Day 22: Corner Creek to Benambra-Corryong Road 23kms 19/12/19

Well, I can confirm that four hours up hill takes it out of you. In case you were wondering. From my camp it was a 20 min walk to the start of the climb to Johnnies Top. It wasn’t cold overnight, so l slept with my fly open which I love. I started early, leaving camp just before 8am. Along the way I found a little wallaby friend and we stared at each other through the bushes until I finally had to break it off – I had a mountain to climb.At first it was a really steep climb (like, be careful you don’t slip backwards steep) which lasted about 45 mins. It then became a steep uphill walk as opposed to climb with the occasional leveling out to help the spirits. The trail was super easy to follow as you’d expect following a spur all the way to the top. A blue tongue lizard put me on even higher snake alert than I’d already been. Something like snake defcon 10. The last steep section to the top was very slow going. I’d been going uphill for four hours with the only break at the two hour mark to eat a Jubbie Bar. It was stinking hot (forecast high of 32), I was hungry (my stomach rumbles were loud!) and exhausted. I’m so glad I didn’t camp here last night. The top is dominated by a huge telco tower. The rainwater tank is in good condition and sounds full. I’d made and dehydrated hommus at home and it just wasn’t very tasty. I was supposed to have been eating it with the refried beans but they were too good so I ate then by themselves early on in the trip. Chef Jublé to the rescue. He added spices and a sachet of miso and it ended up being not bad when eaten with mountain bread. I had that at the top before setting out on the long downhill home.The March flies have been relentless again today. It’s fine when you’re walking at a decent pace but as soon as you slow down or stop, they’re on you. It looks like fire has been through the area recently, burning the bush on one side of the trail.From Johnnies Top, the walk was mostly downhill along 4WD tracks. It was really hot and not particularly pleasant walking. The good thing is that I suspect it was too hot for snakes to be on the path (that’s my story anyway). I came to an old camp fire at a junction between three tracks. Someone had pulled out one of the AAWT directional signs and laid it near the fire. I used my app to choose the right track and continued on my way. What I didn’t realise was that my path should have left the 4WD track and gone into the bush. I continued some way before, for some reason, I checked my app and realised I was off course. It looked to be about 300m from my right path if I cut straight through the bush, so I elected to do that instead of backtracking. I learnt that 300m through dense bush is a lot further than it sounds.Because I was going so slowly, the March flies feasted on me. I regularly had to swipe away tens from each leg. The vegetation was so dense I often had no idea what I was walking on. I relied on the amount of noise I was making to scare away any snakes – it was hard to see where I was stepping. I pushed my way through or under or over everything in my path. It was hot and really, really hard work. You cannot believe how happy I was when I finally found the track. I’d added at least an hour onto my day. I messaged Jub from my GPS but I wasn’t sure he’d have coverage so may not get it (he did not in fact get the message until 10pm! Very unhelpful).The actual bush track was lovely, although strewn with fallen trees and covered with spider webs. To start with I’d tried to avoid the webs. By the end I was going straight through them, stick first. By that stage I had a bit of a headache and was ready to be finished. Only 5kms to go! On the way down, particularly on the steep rocky section, I wondered what it would feel like to get back to Jub and tell him I’m done, time to go home. Or to stop on the side of the track, a few kms from our meeting point, and message him to say I couldn’t go any further that day.When I got to the road, Jubble wasn’t there. It was almost 7pm and I’d estimated I’d finish by 6 at the latest (before my bush bash detour). Turns out, he’d left to find mobile coverage a few minutes before I arrived and was back 20 minutes later. In total I’d done 23kms. In the early sections of my trip that was easily doable. In this terrain and heat, it’s tough.

When I undressed for my shower (yes, shower!), I found I’d collected half the bush in my clothes. I had leaves and bits down my back, in my bra, in my belly button, even in my undies!