Australian Hiker

And I’m off on my adventure on the Great North Walk. Today in many respects was what I expected but with some differences.

What I expected:

• As planned I walked 23.5 km
• The heat in the mid 20’s combined with carrying 7 kg of unwanted body weight was draining
• Even with the urban walking, I expected to enjoy toady which I did, and it will only get better
• I expected water availability to be a bit erratic and it was.

What I didn’t expect:

• No trailhead kiosk; what is it with NSW walks?
• Work being done on the train station near Queens Wharf, Newcastle over a large area limited access to the trailhead so I needed to get creative
• So many people out and about but sadly limited social distancing
• I have never seen so much ‘active wear’ and most of it new; looks like people have been doing lots of online shopping during COVID
• Lots of birds and lizards but no other wildlife or snakes. I expect to see snakes from now on as I get out of civilisation
• I expected the flies to be bad but it was the mosquitos that were the problem; they bit through my thin clothing and if I stopped for too long I was covered in them.

Overall a great day and one I really enjoyed. I am looking forward to getting into the national parks as I start heading south.

One issue I was unsure of was the bursitis that impacted my knee on the Hume and Hovell Track. It’s only been one day but my knee is holding up well. I am however going to tape the balls of my feet tomorrow.

Accomodation-wise I has planning to stay at a caravan park at the end of Lake Macquarie but given Gill was visiting family and (of course) had 4-star accommodation booked so I made a last minute decision to stay the night with her. She will drop me back at the caravan park in the morning so I can start day two and take some photos for the write up.

I’m going to have a very, very good sleep tonight.

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