Bald Rock Mountain

Bald Rock
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14th March 2008

Today has been all about walking and some has been pretty heavy walking too. We started out visiting Thunderbolts Hideout. Interesting to think that he lived in this hideout which was so close to the road where he continually worked as a highwayman. The country is heavily wooded and massive granite boulders, not good country for a horse. Further up the bush track was a section of the Brisbane Line. A tank trap had been set up to prevent the advance of the Japanese during WW2. In the photo on the left you can see rotted posts forming two lines. That is part of the trap. When surveying the area and knowing the type of terrain a tank is more suited to, I feel that the instigator had too much time on his hands and a very vivid imagination. The terrain is tank impossible for a start unless they were on the road. But where the tank trap was set up it would be impossible to get a tank into the area. We walked into the bush to see Thunderbolt’s Hideout, then a further 1.3klms to the Tank Traps, & when we finally found these we discovered we could have driven up the road instead of the trying to stick to the bush track. Anyway on the way back we walked on the road, this was much easier.

Safety in the bush

Helen holds up the rock
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So on up the Mt Lindsay Road which was the original Brisbane to Sydney road until we found the turnoff to Bald Rock National Park. A lovely road in through the native trees and the odd animal that was game to run across in front. At the parking area we dutifully signed in as a visitor and paid almost the fee. We only had $6.40 on us so we wrote “Donation” beside it, the fee is $7 per car per day. And off we went with backpack my amateur hand held radio and camera and two bottles of water and some sugar jellies and jelly snakes. The plaque at the beginning said 2.5kilometers easy track and 1.3kilometers straight up, so we decided on the easy track. The sign also said allow 3 hours. The path was reasonable walking for a start, but slowly got heavier and both of us had to stop frequently for a breather. We persevered and we got higher up the track. The boulders of granite started to get bigger and some were huge and some were just perched ready to go again, but had been there for hundreds of years. Ferns, lichens, orchids and some types of gum trees all in an atmosphere of fresher than fresh air.

WW2 tank traps
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Clambering around some of these rocks could get you lost very easily, but Parks have painted white dots on the rocks showing the way to take. In strategic places along the track we found information displays telling us about the points of interest in that area. These also allowed us to have a rest. We kept going up the track and finally it broke out into the opening and we traversed a large sloping granite face and finally followed the white dots to the summit. The view was incredible. The relief to actually get there was incredible too. On the top was a visitors book, a Trig and a plaque giving the distance and direction to some of the local towns.

Now Helen had to decide on walking back the 2.5kilometers the long way back or take a plunge and go straight over the face and descend on the 30degree slope. I walked over the edge and Helen watched and she decided to take the plunge and follow me. It was slow going with Helen holding my shoulder going step for step but once we got to the bottom it was only a short walk back to the car. Our feet and legs paid a price, but we survived.

The next port of call was the Boono Boono Falls and that was a 14K drive into the Boono Boono National Park on the other side of the Bald Rock Park. From the Parking area it was another 300 meters down the mountain track to a lookout. The view again was incredible, a giant chasm and a long divided waterfall and another 300 meters up to the top of the hill and the car park again. So today we climbed a total of 7.1kilometers and we know it too.

One of the biggest flies I’ve ever seen was buzzing about on the top of Bald Rock. Probably a March Fly, but at first I thought it could have been a large bee.

Notice te size of the eyes and feet and the spikes in its back. Some of the other live stock was a lizard out sunning it self by the edge of a rock.

The whole walk was a study of wonders and nature and so much to look at and take in. At the bottom a we spotted a dark blue bird. Seemed happy to come close while we were eating, but wouldn’t come close for a photo. It had very dark blue nearly purple round its eyes and very sleek shiny feathers (Not a crow, if anyone is thinking that)

On our return to the van I cooked up a couple of lamb shanks and roast potatoes and kumara, a bottle of white wine and we’ll be in bed early tonight.

So that is another chapter, we’ll be on the road tomorrow morning, going to Inverell.