The polar air mass was the reason my fingers and ears were hurting so much on my morning walk. South Australia as a whole was getting these massive cold winds and rumour had it that we would get snow on Mount Remarkable, but we didn’t.

Did I tell you I don’t like edges as much as corners because you can always see where you could end up if you slip off an edge, whereas a corner is a safe surprise. So, we edged up the side of Mt Remarkable. These edges weren’t so scary but the rain and the winds made them so, as wet edges can be scary. 

It was a delightful walk, round lots of corners and I was not disappointed. I have never seen so many grass trees but they were very healthy, most with those glorious looking centre spikes decorated with small white flowers that are responsible for a grass tree’s birth. There was evidence of a recent fire but grass trees are defiant and usually multiply following these otherwise disastrous events. If there’s a grass tree heaven – this was it. (My camera got wet thus no heaven, sorry).

The edge slowly became steeper, but wider, my PD balance now wasn’t such a burden, and I could concentrate more on what was about me. Where the mountain found its concave self, I think the walls had eroded and they were uniquely repaired. Tonnes of rocks of mostly 100ml diameter had been tipped or air dropped until the erosion had disappeared. These areas averaged around 40 metres in width and 150 metres in height.

As usual there were the ubiquitous gums and interestingly enough the corners’ edges seemed to be the home of the most huge and glorious ones. Once on top of this gum and grass tree mountain, there was an iciness in the air and we thought there may be some snow, but it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, on the way down there was a light covering of tiny hail stones and my usual downhill rock hopping turned into a mindful stepping crawl.

We’ll be back tomorrow as the Remarkable Conservation Park has many other trails to follow.