Jalan Jalan Adelaide: Mount Lofty

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

Mount Lofty Summit is a "must visit" for Adelaide visitors. From the summit one will get panoramic view of the Adelaide City and its coastline. You can either hike up to the summit or you can just drive all the way up. There is a restaurant on top; so during weekend a lot of the locals come up to the summit to enjoy a cup of tea while overlooking magnificent view of the city. 

Mount Lofty is the highest point of the Mount Lofty ranges (710m high) and it is located about 15km from the City of Adelaide. There is an obelisk on its summit which was use as navigation assistant in World War II. There are 3 starting points for its hiking trail, which are the Waterfall Gully, The Cleland Conservation Park and the Chambers Gully. We did the Adventure Hike which is a linear trail that stretches to at least 10km and 3 hours return. The trail starting point is from the Waterfall Gully carpark. Eventhough we did the Adventure Hike which is listed as 'hard', it was an easy climb with clear trail and direction marks along the way.

Mount Lofty Hiking Trail map; source: http://www.southaustraliantrails.com/pdf/shortwalks/08/adelaidehillsregion.pdf

We started a bit late, waited for the bus, went up to nearby residential area and walked for at least an hour to the Waterfall Gully starting point. Macam la tak biasa kan, kat Malaysia pun rata2 gunung kena jalan berjam2 sampai ke kaki gunung~.

Rumah dalam perjalanan ke kaki gunung. terasa kat oversea tak?, cewahh~

Itik pulang pagi, nak cross jalan.

The waterfall gully.

Itu lah air terjun nye, tak perlu terkejut yer, air terjun sini mmg malu2 nak turun.

Going up!

I was heading to the tunnel, posing jerh, salah jalan pun~

First Fall dari atas.

Sungai dari waterfall yang ke dua

Belum start lagi adventure hike, trail sangat cantik~

Waterfall yang kedua, juga malu2 nak turun.

Kesian budak2 ni main sungai yang cecah kaki tak sampai buku lali pun, datang Malaysia la dik, akak bawak p sungai gabai.

Pilih2 trail, masa ni memang tengah eksen la, kunun2 track senang sangat, nak yang paling susah punyer~

And we chose this trail. Eksen tak? hehehehhe....."...the natural surface and steep sections provide a challenge", semangat nih bila baca....

Maka start lah mencabar sikit.

Dan juga sempat posing....

The Adelaide City

Nampak tak itu obelisk, thats the peak.

Wondering macam mana posmen hantar surat kt sini, dan untuk siapa?

Bet that this is mountain biking trail.

Tiba2 trail stop, kena cross jalan lagi....mencabar tak?

The Summit!

I'll put it as a relaxing hike, we did straight to the top without stopping for rest except for solat tepi sungai and photo taking sessions. On its peak, we had wonderful ice chocolate and creamy coffee latte. Style kaya tak? padahal duit kutip celah2 beg. Keh3.

Hah! air terjun on the way balik, nampak tak? nampak tak? kitorg pun hampir2 tak nampak....ahahhaha.

Pulang ke Waterfall Gully point.

Kena cuci kasut sebelum keluar tau, supaya tak bawak balik apa2 yang tak boleh dibawa balik, untuk kesihatan dan kebersihan.

Jalan Jalan Australia: Mount Remarkable National Park

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

This was my last hiking trip in Australia before flying back home. The name of the mountain does intrigue me a lot. Remarkable its name, why does it so? Well, from 50km away we can see an outline of a massive mount over vast surrounding plain. Remarkable, one will say. 

It was a 290km journey from Adelaide that took about 3.5 hour drive. The main trail up to Mount Remarkable summit is in Melrose. But, we camp overnight in Mambray Creek campsite, another 20km from Melrose. Mambray Creek campsite is one of the best outback campsite in Australia complete with toilets and bathrooms. At night we slept under the bright starlight and in the morning we woke up through the sound of birds whistling. Lovely.

Mount Remarkable National Park is located about 230km from the city of Adelaide. It consists of the Alligator Gorge, Mambray Creek and of course, the Mount Remarkable itself. This trip happened a week after we went to Wilpena, so once again we went through the same route, but instead of going straight to Quorn we diverted to Melrose. There are entrance fee to the National Park. We paid $24, inclusive of entrance for a car and one night camp, kindly note that we are students so we paid concession price.

I like the "kesempoian" of this signage. And the yellow bike too...classic!

The Mount Remarkable from afar.

Part of the Mount Remarkable National Park, heading to Mambray Creek through the Horrock's Pass.

Us!

Driving through Horrock's Pass

Alligator Gorge is one spectacular gorge that was believed to be an ancient dry river bed. The river cut through ancient quartzite rocks of Alligator Creek. As it was going to be dark soon, we took the shortest walk through the gorge. It was a 90 minutes walk of 2km loop trail. Alligator Gorge located about 14km from the town of Wilmington and can easily be accessed by car. The trail starts from the car park area and there is a staircase leading down to the gorge floor.

Lunch di car park, lapo gile....

...heading back to the campsite, sunset!

Ready for dinner

Tom yum nyum...nyum....

Great view of the Spencer Gulf

Spencer Gulf from satellite view

The next morning, well not quite morning, after late breakfast, we started our journey back to Melrose for the summit hike of Mount Remarkable. We stop by at an old coffee shop which was used to be a blacksmith's workshop; and which was built in 1865. The owner of the coffee shop conserved most of the outlook and inlook of the blacksmith's workshop. You can find the tools and machinery around the shop.

K.g posing style bini blacksmith

Inah concentrate baca article pasal Mount Remarkable

Coffee Shop entrance

The coffee shop

Hot choc during hot summer day....tak masuk, tak masuk...

And, here we go....the summit hike of Mount Remarkable.

Mount Remarkable stands at 955m high in the Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia. It is being considered as the boundary between the arid north and wetter south of the range containing flora and fauna of both regions. The summit hike trail is part of the famous Heysen Trail and offers impressive view of the Willochra Plain and Spencer Gulf. The hike listed as moderate with some moderate inclines and loose, uneven surface. Estimated time is 5 hours with 12.2km return.

Us before the hike. Masa ni cukup lah panas, sunburn x hengat....

This is actually the tricky part, memang kalau silap langkah terjunam ke bawah...

Willochra Plain

If you look closely, there is a plane wreck down the slope. It was believed to be a light aircraft that crashed in 1970s.

Ini agak scary, adalah dalam 600mm wide, trail itu.

And, it ends here.

Agak mengecewakan sebab ingatkan akan nampak view yang marvelous kat atas ni, rupanye view adalah sepanjang perjalanan, not bad,...not bad.

Well, before we went for the trip i did some research on Mount Remarkable. I really thought that up on the summit, we will get the best view of the plain and Spencer Gulf. But, the view was actually during our hike through the trail. Mount Remarkable is rather bit different from any other mountain trail, because I wonder why the trail was prepared to be around the slopes rather than cutting through the slopes resulting a long stretch of walking trail. The act of preserving i guess. Anyhow, it was a remarkable trip. I really enjoyed the hike and the views along the way.