From Booboo Booboo we do a bit of a down and around, crossing the boarder into Qld and into Girraween.
Bald Rock and Girraween are not that far apart as the crow flys, but we aren’t crows and the road needs to circle around the mountainous country in between.
We roll into an almost empty camp ground, the Christmas/New years crowd have dispersed. Just about everyone else we see here we saw at Boonboo Boonoo. Haha
We have a couple of nights here and planned to smash out as much as possible. but the heat was oppressive so we cut our list of things to do from “Everything all at once” to our “must sees” and worked out a bit of a plan for best time of day to see the things. In between we do something rare for us. We chill out and enjoy the camp ground.
We thought we’d start our stay with a quick walk up to the Granite arch.
On our way to Bald Rock we had stopped at “Thunderbolt’s hideout.” and joked at the time that if we didn’t stop on the way in we wouldn’t stop on the way back as we’d be sick of looking at Granite tors and boulders .
Narrator: Neither Craig nor Kylie got sick of looking at granite tors or boulders.
A big storm role din with lots of thunder and lightning so we dashed back to camp.
The storm passed over without rain and the sky cleared so we thought a late afternoon walk up the Pyramid would be just the ticket.
It’s about 2km from the campground to the summit, so not a big walk.
But it’s steep.
While not the steepest signposted tourist track we’ve been up (I’d probably give that to the Red Track at Bungonia) added to the steepness is the exposure.
Grippy shoes and dry weather is a must for this one. Once the rock is wet you’d have more grip on an ice skating rink.
The first part is along a clear easy path. This leads to some stairs. They lead to a big granite slab. White dots lead the easiest path up. All good so far
Then comes the traverse.
You make your way out, angling up. To the right the granite slab towers above. To your left a steep slope dropping off to nothing but air.
It’s terrifying but worth it. Say a couple coming back down.
(Belatedly, on the way down, we find there is a less terrifying option of veering right and around the back side of the boulders above)
Past traverse its another little scramble before you round a corner to views of the infamous balancing rocks, defying gravity (for the meantime) right on the edge of the dome.
The view across to the second “Pyramid” and equally impressive granite dome.
The aboriginal name for these peaks seems to have been Terrawambella. Early pastoralists mapped them as “the domes” at some point they became known as the Pyramids.
With the sun sitting low in the west the light was magical and we had the views all to ourselves.
I only recently learnt that Cunningham skinks have the ability to change their colour a bit, sort of like a chameleon, to help blend into the background.
It’s been a good day. We have punched out a couple of short but steep walks. Basketswamp Falls, the Granite Arch and the Pyramid.
We get back to camp as another storm rolls through. The temperature was due to ramp up again tomorrow so we plan an early morning trek out to the Sphinx
But not before a bit of late night herping
