Saturday, January 10, 2009

Descent from Olsen's Lookout, Yipes!


A lovely flowering shrub at Olsen's Lookout.



And a last shot through some trees at the top of the trail down.


Well they say, what comes up, must come down. But you will notice, they never make mention of the manner in which it will!

As I mentioned yesterday, the "visitor facilities map" shows this road to Olsen's Lookout as an unsealed road, but we think a designation of 4WD track would better suit it. So we knew the 10Kms back down to the main (sealed) road was going to be a bit of work, but with no other way down, we were off.

However, you really can not plan for all eventualities. In this case, the lay of the land required more brake use than one would normally expect to need, and quickly our brake fluid boiled.

If this has never happened to you, you are not missing anything! The brakes go very spongy (USELESS!!!) very quickly - and brake failure becomes imminent! This is not good whilst descending mountainous terrain. Just take my word for it.

Now, obviously, we made it, so thats the end of the suspense, Drats!

The Most DH knew how to nurse the Rover down. Hooray! Despite the many long, tense, minutes wondering if we would make it alive or intact. My Hero! Probably some out there would think this was the most exciting part of the whole journey. Nutjobs!

When finally we re-joined the main (sealed) road, we pointed the Rover back in the direction of Jindy with a sigh of relief. We continued gently along the less challenging terrain to give the brakes more time to cool, when suddenly we spied....

6 comments:

kj said...

holey moley lavender. that sounds nervewracking and suspenseful. good that DH knew what he was doing. myself, i would have cried over my white knuckles...

:)

Lavender said...

KJ Indeed it was nervewracking! And I did have white knuckles! But I had my precious camera in its case around my neck to soften the blows to it LOL The other equipment was jumping around in the back - all in all - a very memorable christmas eve adventure LOL

sandy said...

Well....that was an adventure, scary...

Glad all turned out okay and are ya going to do it again?

Lavender said...

Sandy It was very scary, I trust anything but gravity LOL! But yes, we would definately do it again - and look forward to it. Thanks Sandy!

Anonymous said...

Wow, more fantastic nature shots. Bravo! I have no idea about the shrub though, it should be a Scrophulariacean and it is strangely familiar as I guess a collegue of mine studies something very similar in Africa. Have to ask him.
And the cockatoo - LOL! Looks like he is sitting there at the street waiting for a lift. Very cute!

Lavender said...

Areeiro It was a big shrub too, over 2.5 metres, I hadnt seen any others like it...I have looked around for a field guide to Australian plants, but have not yet found one, must continue the search LOL!
He does look like he is hitching a ride LOL Munching on some grass seed while he waits LOL Too funny Areeiro!