Australian Hiker

Not as many mosquitos last night and given I was sharing with three other people they were obviously sharing the attention. I set my alarm to make sure I got up around 5:30am and found it woke me from a rare period of deep sleep.

I’m sitting here now just doing some write ups for my posts for when I get internet signal and will start packing in a few minutes. It’s been raining on and off for most of the night and rain is forecast for the day so I really appreciated the last two days of sun.

As much as I try to  get away at 7:00am it’s just not happening but I am taking my time to be quiet and not disrupt the other hikers who are stilll trying to sleep. I get away at 7:25am with full rain gear and it’s a good move as all the foliage is sopping wet from the previous nights rain. As much as I loved the last couple of days hiking, I loath this mornings hike. Everything is wet, the path is overgrown and I’m not a fan of the riverside vegetation. It’s everything that the last two days aren’t.

I reach Murray’s campsite before midday – this is a nice campsite and would be very happy to stay here as the early morning views would be spectacular. I’m joined by a crow and keep a very close eye on my gear as it’s inching it’s way towards my pack and food which is on the table.

I head off at 12:30 and things improve, the vegetation is back to what I like, drier and less dense. There are some very big hills on the trip to Swamp Oak campsite and if my fitness hadn’t improved I would have said that this was the hardest day of the trip. As it is, it’s still hard but I’m not noticing it much anymore.

I get to Swamp Oak around 5:00pm which is about the same time that it took me to do an additional 6km yesterday so it shows how much the hills have slowed me down.

I’m sharing again tonight with two others including John who I came across near Denmark in the first week of the trip who was doing another section at the time.

The hut is quite nice with two bunks and a table down the middle but it just feels right. I settle in for the evening to chat.  Due to the weather it’s hard to get large maintainence vehicles in to many of the huts and the toilet is full at Swamp Oak just like Dookanelly so a portaloo has been installed as a temporary measure.

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