Nightcap

In the spring of 2001, I was able to take my sister's fiancee, Mark, on a hike into Nightcap National Park, Northern NSW. I was glad to have some company and Mark was glad to see some of the real Australia (he's from America, not that I hold that against him). He saw it as a way to "gain my approval" for marrying my sister. I found it strange and funny camping with an American. For breakfast, lunch and tea he ate nothing but frankfurts (like the red thing in a hotdog), plastic cheese and white bread.

The plan, which became very different from what actually happened, was to go from Blue Nob in the western end of the park across Sphinx Rock to Mount Nardi and then on to Tuntable Falls and Protestors falls. At Protestors there's a cool cave for sleeping and a swimming hole ...

... but we only made it to Sphinx Rock.

Mark was very meditative as he took in the glorious panorama on top of Sphinx Rock. Mt Warning, an ancient extinct volcano, can be seen in the background.

A breathtaking view of the misty morning in the valley below Blue Nob. Mt Warning can be seen on the horizon to the left. It is the first thing to get sunlight on the Australian mainland. The small pinnacle to the right is Sphinx Rock. From the valley this formation looks like an Egyptian sphinx - with a little imagination. Sphinx Rock has a 190m (630feet) drop on the north side, a 170m drop on the south and approx. 40m drop off the eastern end (which I maintain to this day is not marked on the map). The only way we could get off this rock, apart from backtracking, was a precarious descent between cliffs along the southern side.

The ascent up Blue Nob was very steep and once on top we had to struggle through a dense jungle of Lawyer vine ("Wait-a-while vine"). This vine puts out dozens of little spikey arms that cling onto you like velcro. We spent hours ripping through it. We camped on top of Blue Nob before making our way to Sphinx Rock. We had to go along a spectacular ridge about 2m wide with sheer cliffs on either side to get there. After several hours clambering around this rock and nearly losing our packs several times down cliffs, we finally conceded that a totally different route had to be navigated.

We had a great time exploring a new part of God's world. Some day I'd like to go back and find a path to Mt Nardi - but with a machete and climbing gear.

Thanks for coming, Mark, you're approved :-)