The Great Walk

All week and every night from Monday to Friday we kept a very close eye on the weather man in the hope he brought us the good news so we could go for a hike in the weekend. Friday night the forecast was o.k. except for some light showers on Saturday but that wouldn’t harm us too much.
Packed every thing for the coming days and Saturday morning we left for the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
About 100 kilometres North of Brisbane it’s a wonderful area for nature lovers and hikers. After last weeks with rain the waterfalls will be good. We planned to walk the Mapleton Falls section and parked our car on the side of Flaxton Mill Road. Coffee??? Nah, lets walk first to Flaxton Walkers Camp. I set up the tent, you make coffee. It’s only 1.2 km to the camp over a nice wide track. The campsite can be booked over the net, which I did the night before. To Book
With the taste of the hot brown liquid still soothing our tastebuds, we left our big backpacks in the tent, loaded our lighter daypacks and headed North towards Baxter Falls. Just after leaving the Flaxton camp site a sign warned us that the track was only suitable for experienced walkers. No problem. But indeed the track was not that easy anymore. Smaller and a lot of steep ascents and climbs, lots of steps. The path led us to a Swing bridge and we heard water fallen in the not too far distance. I went up on the bridge while Yasmine walked further towards the waterfall. From the bridge I had a beautiful view over Baxter Falls Creek.

Baxter Falls Creek

After having numerous photographic images added to the memory card I went further along the creek and saw a mermaid

waiting for me to have lunch with a view of the Baxter Falls. To put myself in a good position to make a nice image of the waterfall I had to climb over a few very slippery boulder stones but survived the ordeal and so did my friend the camera.
We crossed the suspension bridge and followed the track to Mapleton Falls.

Obi Obi Creek

About two kilometre further up the bushpath ended and we had to follow the Great Walk over the road for about 1.4 km. Although not directly the most interesting part of our walk it was not bad walking. Some cottages were along the road and at one, friendly people were waving at us and held up their thumbs. Very encouraging. At the end of the road the Mapleton Falls were waiting for us. From the spot where we parked our car it was about 7.3 km walking. Pick ups and drop offs can be arranged through Mystic Mountain Tours We however had to walk the same way back but that was alright because we are in training. We came across some other walkers and had a nice chat with a couple asking questions about some earlier walks we had done. I referred them to my story on Red Bubble The Last Chapter.
The sky was changing colours. The sun started to hide behind clouds and it became darker, darker and it began to rain. The track was getting a bit slippery but not too bad. The poncho’s we bought were a good protection against the wet. Back at the campsite we thanked ourselves that we had put up the tent before we went, so there was no drama in setting up camp while it was raining. Luckily the rain stopped for a while and we could make dinner, although the drops from overhanging branches were still pounding upon us. With our headlights on we played cards and ate and drank some chocolate.
The rain came back and held on for a while but the next morning it was dry again. After our Weet Bix ( how many do you do?) We packed the tent and headed for our car. The track was full with poodles and slippery and we decided to drive to Lake Baroon.

Lake Baroon

It’s a man made lake with nice picnic areas.
About 1 km into the walk we reached a beautiful spot where the Obi Obi creek falls over the cliffs.

Obi Obi Creek.

Another kilometre further we had some creek crossings and beautiful views over the valley. We returned and in the afternoon payed Montville a visit. It’s a wonderful idyllic town. Tourist are very welcome and there are a lot of nice cafe’s and restaurants.

• Favorite
• Report Concern
• Share This
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Add your comment

You need to login or signup to add your comment to this work.

Tags:

australia, hike, hinterland, nature, sunshinecoast and travel