Mt Dalrymple – Eungella National Park QLD

Monday 28th August 2023
Well, you think two nights in a row of disturbed sleep was enough. We had some neighbours turned on their generator at 5.30am for about an hour! So seeing as we had been awake since 5.30am, David went for another platypus watch and I had a rest. He enjoyed himself with about 4 or 5 platypus again and didn’t come back for over an hour.

We then had breakfast, got organised and were on our way to our hike. We drove through farmland and rainforest, sometimes with rainforest on one side of the road and farmland on the other.Today’s hike was a return hike to Mt Dalrymple. The hike started at 1000m and the summit was 1227m. Although this was only an elevation climb of 200m, with all the ups and downs along the way, we ended up ascending and descending 900m over the 12 km hike. The reviews of the hike had likened it to the Bartle Frere hike which we did in 2021. This was 1000m up and down over 16km. Having now done both hikes, I would say the hikes are very similar, except Bartle Frere has much bigger obstacles, is another 100m of elevation, 4 km and 3 hours longer. Mind you, I was feeling almost as exhausted today as I did in 2021.

We started the hike and it was straight away indicating a tough day was ahead. The trail was narrow, had warning signs and went straight up. No warming in to it, just up, up and up. We climbed tree roots, hopped over huge fallen tree trunks, crossed creeks, boulder hopped and went up, up and up some more. It took us 3.5 hours to hike 6km, ascend 600m and descend 300m and reach the summit. Here we enjoyed an amazing view, albeit a chilly one. We enjoyed our lunch at the top. After our lunch break we decided it was time to get on our way as it was already 2pm and we had at least a 3-3.5 hour hike back to the car.

The walk back was again arduous even though the ascent and descent were reversed this time, 300m elevation up and 600m down. It was a tricky track and was marked with blue national parks arrows and thankfully many, many pink ribbons. The ribbons although not one of my favourite things to see in the bush were very much appreciated, without them I think we would have made a few errors and it would have added at least an hour or more to our walk time. It was a lovely walk through rainforest the whole way and we were really glad to make it to the end. Both our knees and hips were very sore. It took us over 7 hours to hike the 12 km, up and down 900m. It was a tough gig today. We finished at 5pm, so decided to stay at the Broken River camp in Eungella NP again tonight. First stop was to the Hub in Eungella for a $2 shower at the community hall. A lovely facility especially after our long day.

We were both exhausted, I hopped straight into bed and was waited on with dinner tonight. Yay!

I didn’t even get up again. Unfortunately I suffered with restless legs and had a really bad sleep. Oh well.

: A Brown Cuckoo-Dove..

: ..at our camp this morning..

: The view from our campsite at Broken River to the farm next door..

: Unfortunately the fog was in this morning and this was the view from Peases Lookout. Hopefully it burns off this morning before we reach the summit.

: As we drive through the thick rainforest on the way to the trailhead.

: The red trail is the road, the green the National Park and rainforest, and the white is the farmland.

: ..as we drive through the farmland..

: Farms on the left of the road and rainforest/National Park on the right..

: The very insignificant signage at entrance at the trailhead.

: ..this sign is an indicator ofthe tough gig our hike is today..

: ..Once again another amazing strangler fig in action, it will be about 1000 years before it finally takes over and kills the host tree.

: ..as we head down to the first creek crossing, it is very steep..

: ..then cross the creek over to the dense rainforest..

: ..the beautiful view up the creek..

: ..as David crosses the creek..

: ..a little waterfall up the creek..

: ..the blue triangles were our makrkers today, they were a little sparse in number..

: the other side of the creek was a steep ascent, luckily with some pink tape indicating the way..

: ..a lovely pool at the next creek..

: ..and some beautiful rocks and waterfall..

: ..some lovely fungi..

: ..and an amazing birds nest..

: ..and a male Australian King Parrot. One of the few birds we captured today.

: ..up we go again, with the assistance of more pink streamers..

: ..some more fungi..

: ..up close it was very pretty..

: ..lots of big boulders to dodge and climb..

: ..the bright red leaves at the top of this plant always amazes me..

: ..as David continues passed another big boulder..

: ..and after 3.5 hours we reach the summit..

: ..what an amazing view..

: ..me taking photos of a plaque at the top..

: ..we have about a 270° view at the summit..

: ..it truly is beautiful in every direction..

: ..you can see right out to the water on the coast..

: ..and through the mountains of the rainforest..

: ..just so you know we both made it..

: ..after a short lunch break we enjoy one last view from the summit

: just one more, because we can and it is so spectacular..

: ..As we start our way down dodging all the obstacles..

: ..the rainforest trees are very dense..

: ..David waiting for me as usual..

: ..another huge rock to pass..

: ..sometimes the roots of the trees are almost as wide as the trunks. Yet again we have to jump them..

: ..back at the creek..

: ..the palms were abundant and beautiful again today..

: ..another creek crossing..

: ..such beauty..

: the trail today was very overgrown and we were bush bashing a lot of the way, ducking and weaving through the trees and struggling to find the trail a lot of the time. But we made it.