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| Stirling Ranges from the northern road |
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| Stirling Ranges from the northern road |
Monday morning we
headed north for one last hurrah before setting the compass eastwards. North of
Albany lies The Porongurup and magnificent Stirling Ranges. The Castle Rock Granite
Skywalk in the Porongurup boasts another walkway set very high above the
surrounding landscape atop a huge granite outcrop. A fairly steep ascent of
2.2km over stony track, stairs and thick mud in some places leads to the
skywalk ladder and walkway, and this is the kind of feature that attracts all
types, especially on a long weekend. We seasoned hikers are a little aghast at
the footwear adorning these occasional weekend walkers, exchanging mutual looks
of incredulity at their expense. Pet, you have to wear something other than ugg
boots. Sweetheart, your thongs with decorative fabric straps are not going to
cut it out here. Darlin’, the current fashion penchant for white fabric shoes
will outlive your footwear if you use them for hiking in mud. We later heard that one
poor woman broke her ankle in The Porongurup the day we were there; fortunately
she had an EPIRB to call for assistance.
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| Up in the Air at Porongurup - Castle Rock Skywalk |
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| Dave at Castle Rock |
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| Dave on the skywalk |
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| Dave said this walk would be a pushover (Castle Rock) |
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| Climbing down from Castle Rock, Porongurup |
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| Final ladder ascent, Castle Rock Skywalk |
After lunch we
headed into the Stirling Ranges as dark clouds set in overhead. Rain again
drove us to just drive through the ranges that afternoon. Short on time, we opted
to do only the most famous summit walk – Bluff Knoll. We set off the following
morning, a steep ascent of 3.3km. Very strong winds assaulted us on some
exposed parts of the track, but it was a spectacular climb. Eventually we were
on top of the world, but with our heads in the clouds, not such a great view
for photos.
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| Yep, climbing that beast. |
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| Bluff Knoll summit |
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| View from the track |
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| Yeah, what the sign says. Photographers included. |
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| Because this. |
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| And this. |
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| The view from the summit (with photo bombers) |
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| The clouds were finally lifting as we began our descent. |
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| And the sun shone momentarily as we reached the base. |
However, the clouds did momentarily part for us at the summit,
before closing back in as we descended. The winds were becoming much stronger
and very icy, howling around the upper bluff. Shortly after we completed the walk,
the rain set in and black clouds appeared in menacing formation on the west
horizon, creating a spectacular backdrop for our photos as we headed further
east. We finally arrived in Esperance after dark, by which time it was apparent
that serious storm conditions were brewing behind us. Online headlines warned
of the “strongest winds in 50 years” approaching the South Australian coast,
with people there lining up to collect and fill sandbags for the forecast associated
floods. It was at this point we updated our blog with the Weather Forecast edition
– the northern end of the storm was set to pass right over us... more on that next episode.
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| North of the Stirling Ranges |
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| The Lily Dutch Windmill |
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