the hinchinbrook trip was a mixed success. I believe steph wanted to write about our sea kayaking trials and tribulations (which mostly were due to me - oops).
The basic plan for the trip was for Pete, Bindi and I to meet at Lucinda on Saturday. Pete and I were to leave the following day to paddle to hinchinbrook island, climb mount diamantina, spend sunday night on the top. Meanwhile steph was to meet up with Bindi on sunday and then paddle to the island on monday. We would meet at Mulligans falls on Monday afternoon. From then we would spend the following fives days paddling to Cardwell.
Anyway, Bindi and I arrived in Cairns on a perfect day;. The cabbie complained about the few clouds in the sky. We spent a few hours checking out Cairns. The muddy harbour was a surprise - yuk! From here we bussed and taxied it to Lucinda and met Pete as planned. Dinner that night was a buffet at the local pub which included such delicacies as spaghetti and crumbed steak! Bindi had to try it.The highlight of the meal for me were the Geckos. there was one positioned strategically next to each flourescent light to catch wayward bugs - smart cookies.
After a poor nights sleep trying to get used to the heat and lack of big blankets to cuddle Pete and I both arose super early. With Bindi's help we moved the boats and all the other garb the three hundred or so metres to the beach where we proceeded to fill every nook and cranny with the small mountain of gear we had accumulated. It was a perfect day for setting off, the water was flat and the wind calm. After much procrastination on pete's part (lots more of that later) we set off to Sunken reef bay. 2 hours of paddling later we arrived on the beach which was much as I remembered it - only really calm. We stashed the boats and proceeded to pack. Our peace was then broken when about 15 pople turned up in power boats for a fathers day picnic. After bullshitting to some local goose for a while we set off for the mountains with lightish overnight packs hoping that the boats would still be there tomorrow.
The walk started at the south end of the beach and followed a track up a low ridge and down to the fast flowing Diamantina creek. I think I left pete behind somewhere here whilst he stretched. I waited for Pete here. From here we left all tracks and started following the wide creek. A few hours of slow boulder hopping and some open slabby areas later we cam across a 20m water fall with no obvious way around. Bugger it, we jumped in the superb pool at the base and had a swim. The large flat slab at the base of the cliff looked perfect for pitching the tent. Pete wouldn't have a bar of it. To find a way around the waterfall we backtracked and starting climbing up some very steep faint slippery track - grade 10 jungle climbing! At about 100m above the stream it levelled off and I heard voices. We came across a group of six people drinking beer who were also climbing mount diamantina and were thinking of continuing up the ridge. Considering only two groups are allowed to climb the mountain a month it was a big surprise to come across another group.We tried bushbashing up for a shortbit but quickly gave up. We sidled and descended (slid!) back down to the creek above the falls. From here the creek ascended steeply with more boulder hopping and slabby cascades. After a while it narrowed to a canyon where the only way up was to grovel up small waterfalls with the full brunt of the stream in the face. We were going slow and getting worried about the time but we continued on. Our notes mentioned to leave the creek at a certain map reference. Before we reached this spot the creek narrowed to a canyon blocked by a 20+m waterfall. The top of Diamantina was now only 300m vertically above us. We collected water,and started ascending up a ridge to the left. There was a feint track which we lost often. The scrub bashing was bloody awful - two steps up and one step back. After an hour of grovelling our way up we came to a more open main ridge with the top of the mountain in the sight. I was completely trashed at this stage. Pete took off the top and I plodded my way to the top counting out 20 steps at a time.I arrived just on sunset.
The top of Diamantina is marked by 2 huge rocks about 20 metres high. We sat around taking photos as the sun disappeared to the west. The view was awesome. The campsite was an excessively rough area of grass tufts. We threw the tent down and then spent some time trying to find a comfortable way of sleeping. Pete found an OK diagonal across the tent and I curled up in a hole at one end of the tent. Pete had organised dinner (and the two lunches) for this part of the trip. We feasted on leb bread, cheese and cucumber - yuk! I ate the scroggin and other sweet things as well to fill my depleted belly.At 8:00pm we flashed our torches in the direction of lucinda in the hope Bindi and Steph would know we had made the top ( they later confirmed the torches appeared as clear as day and were suitably excited sitting on the pier drinking something or other).
I think I slept off and on because I remembered I knew when it started raining. Doh - all the clothes outside were now wet. We awoke to a misty morning. We quickly packed and set off back down the now very slippery mountain. slip sliding away....... the ridge we were following was parallel to about 4 other ridges that briefly appeared in the mist and which all more or less headed south east. We spent the next two hours crossing ridges in the vain hope we's find the right one. We eventually settled on a ridge and descended all the way to where it mean the confluence of two creeks.The cloud lifted briefly revealing the gorge we were aiming for - hurrah we knew where we were. From here we sidled and descended to where we had left the main creek. At one point I did a major slide down a rock in the scrub, I landed, tumbled, crashed through the scrub and found myself upside down with my feet waving in the breeze - most undignified. The next five or so hours involved finding our way back down the creek we followed the prior day except now all the rocks were treacherously wet. It was slow going and the creek managed to extract more than its pint of blood from my battered legs - they still hurt. We eventually arrived at where we left the creek. From here we quickly marched off to Mulligan Falls to surprise Steph and Bindi who had been waiting there for a few hours. We had made it.
I hurt. a lot! The swim at the falls and some decent food were a well earned finale.
:)
AP