Saturday, August 6, 2011

Hell's Gates

Jordan came to visit Corinne and I here on the Sunny Coast so we are on a month long expedition to see and do everything we can. We planned to start off the visit with something easy like a visit to a popular beach and shopping touristy area.

This plan failed because we are all a bunch of broke college kids so shopping isn’t really an option and the beach is cool but we were not really dressed to catch some rays. Soooo we decided we would make an adventure out of things and hike the Noosa National Park.
Well needless to say we were not really prepared for this plan either, considering Cor was wearing flip flops and Jordan and I were not really wearing walking attire either. But that wasn’t going to stop us from having fun. So we set off on the trail with about 3 to 4 hours till the last bus departed back home.
The hike was not too much of a challenge so despite our poor planning we continued our voyage! The trail ran along the coastline to the ocean on a path etched into the cliff-like hill. It was so beautiful! Both directions as far as you could see surfers speckled the shoreline’s water.  
We trekked our way from one rocky point to the next, passing intervals of sandy beach coves. At one of the points Cor spotted “something in the water!” (I think she was hoping it was a shark)It turned out to be several dolphins surfing the waves as they pushed their way into the shore.
We walked on and found our way to a place named “Hell’s Gates”.  I was the first to reach the top of the hill’s crest. It was quiet breath taking when I found myself on the top of a cliff looking down on a rock formation that was capturing the ocean’s waves and sending them crashing into a U shaped
death trap.

After enjoying this amazing view, it occurred to us that we had two options considering our time restraints. A) We could come back the way we came B) Complete the circuit and end up closer to our bus stop. We decide that if we moved quickly we would be able to finish the circuit before sunset and in time to catch the bus.

Turns out the trails get a little confusing on the last half of the loop (or should I say loops). Luckily I have a decent sense of direction and decent map navigation skills. We didn’t end up where we intended, but I got the job done so that’s what counts. By the time we arrived back at the bus stop we were hungry, exhausted and our feet were insanely sore! But in spite of the second half the trip it was a great adventure!









No comments:

Post a Comment