Girraween Bike & Hike

A beautiful autumn long weekend saw us head to Girraween National Park for some cycling and hiking.

Day 1

Starting at the information centre we cycled along Pyramids Rd, uphill (STEEP) to Mt Norman Rd and then onto the Peak Trail. A pleasant ride....

....took us to the top of Underground Creek. With recent rains, this was flowing well.

Back onto our bikes, we continued across an open slab with great views of Mt Norman.

After a bit of pushing uphill...

...it was time for a short off-track hike to the Round House.

Back to the bikes and some more cycling before stashing our bikes behind a boulder and heading up Mt Norman. A scramble...

...a squeeze ...

...and some steep slab...

...saw us almost on the summit. (I know these last few photos look like we are headed down. That's because I only took pics whilst going down as I was too scared heading up!!!)

The last running jump to reach the very highest point was a little bit too much so we satisfied ourselves (as did others) that the views were already fantastic and we all declared this was our "summit" of Mt Norman.

Back off the top section, we checked out the Eye of the Needle and some crevices.

Then over to a cairn not too far away. Not sure what the cairn was for!

It was now getting late so we made our way quickly back to our bikes for the short ride through the Stone Gate...

...to the Old Stone Cottage where we camped.

Day 2

A chilly morning saw us slow to rise and pack up. We checked out the nearby dam and another old stone building before setting off.

After a short cycle in the morning sun (finally warming up),

we took off on foot (off-track) to Roberts Cairn (assume it's the old border marker).

Just as we were having morning tea - ANZAC biscuits as it's ANZAC day a military jet flew overhead on its honorary flyover!

Back to the bikes for another very short cycle to Middle Rock. Here we crossed a flowing creek and explored around Middle Rock trying to find a way up. We didn't find a way but ended up circumnavigating the rock which was interesting anyway. There were great views across to West Bald Rock.

Another short cycle took us to camp at South Bald Rock. I had planned on a cycle loop south of here but we both felt like relaxing/reading in the afternoon sun. We felt a bit slack having only done 10km all day and finishing at 2pm, but we got over that pretty quick, especially when the wine started flowing.

We were treated to some spectacular colours on South Bald Rock at sunset and then an almost full moon rising from behind the rock.

Day 3

Up before dawn today (crazy I know) but the sky was awash with stars and it was so peaceful sitting there with a hot drink watching the sky slowly lighten bringing in a new day.

After breakfast, we went to check out the cave entrance on the east side of South Bald Rock. We cycled around leaving our gear & tent to dry (hopefully) making it a lot easier!

We had been to the cave entrance once before and were hoping to explore a bit further in this time having come prepared with head torches. BUT once again we chickened out - neither of us particularly like confined spaces and were unsure whether we may get lost in there!

We did find a nice large crevice nearby filled with ferns and mosses, and some nice overhangs so not a totally unsuccessful mission.

Also nice to explore the 'back' of South Bald Rock.

Back to camp to pack up, unfortunately, our tent was still sitting in the shade so it wasn't dry. Just more to do when we get home.

On leaving the camp we had the easiest cycling of our 3 days. It just seemed like we were rolling gently downhill for kilometre after kilometre - awesome!

Back to Mt Norman Rd and we took the short side trip to Billy Goat Hill. This had the most amazing views and we could see where we had been over the last few days. A fitting finale to a fantastic long weekend.