping around the massive continent of Australia.  
Hiking and travel, hell yeah!




I noticed our prolific, vocal birdlife in every corner of the country.  Australia is chock full of interesting birds, I just opened my eyes and ears for the first time -probably chasing a distraction- and realised how incredible Australian birdlife is. 
Brolgas, Apostlebirds, King parrots and Willy Wagtails.  This shit gets me excited now.  I am proof that when you hit 50 trips around the sun turning into a bird enthusiast is a very real and terrifying possibility.  
You are warned. 

Bush stone curlew cruising around central Cairns.


I experienced some very sad wildlife encounters (think kangaroos with broken bones and many emus and goats stuck in fences, I'll keep how I dealt with these issues to myself)) and also a few soul stirring ones like when I found an abandoned but very plucky new born lamb right at the end of a hike.  





She wouldn't stop bunting into me and baaing and insisting on some much needed help.  Fair enough right.  I scooped her up, all skinny, woolly and noisy as all hell and I hunted down a local carer to take her in.  
Latest update is Sadie the lamb is loving life on a hobby farm!  Win.  

Much respect to any and all animal rescue carers, you beautiful fuckin legends. 


I've relocated to South East Queensland where it's warmer and I can grow food throughout most of the year compared to the brief summer growing season in Tasmania.  

I yearned for a change of scene for years and now I am single and without pets and can pack most of my possessions into a small Suzuki I just wandered around Australia until I found a job I liked doing and a house to live in.  

Here's the good stuff:


Fav brew was this collaboration between Stone & Wood and Mountain Culture.

I spent a month driving around the Snowy Mountains and then hiking the Hume and Hovell Trail from Yass to Albury again.  There was a wild brumby aerial cull in this area at the time but I sighted dozens of horses afterwards while walking and driving around. 

I visited Mt Buffalo for the first time.  Fantastic views and easy walking trails, so many people packed into a small area though.


The Hume and Hovell was a smidgen busier than my thru hike a few years previously but I still managed to snag lovely, serene campsites all to myself every night
.

I spied this sign all over Australia, the fun police are out and about!

Crossing the windy Nullarbor Plain from Adelaide to Western Australia.

I played relief Cattle Station Cook again for a few months in various locations and enjoyed utilising the Yellowstone cookbook to knock up some delish Tex Mex nosh.
Saying that, I reckon I'm done with FIFO mining work and living on remote cattle stations now.  




I re-hiked the Northern portion of the Heysen Trail from Quorn to the Flinders Ranges and back again (yo-yo).  Absolutely stunning landscapes, loads of native wildlife and a seriously under rated walking track.  The Heysen is my top Aussie long trail.


I ran an Ultramarathon in Brisbane and journeyed up to Far North Queensland and visited Townsville (above), Cairns and Magnetic Island.  First time up in that part of the world in 20 years.

is an easy to read, old school memoir of the first non stop walk from Florida to Canada on the Eastern Continental Trail.  Badass.

This Spotify wrap up of my listening habits surprised me; I thought there would be more Colby Acuff and Flatland Cavalry in the top 5 but there you go.