On Monday (so I've been too lazy to update), a group of people I have a loose affiliation with and I, climbed the two peaks of Mt Cougal, just on the Queensland side of the QLD/NSW border.


The border fence was literally right on our left as we walked up the track. It was a fairly easy walk even if there was a lot of steep uphill parts and there was minimal rock faces to climb. Due to it only being a short day walk we had a late scheduled departure time of 8:30am and maybe as an indication of how the trip was going to go, Sef arrived at the Miskin St stop at about 9am before heading over to get Thei. We didn't wait long there before putting packs in the car and setting off down the M1 for the NSW border. Frequently consulting Sef's guide book and doing U-turns, we eventually found the access track and were all getting out of the car by 10:45am. Initially we were all amused by Thei having to duck really low under hanging branches but this eventually gave way to a slashed track that continued most of the way to the mountain. Eventually we wandered into forest, complete with wait-a-while and ticks which were entertaining no end. After a stint of mostly steps leading in an upwards direction, we arrived at a fork in the track that led to a cave as shown below.

There was a narrow opening all the way through but no one wanted to attempt to squeeze in and risk getting stuck. After the cave had been explored we went back to the main path where the track got increasingly difficult to traverse. There was a bit of a rock face to climb here, but with wide outcrops for feet it was no real trouble, although the next part of track was slippery we arrived at the summit of the Eastern peak. Without lunch.

There is some debate as to why we had no lunch, but basically it comes down to "we forgot". I had packed chocolate, gummi bears and some corn chips so some of us subsisted on that while we admired the view of the Western peak.

Sef, Bron and I decided we'd risk life and limb to try and make it to the top of the much-less-spectacular-view-giving Western peak and we set off into the unknown. Apparently there was meant to be some scrambling up cliffs on this part of the journey but we managed to find our own way up without too much trouble at all, even finding our way to some exposed rock platforms which did give quite good views of the valley.

Our return trip was not quite as succesful. Despite seeing the right path, we decided to find another way back until we eventually found ourselves climbing down little cliffs onto narrow paths. We survived and have heroic tales of grazed knees to share with the awe-inspired people who didn't go.

The return journey was suitably uneventful except for the highlights of gaining an extra 2 inches of Queensland. We got back to the car just about dark to find the driver's window down but nothing stolen. On the drive home we decided to stop for food and it was when we stopped that Sef discovered a leech had bitten him and then escaped into his car.

We're still waiting for the sign to be printed that says "Nissan Pulsar: Now with 100% more leeches". We all arrived home, where we left from, having not used a computer the whole time and there was minimal nerdiness from Thei with his "Please wait. Loading..." comments as he stood up. A success!
Maz