I love a family who is up for a challenge. My wife and sons joined me for an assault on Mt Roland today. The weather forecast was ordinary but we decided to have a go anyway. Progress up the face track from Kings Road was slow, steady and dry until we reached the cliffs.
As we approached the top of the climb, rain set in and a nasty wind chased onto the plateau. Just before the summit we stopped for shelter in a cave to have lunch in the dry. At this point we decided to continue past the summit in the hope that cruising down the back of the mountain would be more sheltered.
Our decision was doubly rewarded. As soon as we left the summit it became apparent the back track to Gowrie Park was much better maintained than the track up the front. No more scratchy scrub. Hooray. Secondly, our hunch about the wind was correct. The back of the mountain was eerily still with mist preventing views more than a hundred metres or so. The rain even stopped for long enough to get the camera out for the board walk section.
After descending past Reggies Falls and down the mossy valley of O’Neills Creek we connected on to the new track to Gowrie Park. This new track adds as much as 3km on to the walk and made a tedious end as it gradually contoured its way below the face of Mt Vandyke. Thankfully my mother-in-law was kind enough to respond to our request for a lift after our summit change of plans and we completed our circuit with the short drive back to our car.
