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We awoke at Lake Catani Campground on Saturday
to the steady patter (more like buckets being thrown in our general
direction) of raindrops. It was also cold - this was the last weekend
the campground was open until after winter. Half the morning was
spent huddled in the shelter, thinking about hot drinks and warmer,
dryer things. Periodic chats with the ranger didn't make us any
more optimistic about the weather improving. "They're forecasting
snow above 1800m" he advised us with a grin. With a few first timers
in our group, this led to some reassessment of the planned program.
About half of us decided to go for a short
walk - after all, that was why we were here, and the legs needed
some stretching We splashed our way from the campground, passing
by the Underground River track. We decided to leave investigating
it for another trip, in case the river had chosen this moment to
make a break for the surface. At the Chalet (wet, also windy!),
we explored a little bit and in doing the gorge heritage walk, learnt
about Alice Manfield - a naturalist, photographer and mountain guide
from the early part of the 20th century. We were quite taken by
the description of her custom made guiding suit and wondered if
it kept the rain out.
Poor visibility meant that there wasn't much
to see at the lookouts but it was pleasant all the same. We walked
back to the campsite through ever increasing puddles, looking forward
to a hot shower and a change of clothes.
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Leaving our sodden gear
to fend for itself in front of the shelter fire, we headed
down to Bright for dinner - and discovered everything was
booked out (some kind of autumn festival was in progress)
and the only table we could get was located outside. The high
point was seeing the waterfalls on the drive down to Bright;
all that water has to go somewhere. Bridal Veil falls was
falling all the way across the road.
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Below Eurobin Falls
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A case of the Blues at the Horn Car
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Sunday morning woke us with some sunshine struggling through
the clouds, but that didn't last too long and it soon clouded
over. The weather reports still looked a bit dicey, so we
decided to do a few shorter walks. Our first stop was the
Old Galleries track - this was a really delightful little
taster that wound through some interesting rock formations.
Next we visited the Horn - if you are going to drive all the
way, here you need to stand on the highest bit.
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The fog had mostly
cleared and at 1723m we had some lovely views over, the distant
alpine ranges and across the rocky Buffalo plateau. After
a lunch stop we walked along the Back Wall track to Dickson's
Falls. This was classic sub alpine scenery - lots of long
grasses, boulders, and clear cold streams.
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Plateau near Dingo Dell
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Monday greeted us with (finally!) sunshine
& blue skies. We completed a loop starting from the Reservoir
picnic area visiting the "Devil's Couch", the Giant's Causeway
and Mt Dunn. In contrast to our walks the previous day, the
slightly lower elevation meant the scenery was more snowgum
forests and pretty meadows. Everywhere was evidence of the
landscape regenerating after the 2003 & 2006 bushfires. Mt
Dunn (left) was a real surprise - a short steep switchbacked
climb and then to get to the very top required ascending a
series of steps and ladders. While we were resting there we
heard dingos howling at each other in the distance. It was
quite eerie.
As this trip only got half done due
to that dastardly rain I'm planning on running it again -
watch out for it early on next year's program.
Sonya Radywyl
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