Nicole: "The Most Difficult Walk I've Ever Done"

So we looked at the map (not to scale) that we'd be given and thought we'd try a track that took us up to a place called Split Rock.

"Entrance to Twin Gorges" the map said. "Experienced Bushwalkers Only Past This Point" it warned ominously. "Yeah Right" I thought. I'm sure Nicole did too. Maybe I should ask her.

It took us a while to find the entrance to the track during which time the dogs legged it whooping with delight - or bloodlust - chasing after some unknown prey. When they returned we found our track leading up the bed of a creek.

The creek led up towards the mountain with a rocky bed surrounded by thick forest.

Soon the rocky bed began to climb steeply and we found ourselves scrambling, then rock climbing as we made our way up. The way was marked by ribbons tied around the occasional tree trunk or hanging from the odd branch and on several occasions we almost pronounced ourselves lost as we couldn't see the next one.

After a couple of hours of climbing up waterfalls (well they would have been if it had rained, as it was they were trickles) and directing the dogs up routes they could actually manage, we made it to the top to be hailed by views stretching many miles. And a dilemma, because we were on a crossroads of four tracks, and the map only showed three.

So we took an educated guess as to which was the way down and took it, correctly as it turned out.

Later we drove up to Woodford and stocked up on provisions, had some coffee, and brought back a distinctly average Chinese.