Day 18: Cowombat Flat to Stony Creek 15/12/19

The night was pretty uneventful. No horses galloping past my tent, no munching or whinnying. I must have picked a tent location out of the main thoroughfare. It was also one of the first not super cold nights.  It was a pretty hard track to get to the campground with Jub. Very steep up hills a lot of the way. I came to quite a nice arrangement with all the flies, my fellow hikers. Once we set off, they settled nicely on my pack and didn’t bother me too much until I stopped. When I did stop, they’d all take flight and swarm around me. Apparently my legs are very delicious for flies. During breaks from walking many would cluster on my legs until it was time to get going again when they’d resume position on my backpack.  It was pretty low kms which was a nice change, only about 14kms, and l was back at the Juber-mobile in time for lunch. Jub parked his car at a locked gate and from there put my backpack in his car and l walked the last couple of kms sans pack – such a luxury!

After a delicious Chef Jublé lunch of savoury rice with vegetables (mmmm fresh brocolli!!) and dahl, Jub set up Camp Jubbie at Native Dog Campground and we had the most delicious afternoon nap. Both doors to the tent were open and it was so decadent spending a couple of hours dozing. The sound of horses nearby got me up and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching a group of four including a little foal. At some point another stallion came along and did a big challenge. The first group moved off a short way and the new stallion brought his mare and foal in. The foal was just like a little kid, racing around in circles, doing laps around its parents. So cute.Another Chef Jublé wonder meal for dinner and an early night. I have 26kms tomorrow and the start of it looks like this (I’m walking right to left):