Mai and I recently went on a little 3 day adventure in a difficult-to-access area of Morton National Park, about 4 hours south of Sydney. The Bundawangs (aka 'butterwings') is a beautiful spot, blanketed by the ubiquitous gum tree and spiny underbrush of the region - and dotted with rock outcroppings. A popular spot despite the arduous climb up, the area offers endless challenges and beauty - and little water.
We found ourselves collecting water, drop by drop, from rock faces - with the Carrawang's sad call, in shade of the Gum trees, collecting dripping water to survive - we found our selves saying "how Australian is this?!" We even camped one night in a 'cave' which actually was a huge rock overhang - we checked for spiders first.
Our on going joke was the seemingly endless variety of 'challenges' that were presenting themselves along the hike - about every 500 meters it seemed at one point - we felt like we were on one of those TV adventure challenge races where you 'win' if you 'survive' each obstacle. Fortunately, Mai and I were on the same team, so neither of us got voted off or escorted away - it IS better that way despite what the tv says. These challenges ranged from rock scrambles, boulder negotiation, chain climbs, gully descents, tree root ladder, bog tromping, and find-the-cairn in the brush, just to name a few.
Challenge 44 was the most memorable - which involved bouldering up sandstone with a full pack, Mai slipping just a bit, getting caught by the tree, me sending down a rope, hoisting her pack and Mai climbing back up, victorious. We got up to at least Challenge 66 or so......
Dusk was glorious - laying on the rounded rocks, with bird calls, light fading in the sky, sweet smell of the gums and grasses - bliss.
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