The Cathedral State Park Hiking Camping

An impromptu trip to The Cathedral Ranges State Park bore fruit. I returned with refreshed mind and body. My knees and ankles were battered with bruises but they were marks of the adventure.

The day started with blue blemish-free sky adorned with sounds of eleven happy hikers. We convened at Beechworth Bakery in Healesville. I had my first famous bee-sting. Thomas review of it was, “it is similar to an almond croissant with a twist.”

The drive through the windy road to the Cathedral range was not pleasant for those prone to car-sickness but it was truly picturesque. 

Our last toilet stop was at Cooks Mill Campground and we parked our cars by the start of the walking trail to The Farmyard Campground. We were a little concerned with the warning signs about wild dogs as we were driving in. Rebecca spoke to the ranger and there had been a sighting but no attacks. In addition, she was given the thumbs up for a fire pit at The Farmyard Campground.

We did a weighed-in of our packs. We ranged between 2kg to 16kg. As we climbed up, we realised that the children could have handled more weigh on their backs as they were literally flying up the mountain even with fallen trees on the path. 

Ella Mae did really well going up with me. She carried her own water, bread slices and chocolate treats. The challenges of climbing up massive steps which was putting strain on my knees didn’t deter her. She didn’t groan nor moan. 

Halfway up the mountain, she decided she needed the toilet.  As Kim had the shovel and had disappeared ahead of us with Thomas and the part of the troupe (Ee and the children), I had to somehow dig a hole. With some urgency, I managed to found a good place and dug a hole with a stone I found nearby. She did her business quite quickly and commented that the experience was quite disgusting. I think she appreciated the modern facilities as much as I. Thank god I had toilet paper.

When we arrived to our destination, we set up camp. Then the business of starting a camp fire commenced.  It fed our tribal calling. Our souls were replenished by gathering of the sticks, lighting, and smell of the fire. We congregated around the fire and the children were tending it dutifully. 

We pre-cooked our dinner whilst the other families cooked theirs that evening. Unfortunately, Ella Mae accidentally pushed over half their dinner they had been cooking for the past hour! While Rebecca stayed back to cook their dinner again, we took a walk to the South Jawbone Peak. It was a lovely view as promised by Rebecca. 

After dinner, more tinder, kindling and fuel were collected for the evening as well as for the morning. The children had smores. The marshmallows were as big as their hands. Their faces were streaked and smeared with soot, marshmallow and chocolate. Post dessert, Ella Mae was running around like a headless chook. She loved the hammock that Chris carried up the mountain and was swinging on it endlessly.

After putting the children to bed, the adults enjoyed time by themselves. It was lovely. By the time we retreated to our tents, the fire was perfect for a satay feast. We will have to meet up in the summer for such a feast.

In order to conserve water, we extinguished the camp fire with dirt. 

That evening, all of us didn’t sleep well as we were frozen. My body had the appearance of the Michelin man due to the amount of clothes I was wearing plus I was in my autumn weighed sleeping bag. Thomas kept waking up and ultimately, we shared my sleeping bag so that our body heat would keep each other warm.  

In the middle of the night, I heard a couple of drops onto the tent. Suddenly, it was as if someone turned on a hose onto the tent. I waited for the collapse but it held. This time, the tent was well tensioned. We have to remember to pull the guy ropes away from the tents but with an angle.

Kim reported that Ella Mae slept very well. It was what she needed as we planned to hike to the North Jawbone Peak after breakfast and then pack up and hike down.

The business of camp fire started again. It was again a group effort. As it rained in the morning, it was a challenge to start the fire. We used brown fern leaf, moulted eucalyptus bark, fire starter and cooking oil. We had to fan vigorously and finally, we had another successful fire.

As we cooked our breakfast too slow for our children's tummies, they were eating other families’ meal! We finally sorted our breakfast of pan-fried Hungarian salami, bread and egg. 

The children enjoyed sawing the fuel for our camp fire. They lined up with their desired timber and took turns to cut them into the perfect size. 

We walked to North Jawbone Peak. It only drizzled a little while. It was still very cold. We saw different landscape and flora as we walked. All the while, the lyrebird calls were ringing around us. 

The children used their self-sawn walking sticks. They picked quite hefty ones and at the end, they left them by the trail for another hiker. 

Like mountain lions, the children pounced up the peak. They were awarded with lots of chocolate and sweets. The view from there was so beautiful. We noted that the previous year’s bush fire did much damage. 

We returned to The Farmyard Campground via The Ridge Track. The track was quite rocky. We were quite lucky and saw a lyrebird performed its courtship ritual on our way down the mountain. Kim had captured great footage of it on his phone. Upon arrival of our base camp, we dismantled and packed the camping gear after treating ourselves with a Terry's Chocolate Orange. One of the children had a few splinters from the spiky flora. Ronn came to the rescue with a pair of tweezers. 

We marveled at the lightness of the packs. The most probable reason was that we ate the weight of our packs away.

The track was much arduous on the descent. It was slippery from the rain. Also, I had to ensure I didn’t bump Ella Mae down the mountain with my packs. My visual perception was impaired by my front pack and I couldn’t see where my feet were going. I think I stepped on her feet a few times. The children didn’t run down the mountain. They stayed close to us this time around. 

We were lucky not to cross paths with wild dogs, but close to the car park, just before the steps up, the air had a wet dog smell. This fact didn’t spur us to run up the steps. When we reached the car park, we literally threw our packs off and shed layers of clothes off. We were very proud of our achievements and were amazed at the children’s efforts.

We drove back towards our home and convened at Chicken andJokbal Korean Restaurant. The children still had soot on their faces as they devoured the fried chicken. It was definitely an evidence of a wonderful weekend adventure.

Additional notes:

Next time, we need to bring these items: fire lighters (camp fire permitting), salami, soju, biscuits, long life tofu, bean paste, pre-washed pre-driedseaweed, tea (although, this will make me frequent the toilet).