Bushwalk Australia

After much reading and GOOGLE'ing I finally went for a walk along Lindemans Pass. Completely epic. The trip down Gladstone Pass worthwhile in itself, and now planning a Roberts - Gladstone walk. Normally take the NPWS signage regarding difficulty with a grain of salt, but they were pretty spot on this time. Trail very vague (non existent) in places, experience with navigation required, and some interesting cliff edges. Most definitely not for novices (I seem to recall a thread along the lines of "what does experienced" mean. I would suggest this walk requires "experience" in many different forms). The signs did forget to mention dense impenetrable rain forest, dead falls, extraordinary humidity, large mosquito creatures, mud, leeches. Can't wait to do it again.

link to blog report below. a few photos, but the camera was a bit funny and not as nice as I would have liked.

Of course I was inspired by Jim Smith's amazing book "The Blue Mountains Mystery Pass", but also big thanks to all those whose blogs and trip reports and YOUTUBE videos filled in a lot of gaps and got me up to speed about what to expect. Nothing could really prepare me though. I had more than a few moments where I thought "what am I doing here". Interesting to return home and revisit some videos and reports to find "hey, they got lost there too", "yes, it was as humid as hell", "wow, there are lots of leeches". I did it solo, and when lost, it was reassuring to just relax and realise that there was a way through SOMEWHERE.

A few things.

The old rusty billy in Dash's Cave - does it have a log book ? It was rusted shut and I didn't want to smash it open. If so, who put it there ? Curious. I am tempted to take a bright shiny new one down. I would have loved to look through and see how often the Pass is walked. Clearly it is used, but how often ?

There were some very large trees that had been cut to keep the track clear. National Parks or some other folk I should give thanks to. Looked like either chain saw or large saw work.

I have read a few threads regarding tagging. Must say that it was good to look around for several minutes and sight either a small tin marker away in the distance, a sliver of pink tape, some emergency tape, and in places some neatly cut and tied plastic shopping bags (rather tastefully done).

The rope along part of the Gladstone Pass. I was ready to concede defeat at that point (I had visions of plummeting to my death) and the hand line kept me in the game. Who installed that ? Was that part of the original re-opening ?

Doing this walk only made me appreciate the extraordinary effort Jim Smith and Wilf Hilder did in re-opening it up. Cutting through the rainforest section would have been an immense effort. Humbling to consider.

http://250tosydney.blogspot.com.au/2015 ... l?spref=fb

Thanks for the report and photos robertoman.

Re the billy tin - yes there is a log book in there, which was getting full last time I passed by (6 months ago). A replacement sounds like a good idea.

Great report Rob.

Thank you for sharing.

only fair when I have your blog book marked

There were some very large trees that had been cut to keep the track clear. National Parks or some other folk I should give thanks to. Looked like either chain saw or large saw work.

I am unaware of the Parks ever undertaking any clearing work on Lindemans. There were /are a couple of private individuals (not me!) brave enough to clear such tracks with a chain saw, so probably one of them.

The rope along part of the Gladstone Pass. .................................. Who installed that ? Was that part of the original re-opening ?

I'm fairly certain there wasn't any rope in place when I was there on 28/2/87, 30/8/87 or 5/6/88. Hence would not have been done for the re-opening on 3/2/85. I could probably find out who did install it, but the answer is not something I would be prepared to put in a public forum.

Fair enough not to post in a public forum. I was a little concerned when I saw it, and a bit wary, but it seemed to be a very thorough job, and the knots looked very professional. It was definitely the deciding factor as to whether I pushed on alone or called it quits. I was beginning to wonder if I had totally lost my way and was getting myself in over my head.

Wow brings back some memories - I did this walk with Jim and Wilf way back in late 80s or Early 90s (before the Book).

The main things I remember of it was that it was beautiful, leachey, rough and Leachey - there were tons of leaches and HUGE one too.

Would love to do it again one day.

More memories. Crossing Leura Golf Course, when I came across some guy carrying a McLeod. Not your usual greenkeepers tool, and as he had made some attempt to disguise it, I figured he didn’t work for the golf club. Up until then I’d wondered if I might be in trouble for trespassing. Turns out he was heading down to do some work on Lindeman’s, and as I was doing Gladstone for the first time we wandered down together and had a bit of a chat. Actually for a couple of hours and he did most of the talking. His name didn’t mean anything to me at the time, but it was my introduction to Wilf. This would have been not long before the reopening.

I obviously dodged a (squishy blood sucking) bullet on my trip, with only 1 leech. From other postings it seems I was lucky. It is hard to imagine the enormous effort it must have taken to re open the track. Folk obviously get along it though, and hopefully it will stay walkable for years to come. A tad sketchy in places, but that was half the enjoyment.