28 October 2016 - Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo National Parks

Today dawned bleak and cold, but it morphed into a beautiful cool sunny day, perfect for visits to the Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo National Parks.  These are off the Mt Lindsay Highway, between Woodenbong and Tenterfield.

Bald Rock is a granite inselberg, rising 200m from the surrounding countryside.  Its summit is 1227m above sea level. It is the largest exposed granite rock in Australia.  The exposed dome is 750m long and 750m wide. These are a couple of aerial shots of the rock (photos of photos.

281016 Aerial photos of Bald Rock

Needless to say, getting there was quite an experience.  We chose the 2.75km track to the summit and it was up hill all the way.  We passed through collections of rocks which have fallen from the top over geologic time, forming many and varied structures, of which one was "The Arches". 

281016 "The Arches" on the way up Bald Rock

281016 "Underneath the Arches"

We passed many varieties of wildflowers, which will be the subject of a separate blog in the future. However, we could not fail to mention the many beautiful specimens of rock lilies we came across.  They were prolific and in full bloom.

281016 Rock Lily (Dendrobium Speciosum) on Bald Rock

The walk up was somewhat torturous but worth every bit of it when we reached the summit. We were met with a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. We could see so far that our vision was lost in the mist of distance.

281016 Still a way to go

281016 Nearing the summit of Bald Rock looking east, take 1

281016 Nearing the summit of Bald Rock looking east, take 2

281016 Nearing the summit of Bald Rock looking east, take 3

281016 Bald Rock everywhere

281016 From the summit looking east

281016 From the summit looking north

281016 From the summit looking south west

281016 From the summit looking south

281016 From the summit looking towards The Pyramids
 in Girraween National Park 

281016 Good examples of granite's spheroidal weathering

281016 On the summit of Bald Rock - Balancing Rocks

We photographed the brass plate atop the cairn of stones at the summit - to prove we had been there.

281016 The dial on the summit of Bald Rock, to prove we were there

We did not take the short way down the steeply sloping face of the rock on the advice of the ranger, but laboured down the same 2.75km path we took up.  

We made it back with sore toes, sore feet, sore calf muscles, sore knees, sore hips but saw everything.   Our Fitbit buzzed to alert us to the fact we had done 10,700 steps

After a quick lunch we headed off to Boonoo Boonoo National Park, famous for the Boonoo Boonoo Falls.  From a series of rock pools at its top, the water in the Boonoo Boonoo River falls in progressive drops down 210m to a rock lined gorge.

281016 Rock Pools at the top of Boonoo Boonoo Falls

281016 A photo of a photo of the Rock Pools at the head of the falls

281016 The top of Boonoo Boonoo Falls

281016 Part way down Boonoo Boonoo Falls

281016 The lookout at Boonoo Boonoo Falls and the gorge below 

The falls were difficult to photograph so we tried a video.  Hope it works.

This was a very rewarding day, even though we will suffer for our enthusiasm for the challenge of Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo Falls.  

We conclude with some country humour.

281016 Country humour - in the middle of nowhere