Australian Hiker

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Start:7:31am

Finish:2:31am

Distance: 22.3km

Last day on the trail! Today was one of the longer days on-trail but overall not the hardest. After a good night sleep and a weird combination of wind turbine noise and ocean waves, I started packing up early and left camp just on 7:30am. This is my preferred time and after saying goodbye to my fellow campers, at least until they caught up with me again, I headed off.

Not unexpectedly the trail closest to the start and finish of walk is usually the best as they also tend to cater for the locals walking needs. Overall this was a flat and well formed trail at least until I hit the enchanted forest section about 90 minutes in. This section dropped down from the top of the cliff and went though and darkened first area that gives it its name. This did really slow down the pace but would be an excellent opportunity to take a break at anytime, particularly in the hot weather. But what comes down must also go up and up, and the stairs out were a bugger.

I continued mainly on top of the cliff line with the wind slowly starting to pick up. At this stage the rain forecast for later in the day hit but by the time I stopped and put my rain jacket on it ceased, twice!

Past the quarry, the aluminium smelter, the sewerage farm and the wind farm but in most cases in bushland so it wasn’t too intrusive. I did however learn not to stand underneath a wind turbine and watch the blades spin as my poor little brain couldn’t cope with the contradiction of movements and it made me feel queasy.

I was making good pace for my fitness at the moment and felt like I was moving well, but still have a way to go in preparation for the Heysen Trail later this year.

I had two animal encounters today. The first was another Tiger Snake stretched out on the trail sunning itself and thankfully I saw it in advance but not quickly enough to get the camera out and get a photo.

My second interaction was closer to Portland with an Echidna trundling down the trail towards me. I did manage to get a video this time before it headed into the bush.

As expected bushland gave way to town as I moved my way into Portland proper past the commercial port area and finally I hit the trailhead at the information area. Done and dusted.

This was great trip and my first long distance hike post hip replacement so am very happy with how I held up.

I will be releasing my second on-trail podcast early next week, my ‘expectations versus reality’ episode the week after and by next Saturday at the latest, the full trip right up with images and suggestions.

Thanks to everyone who followed and offered support, it was greatly appreciated!

And the planning commences for the next hike!