Had a really relaxing day around Brisbane.

Still managed to see quite a lot of downtown.. it’s a funny place Brisbane. There’s a beach in the centre of town (man made). There’s lots of funky art work all around the place too.

Walked around kangaroo point where there’s about 200m of a rockface free to climb.. perfect. Except that I didn’t bring a rope + rack. Hmmm, don’t regret it, but wish I’d had a shrink wrapped – de-hydrated fold-away-takes-no-space-and-is-really-light 50m rope. Someday hopefully.

Then on Friday I met up with some friends of my parents – Julie and Duncan Stuart. Many of their clan (and there are lots of them) have passed through Dublin at one point or another… so it was good to see them on home turf.

Had a really yum and interesting lunch with them.. there’s some fruit here.. the bigger one is ‘Custard Apple’ The slice + thing that looks like a cucumber is ‘Wosteria Delicia’ – or something – will get the correct spelling sometime. Both delicious and quite different.

Anyway, good times. Then we set off up towards the Australian Zoo – home of the Crocodile Hunter..

After Springbrook we went to Lamington National Park – did a lovely 13km walk in the morning.. I’m still getting used to the not unbelieveably fast – but continuous speed – we seem to walk at!! good though – do get to see a lot. No pics this time..

Then on up to Brisbane. My brother Matt lived here for a year, and he put me in touch with some friends of his.. they’ve been great, super hospitable… and yum bbq salmon last night. I found it odd that we were sitting outside in summer clothing, having a bbq, while we’re in their midwinter…

L to R Miranda (Deans wife) & Emelia, Dean, Mhairi and me.

Finally… yes… it’s true.. you can…

So at 4am we hiked (at speed!) up Mt. Warning. It’s wonderful having a strong, fit, fast, tireless woman to look after me :) Mhairi carried the down jackets + water and some food and I carried… me. Mind you, I’d probably have been left far behind otherwise.

Unfortunately it was the first time in aaaages that there was a cloudy morning. Great views from the top. There was an amazing contrast at the summit. We found, hiddled in sleeping bags, two girls from the West Coast who had bivvied up there overnight. There were also 4 people from Surfers Paradise who’d hiked up that morning also (you can see Surfers in the background of this pic)

One of the girls from Surfers lit up a cigarette and called her mother on her mobile to say she was at the top. It was a wonderful contrast.

So at 7am, back down at the car, we drove to Springbrook national park. Beautiful. I’ve forgotten which park it was in previous to this – but Mhairi went off for a run, and I walked along afterwards, and on my way back from whichever falls we were at… say this guy accross the path

So I did what any tough guy would do. And waited. Trembling. Until it had slowly passed across the path. At which point I ran up the path as fast as I could. Turned around, walked back as close as I dared, and took the picture.

Upon getting back to the Information place I told them of my NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE, and was informed that it was harmless. Dang. (ok, actually I just asked if it was deadly). Either way, it made for a more exciting walk than usual.

We also passed natural arch park.. it would have been great to get back to it at night to see the glow-worms + bats, but there was just too much else to do too…

Then it was onto another far more impressive set of falls (sorry, I forget the name of them). I was a wee bit tired by this stage, and felt a little book reading + pcard writing was in order. Mhairi went for her usual 12km run of the day, and ran down to the bottom – off to some pools, and back up again. Taking this pic en route (in fact most of these pics have been hers)

After leaving the waterfall road (that’s what it’s called) we headed North towards Byron Bay (the most easterly point of mainland OZ – and a place to get lovely home-made ice-cream too..)

On the way we passed some pelicans + others who didn’t like getting their feet wet. An odd sight.

The scottish influence made its wishes known – and we past via a place called MacLean. MacLean prides itself on being the most Scottish town in Australia. It’s not hard to see why. Every power-pole is decorated in a different tartan, most shops are scottish themed, there’s even a cairn with stones from scotland in it. I was beginning to wonder about Mhairi’s claims to Scottishness.. but just as we were driving out of town – she saw her clans colours. Lamont.

Arriving into Byron at 2ish we checked out the lighthouse and most easterly point. Pretty cool views around the bay.. and quality ice-cream too.

There were also views up towards Mt. Warning (the peak in the middle) of the next pic. It’d been reccommended to hike up this for sunrise. It’s a funky area actually. Mt. Warning is just over 1000m high, though it used to be double this. It’s the remains of a plug of a volcano – the area (some 2000 sq hectares) around it was mostly basalt from repeated laval outpourings (it’s a shield volcano). After a few gazillion (or less) years, the basalt, being more pourous has mostly eroded away – leaving an outer ring of Rhyolite cliffs with just the solid plug of Mt. Warning in the middle.

If there are any geography teachers reading this.. feel free to correct me… I’ll amend the post ;)

Either way, it makes for fantastic scenery, lots of waterfalls, and a fun hike at 4am

After Armidale we set off in the direction of Byron bay, and had a few stops along the way. Firstly though, my brother Matt was wondering what the van looks like..

So there’s a pic..

We also stopped at a place called Wollomombi – which is in Oxley Rivers National Park. It has a really high waterfal, which Mhairi and I are eclipsing in this pic. However, not much water on it – so not too impressive (well, not as much as us anyway ;)

We’d also passed lots of these things in many of the places we’ve visited.. As far as I know it’s a termite hill.. but if anyone knows better lemme know..

It’s been a real joy travelling around in the van – the freedom it gives is just amazing. I think the evening after leaving Armidale we stopped at a place called Guy Fawkes River national reserve… the next morning we woke up to this view (Ebor Falls)

It’s a slightly expensive way of travelling perhaps, but when you take into account that it’s all your transport and accommodation costs it becomes much more reasonable… so I’d definitely reccommend it as a way of getting around..