Cairns 2022. It was a reunion of five school mates. Cairns was unseasonably cool and wet for June and our daytrip to Fitzroy Island had to be cancelled. At 1000m tall, Mt Williams was the perfect backdrop to Cairns and despite its summit often being shrouded in cloud, the mountain was constantly beckoning me to climb it. I couldn’t convince my friends to join me as rain was forecast. They opted to take a scenic train ride to Kuranda.
A search on the internet yielded little information about Mt Williams, only a few blogs about walks to the summit, photos of a plane wreckage from 1986 and cautions of unmaintained trails and leeches.
I ascended the Mountain from the track to the north. The forest was stunning with tall trees supported by massive buttress roots, smaller vine-like trees weaving their way upwards from the forest floor and delicate green epiphytes growing at every opportunity. After several hours of walking I reached the cloud line where the temperature was significantly cooler and the forest wetter and denser. Leeches occasionally appeared on my ankles and although I wished I had my hiking boots, not runners, it was no trouble flicking them off. I passed a rocky outcrop that allowed me some views of Cairns between the trees and clouds. I then continued along the ridgeline towards the summit. The leeches quickly became fiercer and were making their way above my ankles, their bites slightly itchy and annoying. I would stop and attempt to flick leeches off but in the several minutes it took to remove one, two or three more would attach themselves to me. I could even see leeches on the ground reaching up towards me, each one waving its head in the motion of a creepy finger. Sitting and resting was not an option here. “Ok, whatever,” I thought. “I’ll leave them and only stop to flick them off if they make it above my knees”. So I continued my walk with 50 to 100 leeches getting a free ride and feed on my legs.
To add to my frustration I was regularly getting caught up in the thorny fronds of ‘wait-a-while’ palms. The palm’s long needles could only be removed by stopping and carefully pulling the fronds away. Forcing my way through was not possible and would have only resulted in torn clothes and further frustration. Nearing the summit, the track was no longer defined and I’d honestly had enough. A strenuous walk with a stop for lunch at the summit would have been nice, not a solo bush-bash in which I would be ravaged by leeches. I was tired, cold, itchy and bloody. Looking down at the feasting leeches all over my itching legs and the trickling blood running into my socks made me feel I was in a horror movie.
I thought of the others on their train trip. Should I have joined them? They’d probably be back home by now, lounging around and playing Mario Kart. “HELL NO!” I thought. “Why spend an afternoon playing Nintendo when there’s adventures to be had.” But I needed to get down off this mountain – I’d already had enough adventure for the day.
I was in the vicinity of the summit and the route down was via a steep spur to the east. Although there was no track, I had been told by a local the route was possible. After scrambling across some wet and rocky gullies I found the spur and began my descent. After a short while I came across a dense and impassable thicket of a large broad-leaved plant. “Was this the Gympie Gympie stinging tree?” I thought. Just touching the fine hairs on the leaves and stems of this tree could cause enough pain to hospitalise someone for weeks. Some victims have even died. I was now scared, but I eventually found a way around the thicket while remaining on the spur. I traversed two ridiculously steep and less vegetated areas where landslides had torn down the mountainside. Clutching at clumps of long grass gave me the additional balance I needed to navigate the soft yet steep terrain. As I descended the leeches began to fall off my legs and the suburban streets at the base of the mountain were getting closer.
Seven hours after starting I made it back. I was relieved, bloodied, hungry and exhausted. The intense mental challenge of this walk was far greater than any multi-day expedition I had done. On arrival back, my friends asked, “How was the walk?” I proceeded to take off my shoes and socks in front them. As 30 fat leeches fell out, their decision to opt for the train ride was instantly validated. This is an adventure I’ll never forget.
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