Mt Augustus 28/5/15

This is the beginning of the dust!! Now on the Cobra Dairy Rd, Cobra being a station but now encompassed in the NP as of the mid 1980's.Mt Augustus is visible from approx 100 km since it is the largest rock in the world, termed an 'inselberg' or island mountain, it is striking even from a distance. Mt Augustus is still a working station, privately owned and the side business of tourism complements the station operation. It was easy to take the 49 km drive around the mountain stopping at various trails along the way over a couple of days. We decided not to attempt the Summit Trail as the last 100 mt is a climb up the cliff face. We chose the Gully Trail which was straight forward hiking for the first stage, so we thought this is quite easy we'll attempt the next stage to join the Summit Trail at the base of the cliff. Little did we know what lay ahead of us- steep climbs and no looking back litierally( for me anyway) one way out!! We may as well have attempted the summit but we were stuffed from continuing the Gully Trail, which the camp hosts believe is tougher than the straight summit trail. We climbed and clambered over so many enormous rocks but enjoyed the magnificent views from our vantage points. Ultimately, we joined up with the Summit Trail which we took to descend. What a great adventurous climb for us - a first! Emu Hill Lookout was perfect for sunset snaps of the mountain. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay. By the way, Certificates are issued and presented by the hosts to those who successfully climb to the summit. They believed we achieved just as much from the Gully and awarded us with a half summit climb!!!