Tuesday 15th May 2018
As expected we didn’t manage a rest day today but got started a little later than usual. We headed back in to Karijini National Park but as David would say “Rather than look through cracks in the rocks like we have for the last couple of days we are going to climb a mountain”.

So off we head to climb to the summit of Mt Bruce (Punurrunha) 1235m from 785m, so about a 450m climb over 4.5km (a 9km hike with a 6 hour time frame). Hopefully we don’t take that long.

The view was amazing all the way. We had views of Marandoo Mine on our right and incredible views in all directions with the imposing Punurrunha ahead of us the whole way. We saw a couple of trains leave the mine site with their 3 locomotives and a zillion carriages. The track was graded 5 with some very tricky bits with a long way down. As always we are very careful and have full concentration for these sections. We met a 4 groups of 2 on the way up who had taken on the challenge of the summit. One couple about our age turned around just after the chain section, one we don’t know, the young boys said they made it to the top in 80 minutes and an older couple who were at the tricky down section when we passed the said the view from the top was amazing. They were correct. We had 360° views at the top but we had to go down a little for lunch as it was very, very windy. After a very pleasant lunch at the top we went for a wander at the summit. It was picturesque from every direction.

It was then time for the trip down. We thought the steep sections would be a bit slower but the rest should be quite easy. We were surprised at how long it took to go back down. Our total moving time was 3 hrs 15 mins but our overall time including lunch and a couple of chats with the other hikers was 4 hrs 37 mins.

We reached the bottom at 3.40pm and decided to head to Hamersley Gorge (Minhthukundi) for the night. A free camp with no facilities but on the way to our next destination. Hamersley Gorge was very beautiful and as I was in need of a shower after our long walk I had a swim in another gorge. The water was very fresh but cleansing. Another great day!!