North Brother - Getting the Picture

North Brother is neither instruction nor directive but a rather large hill. It dominates the Laurieton landscape and it visible for miles and is likely responsible for our GPS's, phones and TV all struggling a to obtain a signal. It's big enough to offer plenty of interference and almost demands to be ascended. It's also known as 'Big Brother', being the larger of a cluster of tall hills and named thus, by local Aboriginal tribes (albeit in their own languages).

A cloud halo around our target.

The Bloke just knew he'd be expected to make the trip and offered no resistance. In fact, we made a proper outing of it by encouraging the crews from two catamarans (Bryan and Rowena -Schools Out and Doug and Jeanette -Reeflection) that were anchored nearby, to join us.

To start with, we were all smiles.

We picked up a couple of long sticks and off we went. 

 

The going got quite steep.

 

A couple of stops to catch our breath.

 

Checking the boat part way up.

 

 The trees just got bigger and bigger.

 

Luckily, The Bloke didn't see this critter at all and must have stepped over it. He wasn't shown this picture until we'd come down because he'd have called a taxi to bring him down from the lookout. Just not keen on snakes. I was lucky to spot it on the path in front of me. It was only as thick as your finger. The conventional wisdom that stomping and making lots of vibrations on the ground didn't work on this occasion. No amount of ground thumping was budging this slippery customer and it even reared up. So I stood very still and hoped it would just get on it's way. The best it did was to poke it's head under the leaves. Tired of waiting and reluctant to step over it, I used my 2m long walking stick that I'd picked up at the base of the hill, to flick it out of the way. Needs must!

Last little bit at the lookout.

The Bloke dripping wet from the effort.

 Looking down the Camden Haven River towards the ocean bar.

 Looking south towards Crowdy and Diamond Heads.

 Made it!

 

It was pretty much up, up, up from the bottom of the hill to the summit - 487m, and quite strenuous. The view from the look-out at the summit was worth every step.