Following on from last Travel Snap Tuesday...
After a chilly night, at the Pine Valley hut we set off for the Acropolis. It came highly recommended for the climb and the views and we were excited to have a white couple-of-days-before-christmas to do the walk in!
On the way we came across this marshy area that was absolutely chock-a-block with Pandani. They were one of my favourite plants that we came across on the trip and to see so many in the one area was a little bit magical! No snow yet...
...but as soon as we started climbing the mountain proper we were crunching through the white stuff! Many of the track markers were covered so for a lot of the climb we were following the footprints a wallaby (or maybe paddymelon) had left in the snow. It was quite incredible. As soon as we went a different way to the footprints we'd invariably come to a dead end or too-difficult-scramble and backtrack to see where the wallaby had gone. He (or she) certainly knew best! The way down was another story again as most of the snow had melted and the footprints had gone. Once again there were a few of "I think we've lost the track" moments, followed by some it's-OK-we've-found-its and some no-we-haven't-it's-right-up-theres!
Despite the backtracking and finger numbing cold, the view from the top was incredible. There were mountain ranges as far as the eye could see and we could pick out in the distance where we'd started walking 7 days earlier as well as see how far we had to go that afternoon (about 8 km)!
This last photo is of me and our Acropolis walking buddy Laura celebrating at the top of the mountain before settling down to a last day hiking lunch of vita wheats and nutella. Mmmmm hiking food, wouldn't eat it any other time!
So, 7 days, 90kms. What an achievement and what a great note to almost end it on!
1 comment:
Phew! 90kms! wow! That's a brilliant effort.
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