Bush Walk 1: Bare Rock Track (Main Range NP)

Northern peak of Mt Cordeaux

I have felt for a while now that life is a cycle. Work all week, two days to catch up at home, then back to work again. Week in, week out, it all seems the same. So recently I decided I need to do something about it. Two opportunities popped up – the first one is a book club which I joined and am enjoying very much. The second is the chance to do 12 bush walks around my local area. It’s funny, I’ve lived in the area all my life, we have spectacular scenery along the mountain ranges and I have seen very little of it.

I found local tour guides Horizon Guides that run bush walks so I jumped at the chance. The first of the twelve walks was today. Here is their description of the walk:

Walk 1: Bare Rock Track (Main Range NP) 12.6km return. Easy.

Date: Sunday 4th March

Description: Our introductory walk is an easy outing that begins at Cunningham’s Gap. Much of the track is through rich sub-tropical rainforest. In places the track touches on to the basalt escarpment affording magnificent views of the Fassifern Valley framed by Giant Spear Lilies.

Starting at 757m we contour gradually to 1168m. At around 1000m stands of Antarctic Beech trees become a feature of the forest. The track culminates at Bare Rock, the perfect spot for a relaxed lunch. Beautiful views extend north along the Great Divide and west over Goomburra. We return by the same route – this time losing altitude all the way.

So at 7:30am we gathered at Aratula before driving up to Cunninghams Gap. I was wondering how we would go as it had showered all day yesterday and I heard rain on the roof at 5:00am today. It was sunny in Aratula but as we headed up the Great Dividing Range, we drove into the clouds. It was much cooler up there – quite pleasant in fact. At around 8:20am, we set off into the mist.

A string of ripe fruit hanging from a Walking Stick Palm

A massive Brush Box!

The base of the Brush Box

I love walking in misty cooler weather. This was perfect. An advantage to this weather was the additional things on display. Not only did we have water everywhere, we had all kinds of interesting insects and animals around. The gullies were all running, the water droplets were hanging from the spider’s webs and from the leaves and the track was soft and moist underfoot. We won’t talk about the leeches……….

These next few photos show some of the critters we saw…

A tiny snail on the bark of the brush box above

Red Triangle Slug No 1

Red Triangle Slug No 2

Red Triangle Slug No 3

A snake trying to sun himself on top of some grass

And not only were the animals interesting, the lichens and fungi were stunning.

As we walked along, the scenery constantly changed.

Piccabeen palms

The moss covered rocks were gorgeous

A birds nest fern

A view of the valley below

On the way, we passed evidence of two brother’s vain search for gold. There were several shafts dug out of the solid rock. It is hard to imagine what drove them to continue and how heartbreaking it must have been when they realised it had all been for nothing.

Looking straight down one of the shafts. I could not see the bottom.

We stopped for morning tea at a lookout but the mist prevented us seeing anything. But then amazingly as we were chatting, the mist lifted and we glimpsed the valley stretched out below us. What a spectacular sight!

Smoko

Misted in……

and then the valley below was revealed.

The southern side of the Mt Cordeaux peak.

We continued along and after a brief climb, we arrived at our destination. Bare Rock. Time for lunch. Teresa even carried in a stove so we could have a cuppa with our lunch!

A view from here would have been glorious but alas, the mist had settled in once more and we couldn’t see a thing.