We took a hike with some new friends (Madeleine and Volker with their son, Joschka, and Madeleine's friend, Debbie: I met Volker and Joschka at the Indooroopilly HS playgroup) last weekend in Mt Barney National Park. Bushwalking with a map and a compass is the norm there (I think there were only 4 or 5 actual trails on the map of the park), but we took Max on a proper trail to an area called Lower Portals. He was able to walk most of the way to our campsite (3.7 km) but he crashed in the backpack the last 15 minutes and stayed asleep for another 30 minutes after we arrived.
These pics are not in order:
Max ready to hike back to the car on Sunday morning.
Last shot before leaving the campsite
Another last picture before we left.
Eating dinner: Max ate some of Debbie's extra pasta
Cooking dinner: Debbie, Rachel, Max, and Madeleine
Wading at the Lower Portals swimming hole: Madeleine and Joschka are in the foreground
Throwing rocks in the stream
Max had a pretty cush ride when he wanted it (he has his baya in his mouth and kiki is peaking out just below the neck pillow).
Rachel's poor packing (Tim managed to stuff everything inside the pack on our return trip). We were told numerous times that bushwalkers never strap things to the outside of their packs unless they want to risk losing or destroying them. That makes sense when you are not on a trail. Fortunately, we walked on a nice wide one so there weren't any mishaps despite my lousy packing job. The purple thermarest would not stay inflated but I think it has a hole from another occasion (Tim might disagree with me).
Most of the trail was through eucalyptus forest like this one.
We had a great time. We arrived at the trailhead by 9am on Saturday morning and made it to the campsite by 11.30 or so. Both Max and Joschka napped along the way so they were ready for a play in the stream soon thereafter. We returned to the campsite for a late lunch then walked to the Lower Portals swimming hole in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the little rock climbing we had to do on the last bit of the trail. We climbed through a hole between some giant boulders. Max actually did a bit of the climbing himself but he was too short for the last little bit. I climbed ahead while Tim stayed on the ground. Then Tim lifted the Max over his head while I reached from the top of the hole to pull him up. It sounds scarier than it actually was.
After playing at the swimming hole for a bit, we headed back to camp for dinner. The kids had an early bedtime since their naps were so short. I think they were in bed before 7pm. Tim, Madeleine and I didn't stay up much later. Volker and Debbie both decided to sleep under the stars. The night began pretty warm but Tim, Max and I had to snuggle together under a sleeping bag in the middle of the night. Max wasn't wearing anything beyond a diaper in his warm sleep sack so he needed the extra warmth eventually.
We rose by 5am Sunday morning. Max and I had a play at the stream before breakfast. We were packed and ready to go by 8.30ish. Max and Joscka both rode in their backpacks during most of the walk. I think we tuckered them out.
Tim and I agreed that this sort of camping is the type we like best (there were only three campsites in the area). We also were exhausted Sunday afternoon. My conclusion was that we needed to go on overnights more often to build up our endurance. I'm not sure that Tim agreed with me on that one.
