Lamb's Head Walk

To start this one off we need to discuss the difference between a walk and a hike. When you spend 6 hours trudging through the rain forest to reach a 1300m mountain peak I would call it a hike. Australians would call it a walk.

Yesterday four of us went for a walk to reach the peak of the Lamb's Head range. This walk is said to be the best walk in the Cairns area, now we understand why. We went on this walk with two people from my work (Julian and Dave). The trail head starts at the end of a dirt road in the Dinden National Park. The first half an hour was reasonable mellow and the trail was a maintained path. After crossing over an old bridge made of tree trunks the trail got tough. The next long section was quite steep and had been worked into a set of steps to make it easier to climb. I don't think it helped. That section was exhausting and required a number of rest stops.

After the set of death steps the trail changed from the wider path to a single file track. We continued along this path for probably another hour through the trees and grass. Unfortunately, in Australia the leaches don't live in the water. They live in the grass. Every few minutes we'd have to stop for a second and flick off the leaches before they got really attached.

Then the track suddenly ends as you walk into a huge piece of granite. The next hour is spent climbing over rocks and through the trees and vines. Eventually you walk out onto a large rock clear of the trees. The view is breath taking. From the rock you can see Lake Morris which is our drinking water. You can also see Cairns in the background and Trinity Inlet. The walk was difficult, but the view was completely worth it. After having some snacks on this rock was climbed a little higher. At the highest peak in the range is a communications tower. We cruised up another little track to the top up there we refilled our water bottle from a rain barrel and grabbed another view. Julian has been on the walk several times before so he knew where to go. He took us through some tall grass and bush and we popped out into a clearing. The slope was harsh and the result of slipping was a long roll down the hill to your death. But again the view was amazing. Any of you that make it out here at some point should do this if you feel fit enough.

The guy in this picture is Dave, he's from England. In the back just under the clouds you can see Cairns. Such a good view. I want to go back already, except my legs are sore. See you later.

Nick