Returning from The Sphinx as the heat began to ramp up a visit to the underground creek sounded ideal.
If nothing else the name was cool.
A short drive from our camp took us up into the surrounding hills. The car park is well signposted and gives access to both the Underground creek trail and Dr Roberts Waterhole.
The walk out to the underground section the creek is just over a 1km and fairly flat.
So what the hell is it?
This section of creek drops down through boulders into a a short section of old lava tube
If you find the top secret… I mean really obvious entry it’s such a cool feature
of course we spend no time scrambling down
It’s a short section but well worth exploring a bit.
Just upstream we scrambled up past this feature. Belatedly we found an easy trail that bypasses around the little cliff line up to a sunny platform that’s worth a look
iddy biddy baby canyon
iddy biddy baby water dragon
big dyke
On the way back we made the detour to Dr Roberts waterhole. It’s a nice spot for a dip.
We’d spend another night in Girraween before hitting the road and head towards Cranky Rock
The trail out to the Sphinx was longer but far less steep than what we did yesterday to the Pyramid summit but the day was meant to be even hotter so we got an early start.
The trail winds it’s way up a gentle ridge and there is plenty to explore just off track
I’t a tad over 3.5km out to the Sphinx, gentle uphill most of the way.
Given the weather forecast of heat heat and more heat we opted not to do the side trip to the top of the castle.
The Sphinx
More like Darth Vader or Batman if you ask me
A short skip further down the trail gets you to turtle rock. The track ends here and you could scramble up but, again with the day heating up, we just have morning tea then head back to camp.
By the time we get back we’ve worked up a sweat and decide it’s a good time to visit an underground creek.
Finishing up our coastal sojourn we head west. Our plan was to come back down the western line.
As usual we had planned to pack a fair bit in to a short time.
The Western line probably isn’t in the forefront of most peoples minds as a summer trip. We are not most people
Are we crazy? asks one of us
Yeah. says the other as if it was the most obvious answer in the history of obvious answers.
The fact was summer was when we both had time off so…
Our first destination was Bald Rock.
I’d never heard of it but Kylie said it was something she really wanted to see.
It’s right on the Qld border and part of the New England Granite belt, which was formed about 250million years ago. It’s called the New England granite belt because, you know, nothing resembles Old England more than goannas running across massive granite domes…
Anyhoo
We pull into the car park and cook up a breakfast then make our way up to the trailhead.
There are several walk options, from super short to all day. We opt for the summit walk.
A reasonably short walk leads us to the base of the massive granite dome. This point is wheel chair accessible and if its as far as you get it still bloody impressive.
A mountain of granite towers above.
White reflectors stuck on the rock were the only indicators of a path up.
Of course we follow them. Mostly
It was steep.
Jokes
It’s a little steep but not *that* steep
It’s a short, punchy walk up to the summit and it was spectacular.
Rising 260m above the surrounding terrain, Bald Rock is the largest granite monolith in Australia and the colours are amazing, even on an overcast morning.
as it levels out we pass a few boulders and suddenly this view bursts into view
There is something humbling about big terrain. Human trivialities seem… Trivial
These guys were everywhere and they were curious but they were friendly enough. The bee not the warn out merrells.
We share the summit with several other groups. Families, grey nomads and, us. (There is a song in there somewhere)
We return to the car and back track a little to our camp site in Boonoo Boonoo.
sleepwhenwearedead 