The weather could not be any more perfect when the Brooke's Blooms convoy headed up the Bruce Highway to Mt Beerwah.
The excitement (and nerves) grew as the car made its way towards this enormous mountain. Although the scenery was beautiful, the winding forests and quiet dirt road had us feeling we were in a scene of a horror movie and as we arrived, the fear set in.
In front of us, a wall of rock 556m high and even the gamest of the team were thinking 'how?'. We had come here to challenge ourselves, to work as a team and in front of us was one heck of a challenge.
A short walk to the base of the mountain, and I have never heard this group of chatterboxes so quiet! We arrived at the first cliff face, the team all looked at one another, the determined, stubborn or just plain crazy people hit the rock face and got going. Quickly we were learning about some of our weaknesses and the team worked together to encourage those who were out of their comfort zone. 'You can do it!'. 'Put your foot there, move your hand here'.
Joel, Jarah and Kyle headed up the rock face to a break point to wait while the others tried to find a different way up. For some, the fear was too overwhelming and they formed the base camp crew. The first three were joined by Troy and Lizzy a quarter of the way up the mountain. Cheers echoed off the mountain as Troy and Lizzy came into sight and the trio become 5.
A local who climbs the mountain every second day took some of the base camp crew up a different track where they were able to reach a ledge, take on the challenge and take in the views.
While the climbing group continued to head towards the summit, the rest went exploring down a goat track. Looking back at the mountain we noticed something white at the top of the mountain - the group had arrived. They had made it to the top and were flying the Brooke's Blooms flag with pride!
And that same local man who had helped us up the mountain, had reached the group of 5 at the top and taken a photo of them with the flag and sent it to us on the ground.
After taking in the sights and catching their breath, the group returned down the mountain, where they were met by cheers when they reached the base camp crew. They had done it! Ripped pants, broken shoes and smiles on their faces! Time for lunch!
Off to the Sandstone Point Hotel for a team lunch along the water. As we all don't get to work together every day, it was nice to sit down together enjoy some good food and friendly banter. Food comas in hand, the convoy headed home excited for the next adventure.
