8 – 11 October 2024
Photos courtesy of Philip, Erika and DonnaG. Walk report courtesy Walk leaders Gavin and Denise.
Nine walkers and a camp manager (thank you Tony) met on the afternoon of Tuesday October 8th at the Morton National Park Wog Wog Campground.
We were surprised to see some 10 other cars in the campground. These represented walkers who were out in the Morton National Park somewhere. Dinner was enjoyed around a fabulous campfire that Tom had constructed. Day light savings resulting in extra daylight in which to debate our departure time the next morning.
On Wednesday it was 8.30 for a 9 o’clock departure with everyone feeling the weight of their packs filled with tents, stoves, water and food. The walk to our camp spot at Burrumbeet Caves was 15km. We summited Corang Peak after lunch and climbed all over Corang Arch making Toyota (jumping for joy) ads in the afternoon.
We arrived at camp around 4pm and after some scouting around, found good flat tent spots in among the conglomerate outliers and waist high bush. The towering cliffs of the Burrumbeet Brook Valley surrounded us. We did our best to stay up until 7.30 but once the sun left the valley the temps dropped and so did we.
It was a chilly 4 degrees overnight and we stirred around 6.30 to find the valley blanketed in fog. At 8.30 we left our packs and walked further up the valley to the main Burrumbeet Cave. It was empty of people, but we all agreed that it was not suitable for a group our size to camp in.
Around 9.30 we picked up our packs and headed back to the Wog Wog Campground the way we came. We arrived around 3pm to find the camp manager had done a super job of keeping the home fires burning. Our final night was spent telling tall tales around the campfire.
Highlights of the walk were the spectacular arch, the remoteness of the area, the palpable presence of our indigenous ancestors and the magnificent floral display of spring flowers. Despite the number of cars in the carpark, we only came across a few other walkers along the way.