Hurray! Our house in Ballard has sold and closed on August 7th, so to celebrate we spent a weekend enjoying the country life and bush walking at Girraween National Park in the Granite Belt region about three hours drive southwest of Brisbane. Like in Washington and many other places, the farther inland (west from Brisbane) you go, the more extreme the temperatures become. Being winter and on the other side of the dividing range, the mornings were a bit frosty, Queensland. Therefore, we were quite appreciative of the woodburning stoves and electric blankets that our kind hosts at Girraween Country Inn provided.
The inn was comfortable, casual and very relaxing. Since breakfasts and dinners were included as part of the weekend package, my only responsibilities were to pack picnic lunches for our walks and entertain Erik while Mark watched the Olympic cycling road race. Monopoly and chess were the games of choice and skillfully played by Erik. No longer do I need to try to lose. Sometimes it just happens; other times I get lucky!
However, once the sun had risen high enough to warm up the country side (around 10:00 am) we were off hiking and exploring the rock formations of Girraween National Park. Most of the walks were short (3-5 miles return), hence easily managed by Erik. We even went on two hikes on Sunday because we weren't sure we'd ever have the opportunity to return. The rock formations were amazing, some so interesting it's hard to believe that they were formed by mere erosion.
The above formation is called "The Sphinx"
Guess what Mark and Erik thought this one should be called?
Erik does little weight lifting.
2 comments:
MY!! From the pictures we can see that, not only is Erik getting taller, but he is also getting much stronger. That is a very large boulder he is holding up. Must be all that "vegimite".
Arlyn
Looks alot like the formations in Bryce Canyon and some I think that I remember seeing in Zion.
PJ
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