Australia is so Camp

Ann and I went camping for the Oz day long weekend.

We wanted to go somewhere new and decided on the Budawang Range in Morton National Park.

A few hours south of Sydney, it looked like a beautiful spot for a long weekend with hikes to the top of 'The Castle' and through the Monolith Valley.
Day 1
We spend the first night about halfway to our destination in a family oriented campground near a beautiful beach which we got to do some night time exploring on.

Need that 'time shift' camera

Sadly, no time to swim or surf as we had an early start the next morning to for our hike into the Budawangs.

Day 2
The hike to our 'base camp'  started easy enough, but clambering around the base of 'the Castle' with full gear in 30 degree heat took its toll. The trail is poorly marked but not too difficult to navigate. The scenery was amazing!

First of the groups we saw at the trail head to arrive at the Camp site due to our speed hiking skills we setup the tent and started drying out some very sweaty hiking gear. 

 Then down to pump some water, and settle in for the night. Our timing was perfect as the most epic thunder storm I have ever experienced rolled in right when we went to bed. It poured but our tent held up great and we didn't get wet at all (the same cannot be said for our sweaty hiking gear which was still out to dry).

It was probably one of the best stormy camping nights, I have never heard thunder so loud.

Day 3

The rain stopped in the morning but it was still pretty overcast. We had some breakfast and coffee and went off to explore the rather damp Monolith Valley. From this hike we definitely understand why it is call bush walking! The trail was not cleared at all, poor Ann's legs are still pretty badly scratched up.

Monolith Valley

Natural Arch

The Green Room

We came back to camp for lunch just as the skies cleared.

 So we figured it was the perfect time to attempt summiting 'The Castle' which we heard from other hikers in the morning was too wet to do earlier.

Clear skies

Tunnel

 To get up "the Castle' first you crawl through a tunnel in the mountain and pop out the other side.
The you scramble around the side eventually coming to a few very steep sections that you either have to free climb, or rely on the old ropes left by others.

Little over half way up

 We reached what we initially thought was the summit but turned out we were wrong, We stopped for a photo Op anyway.

False Summit

 Thinking we were running out of day light, I made the final summit push alone. The final climb up was pretty treacherous with out rope, luckily the one left behind was in good shape, as my initial free climb attempts where not overly successful.

 The view from the very large top was amazing, with Nipple mountain, or Pigeon House seen in the distance.

 A surprise at the top was that all the pools of water were filled with frogs and frog embryos. How the heck did they get up there?

 From the center of the summit is was hard to tell: 1) that you where on a mountain and 2) where the heck you came from and how to get back down.

 I found it eventually, met back up with Ann and we made back to camp with light to spare and caught an amazing sunset from base camp.

 It rain again overnight and keep drizzling the next morning. We power hiked out, being especially speedy at the end, due to the leeches coming out with all the new water and trying to attack us with every step.

A long drive home with a well deserved thai food feast for dinner and I think we had a very successful Australia Day Long weekend.