Post by ezza on May 30, 2007 0:15:45 GMT 10
(This is pretty long winded and should probably go in the stories section but here goes)
I was thinking back, a lot of years ago(pre slope flying days), when my girlfriend (now my wife), a few friends and myself climbed up to Mt Cougal. Mt Cougal is a double pinnacle that is just north of Murwillumbah. To climb it you have to walk along the sharp ridge that forms the border between NSW and Qld. This is also the head of the Currumbin Valley. I rembered a spot on that ridge where it seemed pretty open and dropped off on the north and south side....atleast that is how I remembered it.
Today I had to work on the Gold coast and finished around 3:30pm. I thought there just might be enough time to go check it out on the way home.
Anyways, I go down 'The Garden of Eden' RD (seriously that is what it is called) and park at the end. It is a little wet, nobody around, but I think OK. The track (hardly a track), is on the Qld side of the fence. The fence runs right up the middle of the ridge. As I am hoping over the fence to Qld, I notice there is a 4wd track on the NSW side, but it says no unauthorized persons.
So I start the steep climb up and it is really overgrown and eventually turns into a little tunnel, under/through, lantana. I am thinking there is no way I can get a plane through here. This is much harder than I remembered it. Eventually, after a good 20 minute, slippery climb, I get to the open part and there is a pretty open ridge top, except the grass is about 5ft tall on the north side and bana grass covers most of the south side. I look at my watch and notice I have about 15-20min of day light left, but I can see it looks a little better further up the ridge. When I get up there it looks pretty decent for flying on the north side, and you could definitely ds in a big SE wind but would need a bungee start. A lost model alarm, no fear, and some good overalls/machete would be a must as well. Not as good as I was hoping but, at least now I know.
So I start walking back down the ridge and notice 'that' 4wd track on the NSW side of the fence again. I think back to that lantana tunnel and how a plane would be hard to carry through there. So I hop the fence and start walking down the track. Down,down,down, track is getting smaller, down, I find an abandoned/bogged tractor, down, an abandoned caravan, and then all the sudden the track switches back to the west!!!! OHH ***T!! This isn't the same track I saw at the start! I am at least 150m down from the top and now it is basically dark. I start walking back up the hill and notice what looks like an old road cut, over grown with weeds, lantana etc, heading North back up the ridge. It is like a black tunnel in the jungle. I bump into some spider webs and notice something moving. There are two huge Golden Orb spiders right in my face! No time to panic, just brush them out of the way and keep moving. I persist with the short cut and after about 3min I find a dead end!!!
I realize I have to go back to this other track, climb all the way back to the top of the ridge and then back down the way I originally came up, through the little slippery tunnel etc, all in the dark.
Well obviously I made it, lucky the moon was pretty bright and the rain held off.
Anyone who has been up Mt Cougal would know it is real jungle and the leaches are shocking!
Pretty stupid as I did not have any water,etc, and thought I could just run up for a 'quick look'.
The things we do to find a good slope.
Eric (Still searching for that golden ds/slope site)
I was thinking back, a lot of years ago(pre slope flying days), when my girlfriend (now my wife), a few friends and myself climbed up to Mt Cougal. Mt Cougal is a double pinnacle that is just north of Murwillumbah. To climb it you have to walk along the sharp ridge that forms the border between NSW and Qld. This is also the head of the Currumbin Valley. I rembered a spot on that ridge where it seemed pretty open and dropped off on the north and south side....atleast that is how I remembered it.
Today I had to work on the Gold coast and finished around 3:30pm. I thought there just might be enough time to go check it out on the way home.
Anyways, I go down 'The Garden of Eden' RD (seriously that is what it is called) and park at the end. It is a little wet, nobody around, but I think OK. The track (hardly a track), is on the Qld side of the fence. The fence runs right up the middle of the ridge. As I am hoping over the fence to Qld, I notice there is a 4wd track on the NSW side, but it says no unauthorized persons.
So I start the steep climb up and it is really overgrown and eventually turns into a little tunnel, under/through, lantana. I am thinking there is no way I can get a plane through here. This is much harder than I remembered it. Eventually, after a good 20 minute, slippery climb, I get to the open part and there is a pretty open ridge top, except the grass is about 5ft tall on the north side and bana grass covers most of the south side. I look at my watch and notice I have about 15-20min of day light left, but I can see it looks a little better further up the ridge. When I get up there it looks pretty decent for flying on the north side, and you could definitely ds in a big SE wind but would need a bungee start. A lost model alarm, no fear, and some good overalls/machete would be a must as well. Not as good as I was hoping but, at least now I know.
So I start walking back down the ridge and notice 'that' 4wd track on the NSW side of the fence again. I think back to that lantana tunnel and how a plane would be hard to carry through there. So I hop the fence and start walking down the track. Down,down,down, track is getting smaller, down, I find an abandoned/bogged tractor, down, an abandoned caravan, and then all the sudden the track switches back to the west!!!! OHH ***T!! This isn't the same track I saw at the start! I am at least 150m down from the top and now it is basically dark. I start walking back up the hill and notice what looks like an old road cut, over grown with weeds, lantana etc, heading North back up the ridge. It is like a black tunnel in the jungle. I bump into some spider webs and notice something moving. There are two huge Golden Orb spiders right in my face! No time to panic, just brush them out of the way and keep moving. I persist with the short cut and after about 3min I find a dead end!!!
I realize I have to go back to this other track, climb all the way back to the top of the ridge and then back down the way I originally came up, through the little slippery tunnel etc, all in the dark.
Well obviously I made it, lucky the moon was pretty bright and the rain held off.
Anyone who has been up Mt Cougal would know it is real jungle and the leaches are shocking!
Pretty stupid as I did not have any water,etc, and thought I could just run up for a 'quick look'.
The things we do to find a good slope.
Eric (Still searching for that golden ds/slope site)
