Hiking at Night

Friday, April 11, 2014

written Zoe Labreze 

 

In the early hours of Friday morning we set off on a great adventure. Our day began at 01:30am and ended at 01:00pm.

 

In the dark night we had about half an hour to get ourselves ready for the drive down into New South Wales. Our destination was Mount Warning, where we were to climb the summit in time for watching the sunrise at the top. This mountain is about 1200m high and it took us about two and a half hours to hike to the top in the dark. And three hours more to get back to the car at the bottom.

 

The two parts of hiking were very different: First we got up in the dark and needed torches to allow us to find the right way. There were glow worms and many stars because the sky was very clear. We had to stop several times but after 4km and a steep rock climb of 400m with the aid of a chain, we reached the top and were the first ones in the whole world to see the sunrise. We had a picnic at the summit and enjoyed the amazing view. Our way back down was a bit longer because we took many photos and there was not the rush to get down for a set time. All in all the hiking was about 9km long.

 

When looking out from the bottom we could not believe, we had climbed such a huge mountain.

Although it was very challenging and exhausting it was an experience I will never forget.

 

Thank you to my host family for the good time at Gold Coast!