Day 2: Horsham and Arapiles

The next day, dodgy sat nav directions and patchy mobile reception for Google Maps led to several wrong turns on the back roads to Horsham. I wanted to look at the town's old buildings, but my son's mission was to push on to Arapiles and start climbing.

The Mount Arapiles range rises like Uluru above the flat plains of western Victoria, and depending on the angle of the sun, its exposed rockface has a similar red-orange hue. My son chose Mitre Rock, a smaller outcrop a short distance from the Arapiles range, for his "trad climb" — climbing with "nuts" and "cams" instead of using pre-drilled bolts. Mitre Rock isn't as high as other Arapiles climbs, but I declined his offer to join him, content to belay from the bottom.

Climbing Mitre Rock at Arapiles (click for larger image)

We set up camp in the afternoon in a campground at the base of the Arapiles range. After the long drive and climb, my son rested, and I went for a bushwalk along the rock face. It was hot, and I wanted to stay in the shade, so I followed a track leading up a sheltered gully. I stumbled on rough-hewn steps and started climbing … and they went on and on, steeper and steeper.

The steps became increasingly difficult to climb. My legs felt heavy, and my lungs were heaving. When I checked my son's pocket guidebook (which I'd thankfully packed!), I realised I was on a track to the Arapiles Summit car park. So, I called my son, and we arranged for him to drive up and collect me, and I pushed on.

It's only 50 metres from the car park to the Summit lookout, and I trudged it one step at a time. But the views of the flat plains and adjacent Mitre Rock were worth it, and as I noted in my travel journal, "I found the energy to scramble up the last boulder to the Summit marker, so I can brag that I've climbed Mount Arapiles."