Girraween National Park

Jenesse Valentine, Melissa Rose Horne and Dennis Mellican left Brisbane and arrived at Girraween around 1ish. They stopped briefly at Aratula for Mel Rose to relieve herself, then at Bellbird Grove at Cunningsham Gap to listen to the wildlife, then Stanthorpe to pick up some Winery brochures and a chocolate stop at Heavenly Chocolate along Pyramids Road. A few showers were encountered on the way and despite the busy camping grounds at Castle Rock we decided on a big area at the far end of the park. This was away from the school camp of about 50 kids but still walking distance to the facilities (hot showers and toilets).

The Faz family (John Farrelly, Kylie Farrelly, Rikki Farrelly and Jade Farrelly) arrived soon after. John and Kylie immediately unpacked and started setting up their camp next to Dennis & Jenesse and Mel Rose. While the Faz’s were busy, Jenesse & Mel Rose went to Ballandean Estate Wines to pick up a few bottles of Summertime (a sweet White wine) and a Merlot. Meanwhile Dennis entertained Rikki and Jade with some skipping, hula hoops, footy, and some rock scrambling. The girls then wanted to dress him up as a girl, put make up on and do his hair. He promptly sat down, had a beer and ignored the pleas for the rest of the afternoon.

As night fell, dinner was being prepared by everyone. The Faz family must’ve forgot their camp food and had to eat rabbit food. Dennis, Jenesse and Mel Rose had Gnochhi with cream sauce (after battling with their portable stove for 15 minutes).

The only photo of Bigfoot

At this stage we were wondering where Matt, Aileen and Natalie Moores were. They were expected to be at Girraween before sunset.

By 9ish, Nicole Keegan, Dylan and Luke arrived. Luckily the full moon was up and this provided some light in setting up Dylan’s tent. Their friends Keith, Nadia and her cousin decided to camp near the school group as they arrived earlier but did not know how to find us.

Still no sign of the Moores’ clan. There was no mobile reception to locate the Moores’ and someone suggested they must’ve arrived on sunset and setup wherever they could find before dark.

The night was very cold, easily down to single digits Celsius. People shivered in their sleeping bags. Frost had formed overnight.

The next morning everyone arose early with the plan to climb up the First Pyramid (3.4km, 2 hours return). On our way through the camp ground we found the Moore’s. They indeed setup camp to beat the sunset.

Nicole and Dylan decided to jog towards the First Pyramid. They caught up to the rest near the base of the rock. Here it is all a very steep slab, but the coarse texture of the granite gives enough friction to walk up without much worry. Sometimes pretending to be an aeroplane helps.

The group made it to summit where Dennis pointed out the Second Pyramid, famous rock climb route: Scimitar 70m 21. Faz thought the big cracks to the left could be done as a solo to the top. Dennis wasn’t that nuts and even if he was, a busted finger would not get him up. Faz successfully recruited Dylan and they soon were scrambling down the side of the First Pyramid to the base.

Not wanting to watch, the rest of the crew headed towards the true summit. Here the obligatory group photos were taken. As the crew admired the 360 degree views, Faz was spotted running around on the summit of the Second Pyramid. Dylan was no where to be seen.

The crew clambered back down to the Balancing Rock to observe Faz down climbing the crack section. Dylan was finally spotted. He was stuck trying to bail out of an arete onto the slab. Not confident, Dylan would keep placing his feet onto where he wanted to move but hesitated each time. Dennis directed Faz to a safe exit towards Dylan, where Faz helped him successfully down climb this section. Before this Faz was heading down a vertical crack line! His family looked on in amazement.

The group arrived back at camp and the Moore’s family decided to relocated their camp over to the main group. The Faz’s went off for a drive while the rest of the crew had lunch and then took two car loads and headed off to the wineries.

The first few winery stops were in the Balladean area and then Felsberg at Glen Alpin, before returning to Balladean for a tour at the Balladean Estate Wine. The group had a few tastes before joining the tour. It was long but informative. Dennis’ patience had run out and he blew a fuse. We had left the wineries with plenty of Mead, semi-sweet varieties and some reds.

The group arrived back at camp and the Faz’s were back but were on another hike, this time to Castle Rock. They returned not long after. Rikki had sustained a sting on the foot, possibly from a nine legged flying spider (as witnessed by Rikki). But she recovered well and played with Natalie and Jade. The adults joined in with the rocket balloons.

Just before sunset, dinner was being prepared over a few glasses of wine we had recently bought. The flies came in plague proportions and were very annoying.

Matt polished his Mead off very quickly. He had wished he bought more than just one bottle. The usual banter over a camp light was heard over wine, cheese, chocolate and toasted marshmallows. Faz is going to look up his score on Rate My Teacher. Kylie read the children a story and the adults listened in keenly.

That night it wasn’t so cold. Some people woke up sweating.

The next morning, everyone had the same idea: have breakfast first and then pack up. Later that day it stormed very hard across South East Queensland. The group were lucky to have good weather in between stormy periods.

Photos of the weekend can be seen on the Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/meltaxa/Girraween2007.