Day 90: Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo national parks

Darren woke feeling a little better, but not much. Yet he refused to let the kids and I do the national park walks on our own. He felt he couldn't live with himself if anything was to happen to us.

After unsuccessfully trying to persuade him from coming, I at least convinced him to allow me to drive.

Our first stop was Bald Rock. We had the option of taking the 1.2km steep climb to the summit or the 2.5km gradual climb. The kids took one look at the figures and opted for the steep climb. And a steep climb it was! The rock is granite and rises higher than the treetops. We had a lovely picnic lunch at the summit and while the climb was tiring it was well worth it. Poor Darren struggled and regretted not taking my advice to have a rest day by himself at the van.

The next walk was to Boonoo Boonoo falls which was a much shorter walk and much easier. Darren made a galant effort and joined us again but decided to stay in the car when we walked to Thunderbolt Hideout, he had been drained of all reserves of energy.

The kids constantly express disappointment whenever we say we are doing walks, yet they enjoy them much more than anything else.

Today on our walks we saw a snake, a couple of bearded dragons and umpteen cunningham skinks which we originally thought were a breed of blue tongue lizards. All in all, they loved the walk but would never admit it. I think it's the word 'walk' that holds the negative connotations.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Glen Innes to embark on more national park walks.