The cockatoos were so noisy this morning starting before the sun came up. They whirled around overhead for about an hour and a half then disappeared and the campground went back to being quiet and serene.
I hated this morning’s walk. Maybe at the start of my journey I would have labelled it adventure. Today I labelled it hard work and I just didn’t like it. There was a sign at the starting point saying some sections of the track weren’t signed and remote navigation skills were required. Oh so true. The old vehicle track made a gentle climb to the top of Mt Shillinglaw – no problem. The track was overgrown with spiky leaved plants scraping my legs.
On the way down I lost the track. I was exactly at the point two of my apps (including my GPS) told me the track should be, but clearly no track. I continued downhill, following the line, forcing my way through the trees and scrub. The bush was thick but not as dense as some I’ve bashed in. At least here I could see where I was putting my feet. Lucky because I came pretty close to a decent sized snake lying waiting for its next meal. It was right where I needed to go and it took some work to get around it without veering too much off course. I even tried jumping up and down heavily a few times to see if it would move – it didn’t. I made my way past it, climbed onto a big log that was in my path and burst into tears. I did not want to be doing this. I had 25kms to get through today and this kind of “walking” is super slow going – usually 1km per hour I learnt from Laura at Tin Mine Huts. I considered my options – no point going backwards (Jub had already left and there’s no way I’m not finishing this walk at this point), I had to continue. I told myself I just had to keep moving, so I hopped off the log and kept moving/bashing down the hill. A quote popped into my head that if you don’t like something change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. So I started thinking about all the things I was grateful for. Aside from the most obvious thing to be grateful for – my amazing husband – there is a lot I have to appreciate. I was walking in the shade, not the baking sun. I hadn’t stepped on that snake. I had had great experience and worked with fantastic people at Springday. I was fit enough to be in this situation – lots of people are not. There are no wild animals like bears or cougars waiting to eat me in our bush. I have some very special people in my life I feel lucky to call friends. I was bashing downhill, not up. Nothing in my body was particularly sore after 400+kms other than my feet at the end of each day. I’ve got family who cares for me and who I care for. I’ve got a lovely black cat waiting for me at home. And on and on until l finally hit the bottom and a track.
The foot pad wandered through a beautiful flat section, all green and grassy and flowery. It was after 12 by this stage and I hadn’t eaten anything so I forced myself to stop and eat a muesli bar and drink some water – I’ve learnt in these situations I get so focused on getting myself out that I don’t drink, eat or monitor how hot or cold I am. It was easy to lose the track though and a couple of times I had to double back to pick it up. No way I wanted to lose it again! I managed to hang onto it and came to the next downwards section which would take me all the way down to Black River more than 1.5kms below. The track alternated between being very easy and not so easy to see. The trees were growing low overhead so there was a lot of ducking and walking bent over. All of a sudden the track had disappeared. No way. I tried to backtrack but in dense bush that’s virtually impossible. There was no way I could bash my way 1.5kms to the bottom. Again, according to my maps I was on track. So I decided to walk down and across the hill, deliberately going too far sideways rather than following the track line down and see if I could cut the track off. I’d start one way and if I didn’t pick the track up, I’d try the other way. I tried backwards and forwards zigzagging my way down for awhile with no luck. So next go I cut my way sharper trying to follow the same contour line. And I found it! I’d like to say I was happy – I was more relieved and so keen to get this section over.
The track opened out at the bottom onto a big grassy section at Black River. It really was very pretty. A beautiful big wide river that was very shallow, clear and pebbly. Immediately in the grassy section I felt thorns on the plants pulling at my pants. After the crossing there would be two options – continue along a poorly defined overgrown track along the river or head up a 4WD track. I’d been planning to do the 4WD track – if there had been one skerrick of doubt in my mind about that those thorny, grabby plants killed it immediately! That and the description in the book of an alternative to crossing Black River one of the two times you have to wade across it – “alternatives from the crossing of Black River are to follow the spur NE 0.7km then descend N15 Track west back to the river or to wade along the middle of the river”. Really?? Wading along the middle is the alternative to crossing it??
There was a massive log fallen across the river that became the official crossing for the AAWT. By that stage it was approaching 3pm and I’d covered 6 of my 25kms! I stopped for lunch on the side of the log where steps had been cut out to walk up. By that stage, six hours into my walk, I needed to have covered way more ground to hit my targeted location. I’d just have to finish my lunch, climb up the hill that was coming (from 640m to 1270m over a few kms – I need a bigger word than steep) and then hike along the spur track as fast as I could. Luckily today at the 16km mark the track joined a road, so Jub could meet me any point from 16km to 25km. That was definitely something I was grateful for – most days there’s just one place the track insects with a road he can access.
So that’s what I did. I climbed up and up and up that steep 4WD track and finally came out at the top. I then powered my way along Champion Spur Track. Along that section and for the rest of the walk that day I was doing close to 5km/hour – I was on a mission to get through as many kms as I could before dark. I really didn’t want to add another day to our trip. I want to finish on new year’s eve and l want to be home with Miss Kat on new year’s day. It’s so close now I can feel it. Jub met me at the intersection of Champion Spur Track and Mt Selma Road (most delicious Powerade and Jubbie Bar I’ve had right there!). There was 10km to go to get to the original destination and it was 7pm. He needed to find a campsite and thought he’d get one along the road somewhere. So, we agreed he’d drive at least 6km and find a spot anywhere from there on. I’d walk until I came across his campsite. The road was wide and smooth and even and I walked fast. I sang songs to myself to pass the time. I could see the sun setting through the trees. The sky started getting a bit darker but it was still easy to see the road. Jub messaged me to check if I was ok to hike the full 10kms, that he’d found a spot near our original meeting point. Yes I was. I had a head torch if I needed it. So I powered all the way to Mt Victor. It was dark by the time I arrived around 9pm. Walking around a bend in the road I thought I saw a light but lost it. Then found it and it was definitely a torch or something. And around the next bend was Camp Jubbie up a hill off the side of the track. Perfect timing because it was time to stop and put on a head torch!
My amazing husband had set up the tent and cooked a delicious dinner (flat rice noodles with Asian flavours and loads of fresh veggies), then packed all the cooking stuff back into the car and wrapped the meal up in a towel to keep it warm. He was all packed up and ready to go in case he needed to come and find me. At camp we finally saw what we think is a bogong moth it was huge and very interested in our head torches!
Kerry's Hikes 