Girraween and Bald Rock - October 2008

Hello again,

Now that I am back up to speed with my pictures, I have to tell you about an amazing weekend on the New South Wales/Queensland border. Our excursion started with a drive out to Girraween National Park which is located close to the wine growing region of Stanthorpe. This beautiful park has a couple of exposed granite rock features with colourful names like "Castle Rock", "The Sphinx", "The Pyramids" and "Turtle Rock". On arrival we grabbed our climbing gear and walked to Turtle Rock by way of "Butt Rock" - no prizes for guessing which one this is!!!

Being spring there were an amazing array of wild flowers around, lots of them similar to the fynbos found in the Western Cape in South Africa. With the flowers came butterflies and loads of birds that we heard more often than saw!!!

Sunday morning surprised us with a rain shower which heralded the end of safe climbing. Instead we took the long road home via Bald Rock, the southern hemisphere's largest exposed granite batholith...very similar to Paarl Rock (South Africa). This rock stands about 200m above the surrounding forest and offers some lovely and rather strenuous walks.

From Bald Rock we continued along a dirt road past Paddy's Nob to the big tree - a red cedar and finally back to Brisbane.

I hope the pictures give you a sense of how lovely it really is. Otherwise come and see for yourselves!!!

Enjoy

Pete :-)

Butt Rock

The Sphinx

Beer belaying at Turtle Rock

Me climbing at Turtle Rock

...up we go....

Dan and Beer on top of Turtle Rock

Karate Kid .... Beer!

Still life on Turtle Rock

View to The Sphinx and Castle Rock

Whew, thats narrow!!!

Dan bouldering...

Wildlife

Beer leading trad at Turtle Rock

Dan on his way up!

Dan with his back against the wall.... Nope thats the tree!!!

In Girraween Campsite

Bald Rock from below up, uP, UP!!!!!


View from the top of Bald Rock

Scouting a route down

what down that way???


How accidents happen!!

Old lady in the stone??? Pretty cool formation though...

Or is it a horse or a lion??? You decide

Dan boldering on Bald Rock

Wild flowers

Paddy's Nob

This could be in Europe...

BIG RED CEDAR

Can you see me?

HISTORIC PICTURES -Sydney to Brisbane with Frauke

Hi guys....

Not much to say about this one except for, SORRY THAT I HAVEN'T POSTED THEM EARLIER!!

These photos are of the time I spent traveling northwards, with my sister Frauke, from Sydney to Brisbane via the Hunter Valley wine growing region, a relaxing day in Port Maquarie with whales and dolphins, walking around Bellingen and Dorrigo National Park and then via Lennox Head and the infamous Byron Bay to Brisbane.

Enjoy the photos.....

Pete :-)

Breakfast in the Upper Hunter Valley (near Denman)

Upper Hunter Valley

Wine tasting at Rosemount Estate

Posing in the rain at Rosemount Estate (lower Hunter Valley)

Overlooking Bellingen (Near Coffs Harbour)

Forest near Bellingen

Near Bellingen

Our campsite at Bellingen YHA - very nice!!!

Dorrigo Falls

Frauke and me in Dorrigo National Park

Tristania Falls in Dorrigo NP

Crystal Shower Falls in Dorrigo NP

Byron Bay lighthouse

View from our campsite over Byron Bay

Byron Bay (main beach)

View from Mt. Nebo (west of Brisbane)

Hiking around the Mt. Glorius NP

Palm forest View to the Somerset Dam

View from Mt. Mee to the Glasshouse Mountains

Kayaking on the North Pine River

Fraser Island - Aug/Sept 2008

Hi Everybody....

Sorry for the long break in updating my fotos and news from Oz. I (as always) have excuses for this lack of communication.

For a start I am currently in a town called Bundaberg where I have been working for the last 2 months towards getting my VISA extended. The requirements for the extension are 3 months "rural" work which includes fruit picking or packing and I have been employed in various packing sheds (tomatoes, snow peas and avocados) and picking tomatoes. The work is really mindless...which is probably why they need backpackers to come and do it...and the pay is not great either. Anyway Bundaberg has nothing on offer which is worth putting on a BLOG!

The second excuse is that my room in the backpackers was broken into and my backpack containing my camera, mp3-player, knife, hackysack, etc. was stolen...thus no fotos!!! Till NOW!!!!!

So, this weekend to break the long, boring slog of rural work I met Frauke and our friends Johan "Beer", Sarah and Paul from Brisbane for a long weekend on Fraser Island.

Did you know? Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.....

The only way to get onto Fraser Island is by ferry and a 4x4 vehicle is imperative. Fortunately Beer has a 4x4 as well as all the equipment necessary for a great weekend away, including kayaks, fishing rods, BBQs, tents, etc. Friday we landed on Fraser Island at about midday and were fortunate enough to see a Dingo (Australian wild dog) almost immediately...unfortunately I have no picture since we were promised loads of these creatures. We drove up the eastern beach for about 30 kms to where we set up our camp close to the wreck of the "Moheno".

First things first...CATCH DINNER!!!! We were fishing for "Tailor" in the surf. Due to my inexperience I was only able to catch 2 fish all weekend {which I am of course thrilled about :-)} but the pros were pulling in a total of 30+ fish each day. Learning how to bleed "Tailor" resulted in me being covered with blood....as you can see from the fotos. In any case these fish were converted into an exceptionally delicious dinner on 2 occasions!!!!

On Saturday we travelled across the Island to Kingfisher Bay where Sarah and Beer will be getting married next year. A trip of about 30 kms took us about 2,5 hours since the roads are deeply rutted and very sandy, which explains why you can only travel in 4x4 vehicles. After a drink at the bar at Kingfisher Bay Resort we proceded to Central Station for lunch. Central Station was a logging station in the 70's.... can you believe previous generations cut down trees on this world heritage site. After lunch we moved on to Lake McKenzie, one of the many fresh water lakes dotted around the island. The water is crystal clear and cold. If you open your eyes underwater it feels as if you have goggles on because you can still see everything as clearly as on land...incredible!!!! Unfortunately we couldn't spend much time at the lake since it was starting to get late and we still had a long drive ahead of us.

Sunday we drove north along the east coast passed the "Moheno", the Pinnacles, Red Canyon and Champagne Pools to Indian Head (the only volcanic headland on the island) and Waddy Point. On this drive I managed to get us bogged in the soft sand...fortunately Beer was able to extract us again without too much difficulty. It does however make you aware how dangerous it can be if you are driving around with little or no experience!!!

Monday was spent relaxing on the beach in front of the camp until it was time to pack up and head for home!!!!

Now I am back in Bundaberg, looking forward to another 3 weeks of fruit-something-or-other and then moving on as soon as possible. I have decided to head back down to Brisbane for a while to save some more money and then slowly work my way down to Melbourne. But as has been the case with me so often, these plans may change in an instant!!!

Keep watching this site to know where I will be!!!!!!

I hope you are all well

Peter :-)

P.S. Fotos from between Sydney and Brisbane will be uploaded SOON!!!

Camping on the beach- Home sweet home for 3 nights

Setting up the kitchen and living room

My first "Tailor"....

The hunter with the blood to prove it...

Kingfisher Bay Resort (wedding planning)

4x4 tracks on Fraser Island

Lake McKenzie

Guess who in Lake McKenzie?

Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean

The wreck "Moheno" and Beer's trusty 4x4 ..... unfortunately we didn't get to use the kayaks.

"The Pinnacles"

(l-r) yours truly, Frauke, Beer, Sarah

Frauke, Sarah and Beer on Indian Head

Pelicans on Waddy Beach

Champagne Pools

The crew at Champagne Pools

Frauke, Sarah and Beer (hiding)

View to Indian Head from Champagne Pools

Entrance to Red Canyon















Sunset on the way back to Bundaberg