One of the objectives of visiting Brisbane was to climb at the Glasshouse Mountain National Park. These are strange looking vertical lumps of rock about an hour north of Brisbane – remnants of volcanoes that were active about 25 million years ago.
We had a few logistics to sort out early Saturday morning, so by the time we got to Tibrogargan – the mountain with the most climbing routes – the day was very hot and very humid. We decided we should just attempt Caves Route, a scramble that gets you to the top. However, after being attacked by a million mosquitos and with sweat just pouring off us, we had to abandon the route, down climb, and make our way to the beach for a refreshing splash in the surf.
Not to be deterred, me and Pete decided to get back to Tibrogargan the next day. We chose the even easier route to be sure we got to the top.
It was still a scramble, but at a more friendly angle. The sun was very hot, but the day wasn’t quite as humid.
Afterwards we toured the area, stopped off for ice cold mocha and banana and chocolate smoothie with strawberry and white chocolate muffin (got to get those five a day somehow!), and then went for another splash in the surf.
The Glass House mountains are wonderful – but it’s just a bit too hot to be thinking of climbing them right now.
Series - Australia 2008
- Australian Rock
- Blue Mountains
- The Australian Alps
- I’m a climber get me out of here!
- The Greatest Crag in the World … ?
- Farewell to Arapiles … for now …
- G’day Kats
- Emu Holiday Park
- Hello Grampians
- Crikey! Australia Zoo
- Glass House Mountains
- Rainforest meets Reef
- Quizzing in Sydney
- Reunion in Kiama
- The end of the Australian Adventure
Tish has some nice mossie bites on her arms. Glad I’m here not in mossie country (or is that Mossie Aussie country?)
It looks like Close Encounters of the Third Kind country. Did you see ET?
Yes, I think I had a thousand bites on my arms. Luckily they’re all gone now thanks to some mighty powerful cream.
I though of Devil’s Tower as well. No alien here tho’, except the odd looking man in Glass House Mountains township. He was odd looking, but like all Australians, really nice and helpful, so I let him off being an alien.
Yeah, the mosquitoes were bad, but not nearly bad enough to make me want to be back in the UK Dave!
The heat and humidity were something else though – it’s hard to describe, words just can’t convey the discomfort and difficulty of trying to climb. Chalk might cope with modestly greasy/sweaty fingers, but this was like climbing in a sauna cranked up to full and having just got out of the shower. 😐 Clearly the best time for Queensland rock climbing is winter…