Some of the Scenic Rim mountains in the background with a typical country Queensland house in the foreground. These houses are built with large verandas all around the outside to give shade from the predictably hot summer sun and allow breeze in through the house.
The weather was not looking the best with a fair bit of rain overnight. We were hoping it would clear or hold at least off long enough to get a bit of exploring in.
We were heading to Mount French, nothing really big, but something we had been hoping to check out for a while.
There are a number of mountains in the Moogerah Peaks National Park. Mount French is the easiest to access as you can drive most of the way to the top.
There are only a couple of short official walks at the top of Mount French. First off we went to Logan's Lookout. (Photo from Strava app)
Flat asphalt path most of the way made it pretty easy going.
Luckily the clouds had lifted and there was a great view from Logan's Lookout. You can see Cunningham Gap in the distance on the Main Range and Mt Edwards in the foreground. Mt Edwards is another summit on our list.
The Aratula township to the right of my head is surrounded by farming land. At this lookout we bumped into a 75 year old local man who gave us a history lesson. It turns out the area was full of dairy farms when he was a child and now almost all the farms in the area grow carrots. Someone worked out the area was great for growing carrots and the rich dairy legacy of this area has all but fallen away.
Next we were off to check out the Mee-bor-rum circuit. Mee-bor-rum means Northern Peak and it's the name given to this small peak by the Traditional Custodians of this area, the Ugarapul (Aboriginal) people.
My partner, Caroline, on the only tiny bridge we crossed on Mount French.
There were lots of natural rocks and Xanthorrhoea (grass trees).
We couldn't do a bushwalk without our infamous shoe shot :) We were both in old, strong, beaten up runners.
The path continued and so did we.
A random lookout to see above the tea tree scrub.
One of the tea trees close up. They have these tiny little white flowers that are really pretty. If you've ever used tea tree oil then this is the kind of plant it original came from.
Frog Buttress Campgrounds check in area
There wasn't much at the campground but Caroline had heard a lot about this place (Frog Buttress). It's supposed to be some of the best rocking climbing in the whole of Australia. However, other than the campground sign board there were no details, marking of the climbing area or any obvious site of it. I was wondered if we were even in the right spot.
Over some lunch at a nearby picnic table I started to Goggle and look for info about this rock climbing. Eventually, when I was about to give up, Caroline said she'd look, as she had a better idea of what search terms to look for. She quickly found a bit of a write up that gave us exact directions to the climbing area!
We had walked straight past the track leading to this area, but now we were onto it. We took this scrappy little track, that lead down into a steep gully, and within 5 minutes of leaving our lunch spot we were there!
Caroline has done a bit of climbing before but this sort of climbing requires a lot of experience and gear so unfortunately we could only snap a couple of photos of this world renowned climbing area. There was a lot more to see both to the left and right but we didn't want to venture too far under all the overhanging rock faces.
In the climbing world, Frog Buttress is actually international renowned and has 380 routes for experienced climbers to choose from. (Info source: Qld National Parks). This sort of climbing is a little too challenging compared to the rock scrabbling we are used too.
I suppose that why it's not marked. The path is useable but it is a little bit makeshift and unstable.
We were excited that we were able to find the climbing area. We talked of a possible return trip with a guide and all the right gear. (Photo from Strava app)
And that was it! Exploring Mount French, doing new walks, discovering Frog Buttress and it was time for our next destination. Here you can just make out the treed gully, from the rock climbing area photos above, in the middle of the rock face.