Walkers: Saturday’s participants: Coralie G, Helen A, Linda H (Leader) and Linda C
Sunday's participants: Linda, Linda, Helen, Lothar, Viviane.
Photos:
Report:
After the obligatory coffee at the Dunkeld “Mountain View Café” we proceeded to the Piccaninny Car Park and were walking before 10 am. Linda H and Helen shouldered full overnight packs in preparation for their Tasmanian Overland adventure in March. Without too much difficulty we were soon at the summit of The Piccaninny enjoying the views of the Dunkeld Township and the Western Plains.
Although the weather was overcast and the day cool we soon warmed up on the ascent of Sturgeon. Our way was lined with an array of wildflowers. Correa, the flame grevillea and pink and white heath were some of the bushes still blooming. On the lower, sandy slopes the grass trees were abundant and looking in good condition.
Lunch on top of Sturgeon took a whole 16 minutes as the cloud descended and the resulting drizzle made us scramble for our raincoats. Once on our feet, we decided to resume our trek and retrace our steps back to the cars. At the Victoria Valley Road, Linda’s vehicle had been left to allow the group to swap between day and overnight packs. Indecision about which pack to use and the resulting swapping around items of gear saw Helen arrive back at her vehicle without … you guessed it … her car keys. Luckily she was nice enough to those with vehicles and keys and the situation was able to be rectified before we adjourned, this time to the Gourmet Pantry, for coffee and cake.
Coralie
Saturday evening at Dunkeld Caravan Park.
After pitching tents in the caravan park the 3 of us struggled with the wind,
whilst we read the papers, especially Linda and The Age. Our tummies told us
that it was close to tea time so we wandered over to The Royal Mail, via the
beautiful gardens at the back. We had a drink and bar meal, which was very nice.
We returned to the Caravan Park and had cuppas and then bed.
Sunday: Mt Abrupt.
After meeting up with Lothar and Viviane we started our climb of Mt Abrupt. When we started the rain was pouring down, however within ˝ hr it had cleared and we were removing our coats. The climb was slow as most of the rocks were quite slippery, 2 of us managed to land on our rears but we had soft landings. It was quite interesting walking with someone who had not climbed this area before, every turn had wonderful views, different vegetation etc. all of which the rest of us had taken for granted. At the summit the wind was icy so we decided not to stay to long. Lothar took a couple of happy snaps and we headed down. When we reached the bottom it was a unanimous decision to go to the Kitchen Gallery for lunch (even though we all had a packed lunch) and meals there were certainly divine but not too expensive.
Thanks to everyone who came for the day or weekend, we all had a lovely time and enjoyed the walking.
Linda
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