Last night I had a fairly early night, but just as I was dropping off a car alarm started sounding right outside my room. I did wonder whether it was mine, but it turned out the be next door's Land Rover; once they'd managed to silence it, I was straight off to the land of nod!
Awake this morning with the alarm at 06:00, and again no rush for anything today; into breakfast just after 07:30, and away from the hotel at 09:00 and yesterday's list of things to do that I'd ignored. Everything that I had was on or near to the road up to Mount Buffalo, so it made sense to start at the far end (it was the same road in and out) and work my way back. After an hour the sealed road ended, and the final 2km was on a pretty rough gravel. The car that I have really isn't suited to gravel roads, but I made it up to the car park for The Horn.
The path up to the summit was 1km of steps, but at least it was well formed and maintained. As I climbed the views were fantastic, although there was a haze again. I reached a spot where suddenly handrails appeared, and I was taken through a tight passage between the rocks before a final climb up to the top.
There were fantastic panoramic views, and after a few minutes I was joined by a climber who was preparing his ropes so he could descend then take the hard way up. He reckons that there is a lot of burning off of fields happening at the moment, so there's loads of smoke in the air that accounts for the haze. Burning of fields isn't something we see back home any more, but I do remember from my childhood.
Then back down the path to the car park, and a visit to the Eagles Nest; a little hut at the car park that has great views for those who cannot climb the path to The Horn.
Back down the gravel road and onto the sealed surface with some relief, I then headed for Cathedral View. A 750 metre path that climbed away from the valley bottom via a load of steps followed which bought me to a viewpoint for a rock outcropping that was stunning. I was at about this time I realised that perhaps I didn't have as much drinking water as I would have liked for the day, and I was remote enough that there weren't any handy shops or stops to refill. A useful lesson to learn early in the Australian leg before it really matters!
Back down to the car, and as I approached there was a cloud of either wasps or bees around the front of my car; it looked like the squished insects on the front were providing a real feast for them.
Back onto the road again, I continued my journey back down the mountain, and my next stop was at a place called Leviathan ..... a massive balanced rock that was just too big for me to figure out how to photo or video .... far bigger than a house but delicately poised.
Then onwards once more, and a stop at a roadside lake; for some reason I'd not expected to encounter a lake up in the mountains, but there it was.
Down the road once more, and there was a junction, so I decided to have a look right to see what was there; totally unplanned I arrived at probably the best spot of the whole day. I followed the signs to 'The Gorge' with no idea what to expect, and on parking the car was presented with a plethora of stunning viewpoints overlooking a sheer 300 metre drop.
There was also a trail which promised a further two viewpoints, so I took this to explore what was there; down through the forest, I arrived at Billsons Lookout and Haunted Gorge Lookout before making my way back to the car.
Back onto the road, I rejoined the main route back down the mountain, and had a stop at Mackeys Lookout before going in search of waterfalls.
There were a couple of waterfalls in close proximity, so I thought that would be a fine close to the days sightseeing. I pulled off in the parking space beside the road, and started up the path to Ladies Bath Falls 10 minutes away, and Eurobin Falls just a further 10 minutes up the same path.
Ladies Bath Falls was a bit more like it; the Aussie falls so far haven't been as great as the Kiwi ones, but Ladies Bath Falls was getting closer. From a bridge crossing the stream I had a great view, and was able to get a bit closer by scrambling over some rocks.
Up the path once more, and some steps bought me to the bottom viewpoint for Eurobin Falls; there was just a trickle of water coming down this one. The falls themselves were a wide clear section of granite, and again in full flow must be something to behold, but right here and now it was just a trickle that was a touch disappointing. Perhaps I need to adjust my expectations until I get to the Norther Territories where they'll just be coming out of their wet season.
From here, I returned to the car and made my way back to the town of Bright where I managed to rehydrate ..... OK, so I had a beer, but just the one as I have the car still ..... it's much too far to walk into town from where I'm staying. Then back to my base for a couple of cups of tea, and a catch up in my blogs, vlogs and diary.
Today has been an excellent day, and tomorrow I head for Melbourne for the Easter weekend; I'm told that there are AFL Aussie Rules games on, so perhaps that's something I can experience .... a bonus if I get to see one in the MCG as well! Let's see what happens.
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