13 June 2012; Shakti and I last climbed a summit together in 2005 - and that was Kinabalu. We went to Lolo but not to the peak of Nuang soon after that. And my presence in Melbourne certainly spurred Shakti to have a go at a moderate summit climb. I was initially worried that it might not happen ; as when winter comes, then the trek will be closed for ski cross country. Neither of us hesitated, so we undertook the 200+km site from Melbourne early that morning. Mt St Gwinear is near enough to Mt Erica, which is the 1st summit in the long 650km Australian Alpine trail - which would end in Kosziousko which is the highest summit in Australia.
We had to turn back at this point because we did not have a chain with
us. Apparently, in winter we are supposed to have this with us if we are
on this trail. The rent is AUS15 but if you're caught without one
you'll be fined AUS400! You want to play safe when you're in Aussie as
I'm sure those with my luck will definitely kena la kalau tak buat! We
were not sure if we were able to be on the summit hike, as officially in winter it is closed! However, due to the non-existence of snow in the earlier part of the track, we just had to SONDOL! I mean, I've come far enough to not step and be on top of Mt Gwinear!
The hike was 3 km to the top - we were at about 1100m at the carpark so the elevation climb was 400m up.Of course, as we reached 1/3 of the way the pathway was beginning to be covered with snow! And not the wet type but hard one! Yaaahh.. this is definitely my 1st hike in the snow! It was not that difficult when the snow was not that thick but as we went higher.. hmmm.. a bit difficult to walk when the snow is not tat hard.
Gambar Golden Dream! hahaha
I must say the view was definitely out of the world. I was enjoying the hike so much that i may have went ahead to fast for my dear friend. Shakti was a bit puffed as this was his first outdoor hike in quite sometime, perhaps even for a cardio workout!
We reached the top by noon.. and what a feeling to be at the summit. 1509m :) Mt St Gwinear and yeehaaaa.. Alhamdulillah! We took some pictures, i had a piss (haha) and had some lunch. It was really cold when i had my hands bare - where it literally froze as i was not able to finish the packed nasi telur merah that we had! hahaha
It was a lucky day for me as well as i managed to sight a big Deer who sort of spied on our presence at the summit. It was really big and looked like a reindeer. Of course, when i spotted it, she ran off and only then i did appreciate her size. Gile besar!
Summit Mt St Gwinear 1509m
cant finish it..too cold!
Alhamdulillah, we managed to descend safely to the carpark. It was definitely an enjoyable climb and if we came earlier, we would have gone on the traverse hike to Mt Baw Baw which was 3km away from the summit across te range. However, considering our unpreparedness it would not have been a good idea to continue SONDOL.. hahaha
We managed to drop to a couple's place in Dandenong; both were my colleagues in UiTM. Thanx Azrina for the lovely mee goreng which was tasteful after the cold climb we had earlier that day!
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