It was an overcast morning as we headed out to Mt Diamond school along the Magi Highway. After turning off at the (Name?) roundabout there was an easy drive along a short stretch of dirt road to the school grounds, an assortment of buildings among massive shade trees and manicured lawns. Five lads from the school armed themselves with grass machetes and acted as our guides leading the fourteen of us off on a track that snaked through head high, sharp edged guinea grass. This soon opened out into a bush road along a lush green valley of short grass dotted with gum trees and palms. After a while we started winding up through small hills of gums and grass trees. It was still overcast but had become hot and steamy so we took frequent breaks and admired the scenery. On one of the hillsides we came across a small arched entrance which was an old copper mine. Peering inside we could see a well defined shaft heading deep back into the hill. Apparently during the 1930’s they used to mine copper from this area, using donkeys to pull loaded carts down the hills and to a wharf at Bootless Bay. Part of our track lay along one of these old copper haulage roads.
We dropped down to a patch of forest and came across a lovely cool, fast flowing river and nearly all went through the rigmarole of taking off shoes and socks and wading through it, only to come to another river crossing ten minutes down the path. This time many of us were not so fussy and quickly ventured across. By now we were walking through fairly thick rainforest with the canopy overhead, the river flowing close to the path and occasionally crossing it and although hot and a tad slippery, it was great to be in the forest. Two hours after setting off we reached a gorgeous waterfall and all took a good half hour break. Rested we set out and went back along the same route and this time most of us strode straight through the stream and river crossings squelching our way back to the school. It was a really enjoyable walk, hot and steamy but not too hard and definitely worth it for the beautiful scenery of grasslands, rainforest and the waterfall.
ed note: I've lost the images that went with this walk. If anyone has a good snapshot of the Mt Diamond walk, could they forward it to me please?
We dropped down to a patch of forest and came across a lovely cool, fast flowing river and nearly all went through the rigmarole of taking off shoes and socks and wading through it, only to come to another river crossing ten minutes down the path. This time many of us were not so fussy and quickly ventured across. By now we were walking through fairly thick rainforest with the canopy overhead, the river flowing close to the path and occasionally crossing it and although hot and a tad slippery, it was great to be in the forest. Two hours after setting off we reached a gorgeous waterfall and all took a good half hour break. Rested we set out and went back along the same route and this time most of us strode straight through the stream and river crossings squelching our way back to the school. It was a really enjoyable walk, hot and steamy but not too hard and definitely worth it for the beautiful scenery of grasslands, rainforest and the waterfall.
ed note: I've lost the images that went with this walk. If anyone has a good snapshot of the Mt Diamond walk, could they forward it to me please?
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