Andy n Bunny Briggs

What a lovely day we’ve had. We decided to do a reasonable walk up to the pinnacle lookout - walk 2c “Wonderland Loop, ... suitable for fit and energetic walkers” sounds like us. 9.6km, 400m elevation change, grade 4 (whatever that means) and time 4-5hrs. We decided upon this as it takes in a number different sites and routes along the way. We walked 5.84 miles and ascended 1651 ft.

We set off at 10:15, although we were promised 20C, we woke to 8C and it didn’t feel much warmer. We started with too few clothes on but quickly found we had too many 🥵

First stop Venus Baths where the creek opens into pools where we could have washed our feet, but a bit early in the walk for that. On to Splitters Falls which would have looked better had there been water coming down them and had there not been three young peeps climbing down them while shouting to one another. Am I getting old?

The Grand Canyon was lovely, maybe 30-40m deep and a few hundred meters long scrambling across boulders but also with steps at some points. Back onto a path ton Bridal Veil Falls, we knew we’d arrived because a sign said so, again better after some rain because the falls didn’t really exist.

One of the best parts was Silent Street, a long narrow gully to walk along and climb up some stepson the end through a very narrow entrance/exit that wasn’t easy with a small backpack on.

A bit more of a climb and we reached the Pinnacle Lookout. The lookout goes out over a rock that sticks out. The view from it is stunning. OK, the view from terra firma behind the lookout was spectacular. The view from 90% along the lookout was utterly terrifying. The drop was probably 200-300m and the lookout is set on a rock that protrudes out and is an overhang. I would have probably made it to the end had I not stepped on a wobbly step.

We ate our lunch resting against some rocks that shielded us from the cold southerly wind but kept us in the sunshine. Along the route we’d stopped for a drink and a handful of nuts and also made friends with a carrawong (crow-like bird with stunning yellow eyes) that liked eating our peanuts. We took several videos of him flapping up to catch a nut in mid-air. During lunch we found ourselves very popular with wrens, ravens and carrawongs again. In total we took just less the 20 videos. I’ve titled the last one “Crow-vid19” 😂

While the walk up to the Pinnacle was one of the best that I have been on, challenging without being too daunting with varied paths and scenery, the path going down was not so pleasurable. It started by descending along the ridge line, ie walking with the shear drop on one side, down a rocky gully, through a stringybark forest and all the time the path was close to the edge or walking towards the edge of the drop.

When we arrived back at the cabin we walked around the now deserted town. Australia has forced most social places to gather, non-essential shops, businesses, pubs, restaurants cafes (unless doing takeaway) places of worship etc. What was a buzzing town yesterday was empty today. The only shop open was an ice cream parlour, so we had an ice cream cone and shared it with some sulphur crested cockatoos!

As Australia shuts everything down and everyone’s being told to stay at home, we are wondering how long it will be before we need to stop travelling? While we believe we are being safe, as we see very few people, we walk in their national parks etc, I think it may become socially unacceptable to continue for too much longer. We will see.

Our flights next week have now been cancelled, all part of the adventure.Read more