Roy's Peak Track I

Early morning for me today. My alarm was going at 2.45 am 😱😱
I got dressed a d drove to the kitchen area as my camping spot is at the last end of the campground. I had a fast breakfast and fixed some sandwiches for the way as well and then I left the campground shortly past 3.30 to drive to Roy’s Peak carpark.
It’s only a 5 km drive so I started to walk at 3.45 am.
It was totally dark still and the stars were so good to see also the milky way. I even saw a shooting star 😊
I had a flashlight with me, which was really good because the path is very uneven with a lot of rocks and holes around.
The first part of the track was really steep, I was really struggling with that part.
It is really different to walk in the middle of the night when you can't see a thing and have no clue about what you are actually up to 🙈
For me it was good, don't know if I would have keep on going if I knew what I had in front of me 😬😂
The only thing I knew is, that’s a 5-6 h return track.
Well, I had to stop quite a few times as it was so steep and so though to get up. Luckily the track got a little bit better after around 30 minutes or so. There were some parts that were not so steep and even some flat parts as well, which was really nice to relax a little bit in between. 😅
It was funny to watch all the small flashlight on the way up the hill. Most of them were in front of me, as I was obviously a bit late to start the track.
Only three times I got passed by some guys and I passed once two other girls but otherwise, I saw no one, a few rabbits and a stoat was passing my way.
Around 5 o’clock it slowly got a bit lighter and I started to realize what I had left. 😳😬
I also started to realize that I would probably not make it all the way up to the top in time for the sunrise, but I actually didn’t care about it anymore, too exhausted.
Shortly before 6 o’clock I reached the viewpoint and decided to stay here for the sunrise and continue up to the top after that.
Best decision ever today!!

As you can see from the pictures, the sunrise was stunning!!!! 😍🤩
I couldn't believe it, how many different colors the sky can get! The view from here is also really good and the last part was, we were only three girls here, while we could see, that there were at least 50 people up on the top of Roy’s Peak.
We helped each other to get pictures and moved around each other to not be in the way. We stayed there until 6.30 and then walked up together the last part. Only 1,5 km left, but probably the worst part of the track, as this one is a really steep and bad path as well.
Good, I had company for this one, we were really motivating each other to get up to the top. The view from here is also really nice, but no one of us regrets it to spent the sunrise at the lower viewpoint. 😉
It took us 35 min up and we then had a 45 minutes breakfast break up on the top, waiting for the sun to warm us up, as it got really cold during the sunrise. Luckily I was taking with my jacket! I really needed it, not for the walk, that was getting more than warm 😂

At 7.50 we started to walk back down the hill.
Really challenging for the leg muscles.
Now we could see, how steep and long some parts of the track are 😳
It was not just feeling bad, it is a really tough walk.
We had to walk really carefully as the ground is really slippery in some parts and we saw some people falling down. Around halfway down one of the girls tripping over a rock and falling down. She twisted her ankle a bit and had to rest a few minutes to come down. Luckily it was not so bad and she could keep on walking down, we just were walking a little bit slower and more carefully from now.
We reached the carpark at 10 am, so it took me in total 6 hours and 15 minutes, with two long breaks. Pretty good. 💪🏼

I later found out the track starts at 280m above sea level and the peak is at 1580m above sea level. So I walked up 1300m 😱😱
Good I didn't knew that before I started to walk 🤣Meer informatie