Another beautiful Autumn day, with a chill in the wind to remind me that winter is on its way. Cooler weather will make for better climbing, but the shorter days require additional planning as we soon found out.
We made it to the Paparazzi Cliffs mid morning and set off up the wall. The climbing was enjoyable, with plenty of thin climbing on small feet and hold holds to test our confidence in the strength of the rock. The climbing was further tested by having to constantly stop and look for the next bolt, well camouflaged against the lichen covered rock.
Moving on to the next climb presented more problems, with so many routes in close proximity there were a multitude of bolts to choose from, not knowing which was the correct line to take. Additional bolting had been done since the guide was released with new variant sections appearing making way finding especially difficult.
Still, it was a great day of climbing on some good rock in a beautiful part of the world. With the end of the day approaching I made it to the top of a 50m climb and stopped to sit and take in the amazing afternoon views.
I was back on the ground as the sun was getting lower in the sky, and we started back down the rocky slopes hoping to make it back to the trail before night overtook. We failed.
We made the mistake of aimlessly heading towards lower ground from the cliffs, hoping to pick up the distinct track further along the way. As the scrub was fairly light it was easy to miss the faint tracks, and the rock cairns were easily passed without noticing. Once dark it was nearly impossible to pick up where we should have been.
It was an almost moonless night, and under the canopy of the forest it soon became pitch black around us. Luckily I had a head torch and a hand held GPS, we slid and scrambled down shin deep thick leaf litter, loose scree slopes, down deep ravines, through sections of spiky lantana and too many spider webs to mention, getting turned around endlessly trying to navigate the several gullies we had to cross, all the while carrying backpacks full heavy equipment in low light. It was not a pleasant experience!
Eventually my GPS received some signals through the trees overhead and we found our way back to the exit of the ravine and the continuation of the trail. From there is was a not so simple walk following a sporadic fire trail, and finally through a field of waist high grass until we came out at the beginning of the north east tourist track.
Two and a half hours after we set of, we were back in the car and relieved to be heading home. Tired and sore, but thankful to be safe, we drove back to Brisbane pretty happy with how the day panned out. We will return, and this time remembering to plot a lot more way points on my GPS to ensure a trouble free return trip. Another adventure for the books.
More photos here
