14th August

Day 5 - Monadnocks Campsite to Nerang

A lovely misty morning and another day of double hutting as we planned to bypass the Mt Cooke hut before Mt Cooke and go to Nerang Campsite. As was becoming a familiar pattern, I left before Rone following the all too familiar trail bike tracks leading up to Mt Cuthbert. The tracks even went up onto the lovely granite dome with it's ecologically sensitive gnammas or rock pools surrounded by little gardens. Unfortunately the mist prevented views but after waiting half an hour, Rone turned up and then the mist began to clear. It was a fantastic place to be!

Since the beginning of the walk I had a sore throat and I was hoping it wouldn't develop further. Luckily after a few weeks I was in the clear. Mt Cuthbert had near 360 degree views but Mt Vincent still had good views but not as great. Mt Vincent is a peak about 2 km further along the Mt Randall ridge where last night's campsite is located. The track dropped down from Mt Vincent to Sullivan's Rock which is easily accessible from the Albany Highway. On the way down I met this FLP clapping his hands to ward off snakes although we hadn't seen any and didn't see any for about a month to come.

The 5km stretch leading up to the North side of Mt Cooke and the hut where we had a break seemed very hot and very open and we were damn glad not to be doing this in Summer. At 11:50 am, I reached the summit of Mt Cooke and at 582m it was the highest point on the walk. This is a lovely granite peak. At the base I decided to wait for Rone who began to Coo-ee but not from the track. He had followed the wrong set of rock cairns coming down the hill and so I had to bush bash and signal to him until we were both on the track again. At Nerang campsite we discovered that quite a number of people had gone straight ahead on their way down rather than angling to the left to follow the main trail. My guess is that the second set of misleading cairns lead to a closer proximity to the Albany Highway.

At 3:20 pm, Rone and I stumbled into Nerang Camp where we met John from Perth who was walking from North Banister to Kalamunda. Almost everyone we met was great company with similar values at least for walking and the environment which are the main topic's of conversation along the way.

Day6 Nerang to Gringer Ck Campsite