Day 3: Friday 18 May 2018
Hiking at Mt Gower was our absolute highlight.
Mt Gower walk is regarded as a 'class 5' of hard and demanding trek.
Which was operated by two licenced guides, Dean and Jack authorized by
Lord Howe Island Board.
No one was allowed to do an independent hike at this mountain.
Even people who are very experienced like us unfortunately!!!
So I booked our guided hike with Dean on line before we went.
It was a hundred bucks for each person which was very expensive
and on top of that we were not keen on being in a group with strangers.
But at the end of hike I thought it was an actually good idea to control this way
as I realized this track couldn't afford two way traffic.
Fair Dinkum.
It turned out to be on-going numerous rock climbings and abseilings with set up ropes.
Climbing up needs strength for you to be able to haul your body up.
Clambering down needs senses of balance or equilibrium to anchor your foot safely
and move swiftly.
Also it was good to protect this unspoilt primitive forest by allowing only a group a day.
We learned there was a transport from our accommodation to the start of track by paying 10 dollars each
but we decided to cycle there.
We had to arrive there by 7:15am.
I already made three sandwiches the night before and packed thermos for coffee with three one litre water bottles.
Poor Eddie volunteered to carry everything for us as usual.
So we just carried ourselves.
When we left home it was still not completely bright and chilly outside.
Riding a bike on an early morning for a mission gave me a funny sort of fulfilment.
Woohoo!!!
First we were riding on the Lagoon road in between big trees which blocked views towards ocean.
When we came out of canopied areas into open windy part of road suddenly warm sea breeze
hit me off guard in a brilliant and shocking way unexpectedly.
I almost yelled with a joy at the splendid morning sea under the awakening sun over there.
It would be one of the most unforgettable moments.
Dean met us at the entrance of hike with protective helmets for everyone soon after we got there.
I found there were 13 of us in our group.
We started our walk around 7:30 am.
Eddie wanted us being at the end of group to take photos more freely but soon we found a couple
was unbearably slow we couldn't help but let them be at the end of the line.
Suze also soon got impatient with too slow people and joined young people in front.
Except 4 people in our group including Suze most people were not young nor experienced in hiking.
Each phase Dean allowed more than enough break time so it was quite a relaxing walk for me.
We walked flat walks first and then the track travels along a ledge along the bottom of the cliff called the Lower Road.
With ropes set up to steady ourselves on, we had to wear protective helmets walking along the slope with cliffs rising to your left,
and the ocean to your right.
I recalled our guide Dean explained about 4 different species of palm trees on the island.
Thatch Palm was the most common and popular one seen on the lowlands.
The Road continued into the Erskine Valley, between Mt Gower and Mt Lidgbird and we soon arrived at Erskine Creek.
We filled our water bottles later on the way back here as the weather got hot and sunny we had to consume
all the water we carried during the day.
But first we rested there and I ate an apple like a usual routine.
Around this area we saw a lot of the second variety of palm, the curly palm, which has much longer dangling fronds.
The track got very steep from there and soon it brought us out at the top of the valley, on the saddle between Gower and Lidgbird.
Sun got stronger and Dean said we were really lucky to have such a nice weather in a few years.
When it came to weather we had been very lucky whenever we hiked.
We reached a final resting point before the hardest part of long climbing again where we sat looking down at the whole Island
under the warm sun and blue sky.
Suddenly people were talking about a man kayaking from Coffs Harbour to New Zealand.
A few people including Dean met him in town the day before and they were trying to find his kayak in the humongous ocean down
there or just wanted to talk about him.
As I expected Suze was instantly very animated and fascinated with this man's story.
Dean usually was leading the group so far but he let us go climbing first guarding the spot and met us at the top later.
He didn't let three people go further from that point that's why he left behind.
This section took a while as people have varying levels of fitness.
It was manageable but I thought a pair of good gloves would be handy.
One old lady who couldn't climb up to the peak had a really sturdy pair of gloves ironically.
Even though she didn't make it later on we found her gloves tattered and worn out only a day's use!!!
She was with her friend but I didn't understand why two of them walked separately the whole time.
I wonder that's because the one who succeeded climbing up the mountain didn't want to
walk with her friend?
Because she believed their pace were too incompatible?
I saw them a lot of times after this hike during our stay on Island almost always separately.
Suze was very resentful about the husband who blamed his wife for them being unable to go up to the top.
He was sneering at his wife's great slowness in front of other people.
I thought he was a coward and not very nice.
The Lord Howe Island woodhen
Near the peak two new species of palm - the little mountain palm and the big mountain palm - replaced the curly palm.
Usually trees couldn't grow tall on top of mountains due to less soil and more rocks which meant less nutrients.
And of course strong wind could be an element.
I didn't expect I could come across a forest on top of the mountain there.
Then a low, ferny rainforest called the "Moss Forest" there awaited us.
It was very impressive for me.
The top of Mt Gower was most likely covered in cloud Dean said but luckily for us the skies were perfectly clear,
and we had a view of the rest of the island over lunch.
As we were lucky.
We enjoyed our lunch with hot coffees thanks to Eddie.
I don't think not many people want to carry those heavy thermos all the way up to there.
We loved hot coffee at the top of mountain on the hot clear day.
We felt sorry we couldn't share with other people though.
At the peak we saw a few Lord Howe Island woodhens.
The walk down takes about 3 hours but relatively easier.
The only tough bit from there was the climb up the hill on your bike, and the usual headwind past the airport.
We were looking forward to another thing at our accommodation.
The day before we ordered sashimi packs out of freshly captured fish at the local restaurant and the package was waiting for us in
our fridge.
We enjoyed our feast after a good shower.