Notes from the road.
The Grand Canyon of the Pacific, they call it. Mark Twain's line, apparently — and like a lot of Twain's lines, it's better than it has any right to be. Kauai is small enough that you can get from green volcanic coast to red dryland canyon…
The Napali Coast. Cliffs the colour of old velvet falling straight into the Pacific. We walked in from Haena until the trail got serious, then turned and walked back slower.
Ascent of Mt Buller by the western ridge. Snow gum and granite, a quiet line up the back of a mountain most people only see from the chairlift.
Two days in the Cathedrals. Day one was a taster — a quick scope of the Razorback before the light went. The kind of day where you stand on the ridge, look at the next day's line, and start working out where you'll put your hands. Day two…
Hidden Gorge. Unmarked, with absolutely no trail. Just follow the rock wallabies up. The kind of climb where you stop checking the GPS and start checking which scrambles the wallabies prefer. They were right every time.
Spicer's Peak — exploratory. Off-track up the Scenic Rim, route-finding through grass-tree country onto the summit ridge. Big day, bigger air.
Springbrook National Park — simply one of the most beautiful places on the planet. The Warrie Circuit drops you under the escarpment and threads behind a string of waterfalls, ferns dripping, the rock dark with water.
Bellthorpe, hinterland of the Sunshine Coast — pocket sub-tropical rainforest tucked between farmland and the Conondale Range. Less famous than its bigger neighbours, which is most of the appeal. Quiet creeks, big fig trees, the occasional…
Black Creek, D'Aguilar National Park. If you can get past the lantana, the giant devil's figs, and the guard pythons, you'll find this. Insert your own superlative — every one I tried felt thin against the actual place.
The East peak is conquered, the West awaits our return. South-east-Queensland's most uncompromising bushwalk — no track-work, no signs, just a long scramble up granite to a ridge that doesn't forgive a wrong line.
Six days up Tanzania's Machame route, summiting Uhuru Peak (5,895m) on New Year's Day 2017.
Tibrogargan, the steepest of the Glasshouses. From the carpark it's deceptively short — but the last third has you putting your hands on the rock and choosing your line carefully. The reward at the top is the whole horseshoe of the…
Glasshouse Mountains. Quick summit of Beerwah before squash training. Steep enough that the rock does most of the talking — hands on, scramble up, down before lunch.
A gem of a hike just 15 minutes from Warner. Starting off Basin Rd it's an hour for the fit, two-and-a-half if you're Nathan Turnbull. The views from Mt Kobble are fantastic as you rise up through rainforest to the summit of Sampson, where…
From Refuge Cove to Roaring Meg via the Prom lighthouse — a truly brutal 24km. The Prom makes you work for its views, but as you can see they are worth every blister, sand-fly bite, and never-ending hill climb. Wind, salt, granite,…
Top of Australia. As mountains go, Kosciuszko is gentle — a paved walking track does most of the heavy lifting from Thredbo, and the summit is a granite cairn at 2,228 m rather than anything you'd describe as exposed. But it's still the…