DAY 5
14th December 2020
We drove to the park to do a couple of walks today. It was about a 45 minute drive from our campsite to the actual walks, probably the only real downside to that camp.
We decided to walk Burbie Canyon first. It wasn’t particularly interesting, probably due to the time of year more than anything, as the creek does often have water in it, and it was just dry and rocky.
We then drove to Fan’s Horizon track. This is a 3.6km return walk but up over 1,000 stairs. We both started the walk but Josh cut out not far into the steps. It was a slog, but I made it to the top and had the viewpoint to myself! I sat and ate an apple before preparing to go back down again.
I caught up with Josh at the car, then we drove back to Gunneemooroo. I had my first shower that night in our new shower tent. It was great!
DAY 6
15th December 2020
We drove back to the NP, this time for me to do the Breadknife and Grand High Tops walk alone. Josh dropped me off, then drove over to do the shorter Tara Caves walk.
The walk I went on is THE walk to do in the Warrumbungles. It was paved for most of the first section so it made for a pretty easy, and somewhat boring walk. I said hello to some rangers and went to a couple of the side tracks before starting the walk up to the top. This required walking up a LOT of metal stairs that had been installed. It was hard work, being both hard to walk up the grippy stairs and it was hot, but I made it to the rocky, natural section of the track. Up and up I went, until the scramble to the very top, with a great view over the Warrumbungles.
I started to walk down the track. At some of the natural stairs, I noticed a group of people, including a couple I’d said hello to on the way up. I’d actually asked the girl if she was alright because she looked a bit hot, but she said she was ok. Turned out that while I was up at the summit, she had fainted with heat stroke. One of the other people there was on the phone to the police or ambulance people, while the girl was out cold. I told them I’d go find a ranger as I'd seen several of them, and ran. Down the natural path and down the stairs. It was pretty sketchy. I found a ranger along the path and tried to describe where the girl was. She’d passed out on a really hard to access part of the track so it was going to be hard to get her if she was unable to walk herself.
While running downhill, I’d messaged Josh to tell him what had happened and so he drove to the carpark to wait for me. The carpark was a mess of police and ambulances. He went to talk to them and told them what I’d relayed to him, then came to walk up the path to see me with a bottle of water. Good thing too because I was hot and stuffed after all that running. I emerged into the parking lot then had a chat to the cops, trying to tell them where she was.
We left the fuss and drove back to our campsite. I don’t know what happened to the girl but I can only assume that she was ok, since there was nothing on the news about her. I hope she managed to get to the rangers and their ATVs to get a lift out.
What a day!