Hume and Hovell Track, November 2020

 

The main reason I wanted to do this trail was that I had previously seen the super cool track markers and I looked forward to walking along looking out for them! The logo is probably intended as a tribute to the historic basis for the track route, but to me it is a picture of a pair of pensioners hell bent on getting to the pub for a pint. 

This Hume and Hovell Track doesn’t have the best reputation among bushwalkers. It has too much road walking apparently and the track is not well maintained. It seems to me that the current track bears little resemblance to the journey undertaken by Hume and Hovell in 1825 when they walked, basically, from Sydney to Geelong, and only tiny parts of the track are close to their route. Right now several long sections of the track are closed due to bushfire and flood damage. 

 I had run a section of the track near Tumbarumba (twice) and liked that so I was curious to see more. The terrain offers a mixture of farmland, eucalypt forest and high country. Logistically it isn’t the easiest track to do because it passes close to very few towns for resupply but I reckoned I could do the section between Yass and Tumut if I was prepared to walk a couple of hours into Tumut when I came off the track. Another complication is the need to take a boat across Lake Burrinjuck on the third day of the hike, which has to be booked in advance and doesn’t always operate. On the plus side there had been plenty of recent rain so getting enough water from creeks on the hike was not going to be an issue, even with the weather forecast in the mid thirties. 

I intended to leave my car in Tumut and start by taking the bus (actually two buses) to Yass. Technically the hike starts at Cooma Cottage outside Yass but I couldn’t see any pleasure in walking extra kms along a busy road, so I elected to start in Yass which is where the track used have its start line when first conceived in 1988.

November 25 I had stayed on the wrong side of Yass, the Cooma Cottage side (ha ha) giving me an extra couple of kms to walk to reach the town, get through town and then out the other side on an industrial road. Yass motels were all full because the Victoria/NSW border had only just reopened so I had to stay at the only place with a vacancy. It was an improvement when I turned off after 6 kms for a quieter road, partly sealed with a few cars, properties near the road, lots of sheep, kookaburras, distant hills. I  crossed several creeks, all with plenty of water. It was very warm by 8am. I stopped after 14 kms then every hour. The road narrowed and went into patches of bush. It was hillier than I had expected. 

I got to The Captain campsite at 2pm, and could easily have missed it if I hadn’t been looking out for it and noticed a stile by the roadside. There was a covered picnic table, toilet and water tank and it was a pleasant grassy area with trees. I read from the log book that the last people had stayed 16 days ago. The neighbour farmer came over to chat and told me a lot about local farming. I enquired about bushfires and he said everything was too damp for fires. The mozzies were really bad. 28.2 kms

November 26 After several more kms of dirt road and then a sealed portion I turned onto a 4WD road which was much nicer, through bush with noisy cockatoos, and the going was rough and rocky. I had glimpses of Lake Burrinjuck then followed a narrow trail around the lake edge, with a steep drop off towards the lake. There were hills all around the lake. 

Finally I had a nice detour around an inlet, with a rocky crossing. The lake is absolutely huge. The campground was hot and dusty and I was sad to see the shop was closed (even though I had known it might be) meaning that I was only able to buy a few morsels at the office for my lunch and dinner rather than the lavish meals I had been hoping for. 22 kms

November 27  At 7.30am I was taken by boat about 7 kms up the lake to the track continuation. The boat was a full-on tour boat but I was the only passenger. I was dropped off at Cathedral Rocks, which are well submerged just now as the lake is at 88 % capacity. I had a very hot walk on a rough road to Wee Jasper, with sheep, hills in every direction, and the track came and went by the lake.

From Wee Jasper I went up into a nature reserve with a long climb in the late morning heat. I thought I was making a short cut but actually I was going further than required, but this kept me off the road. I also believed I was climbing Mt Wee Jasper but that was to come later (and harder). I had window views of distant mountains.

I had a descent to a pretty creek and my introduction to the blackberry infestation with which I was to become far too well acquainted. At the creek I had a chat with a woman who was sitting there (I was surprised to see her) and then embarked on the real Mt Wee Jasper. The track started with a paddock of giant thistles the like of which I’ve never seen before. The climb was hard work on a narrow trail and I made many stops, necessary because of the heat. I hadn’t realised this peak is as high as 1121 metres. There were some views on the way up but none at the summit, and again in the log book I saw that nobody had been here recently.

 I came down on a dirt road passing logged pine plantations then went into the forest and followed a creek with bad infestation. The trail was just grass and at times really indistinct. I thought I would never reach camp. It was nice to hear a creek flowing as I walked along very slowly. I was hot and tired, and I got to Log Bridge camp just after 6pm. It was an idyllic campsite by a creek in a state of disrepair (broken tables and fireplaces), but sleeping to the sound of trickling water is always a treat. I promptly ate a rather late lunch followed immediately by dinner. 27 kms

November 28 It had been forecast to be 36 degrees so I tried to leave early; I was up before 5.30am and left just before 6.30; the main thing that holds me up in the morning is waiting for my coffee to cool down enough that I can drink it since I’m always packed up and ready to go! I went straight into forest, nice at first then long kms of blackberry and thistle, which made for slow going and lots of hacking. Thank goodness I had my hiking poles with me. If you don’t hack the long, and often thick, blackberry stalks out of the way they cling to your skin like nothing on earth and I soon became immune to the scratches and sight of trickling blood. I climbed into a granite gorge area and was well above the creek. By now I had renamed the trail the Blackberry and Thistle Track. I saw a couple of kangaroos, very shy. Pompey's Pillar was a tall granite rock right by the track.

 By the time I made it to a clearing in a pine plantation the going became easier with some 4WD track and some paths through eucalypt forest. There were occasional light breezes which were really welcome. The creek was quite noisy and also the cicadas were deafening. After a long hill, hard going as it was really hot by midday, I came to Micalong campsite, right on Micalong Creek by little falls. I had expected to arrive at 9.30 but got there after 11. 

I took a long break and only left when I could face the heat again, although it was definitely not 36 degrees yet. Shortly after there was a sign about a broken bridge and it would be necessary to detour, but the pensioners were only doing the original route so I followed my GPS along some derelict fire trails and hoped for the best. I followed a winding dirt road high above the creek with nice views of nearby pine forest and was pleased to be away from the blackberry. It got windy and I heard thunder, then there were a few drops of rain, then a wet thunderstorm without lightning for 15 minutes. I had been absolutely sure from the forecast that this was going to be a hike without rain. I came back down to the creek and could see track markers in the distance,  but first I had to cross this creek which was more like a river. So a big detour to avoid a broken bridge and I had to wade across anyway. 

The rain stopped and the sun came out again. Bossawa / Barrois (it seems to have two different names) campsite was in a forest clearing by a grassy creek, and the land here seemed far less rocky. 

All afternoon there were on and off showers and it was windy. At night I had a big thunderstorm with lightning. 22 kms. Every day has been longer than expected.

November 29  It was a cool windy morning, muggy, and looked like rain was coming. I walked alongside the creek and crossed interesting swampy areas on a couple of boardwalks, Micalong Swamp and Chinamans Swamp, with grasses in all shades of green. 

Then the trail turned into forest on a rough track with mountain gums and masses of small ferns. I was most surprised to meet two hikers going the same way as I was, but in some ways not surprised because I had seen a parked car near last night's campsite which looked like a car left there by walkers. The trail became single track, passed over a saddle, and then clouds of gnats appeared.

 I could see distant mountains. I had a small navigation problem on the descent, and started going backwards until I bumped into those hikers, who put me right. I came into a big grassy area called The Hole and sat under a tree for a while. 

The sun finally came out and the air warmed up, and I thought I had almost finished for the day. The trail went along a grassy ridge, with blackberry and also prickly ti-tree , and nice mountain views. I saw some pretty wildflowers, common fringe lily I believe.

On the descent I glimpsed two large waterfalls but they were not accessible from the path and I was happy to see a road below, thinking this meant I was approaching my campsite. I reached the road but was dismayed I had to cross it and a creek and climb another hill, which seemed very long. The notes on the walk website are strangely silent about this climb, and that evening when I compared experiences with the other hikers I had met earlier they told me that the very first leaflet about the H and H is the only walk documentation to note the climb, and this leaflet says that hikers are generally disappointed when confronted with another climb so late in the day. Yep. As I was descending there were many fallen trees and while detouring to avoid one big pile of branches I missed a turn and it took me ages to sort out where to go. I eventually reached Thomas Boyd campsite on the wide Goobarragandra River, and camped by the grand suspension bridge. The campsite managers were very friendly, they made some notes about the blackberry situation, and I also re-met the woman I met by the creek before climbing Mt Wee Jasper. She asked how I had liked the thistles! 26 kms

November 30  I crossed the suspension bridge and walked along the river; blackberry often obscured the river views (and lay right across my path) and there was also lots of prickly ti-tree.

 Then I had to cross back again and this time I crossed on the most scary bridge ever: I was basically walking on chicken wire with a few thin metal slats, where some slats were no longer nailed down and there were holes in the chicken wire. I would rather have waded the river, which didn’t look difficult.

Luckily the next bridge was much safer (and shorter)

and then I had an undulating dirt road through hilly grazing land. All around were lovely green hills with scattered trees, and sheltering cows and sheep (sheltering from the heat).

Soon after crossing a little creek on stepping stones I got confused at a farm and went a bit off the track because there was a sharp turn required but no pensioners to inform me of this, then climbed steeply into bush, and Kosciusko National Park, to a grassy saddle where I ended up on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence. The pensioners weren’t at all in evidence around here either but I was able to follow narrow tracks across to grazing land and a brand new bridge, where I was supposed to be,

and I followed a fence steeply uphill; the cows in that paddock kept coming closer and closer. 

The next 5 kms was across grazing pastures with rarely a track (the website had been vague about this) and at least 10 stiles which I used for navigation. Many signs were missing (or perhaps fallen over because I did chance upon a pair of pensioners lying on the ground among the knee high grass) and I had to rely on my GPS. I stopped to rest under trees. There were lots more curious cows. 

The sharp-seeded grass was a real problem and my feet were being scratched the whole time but I didn't want to stop to pull the seeds out of my socks. Then at the top of the final hill I could see the highway and I was pleased. I  descended and then rested on a bridge, emptied my boots and was shocked at the contents: a phenomenal amount of grass seeds, as well as my socks being covered in a thick layer of seeds too. I pulled out as many as I could, even turning my socks inside out to get at some of them and this was no enjoyable task; some I could not see but only feel because they had worked their way into the weave of the sock.

At this point I had a choice of finishing my hike today at Blowering campsite, 5 kms further, and walking into Tumut tomorrow or walking into Tumut now and walking to Blowering tomorrow as a day walk. The track is closed beyond Blowering campsite because of bushfire damage. I decided to continue into Tumut which was 10 kms on the shortest route. This was a hot exposed walk along the Snowy Mountains Highway and I had to power myself along with positive mantras. There was not much traffic and a good shoulder. I stopped twice, which meant collapsing onto a patch of grass in the shade. I even poured away my last litre of water to save weight. 

The motel in Tumut where I had left my car was full (I had not booked as I didn’t know when I would get back to Tumut) so I collected the car and went to the caravan park by the river. 30.4 kms. 

December 1  I had a lazy morning tea at the bakery in town then drove out of Tumut to the point where the track crosses a suspension bridge over the Tumut River and walked to Blowering campsite. This involved a lot of walking through long grass with the inevitable accumulation of seeds in a fresh pair of socks. The last stretch was in the forest leading up to the dam wall and down the other side to the lake edge. This is another huge lake like Lake Burrinjuck and the campsite is in a commanding position.

I had an urgent meeting at a cafe in town, or maybe I was panicking that they would be running out of food, so I didn’t linger by the lake but turned around and returned to the car. 4.6 kms

In total I had walked 161 kms. That’s a nice round 100 miles.

Port Melbourne to Portsea walk

 

With the restrictions being modified on how far from home we are allowed to venture it was time for another of my trips to Portsea where I do the trip in sections and come home every night. Walking rather than running. I decided to take the bayside coastal route to Blairgowrie then cross the peninsula and go on the back beaches to Portsea, and finish with the walking tracks of Point Nepean National Park. 120-ish kilometres, six days: just the thing for a recovering broken ankle and more importantly to replenish the spirit of someone who likes to take on multi day projects.

This time, rather than starting from home, I had a new starting point in Beacon Cove, at a street whose name I found appropriate: First Point. I had some trouble finding it as it was only a tiny lane between apartment blocks. From here I went past Princes Pier and Station Pier and along Beaconsfield Parade to St Kilda Pier where we met up for coffee, Denis, Tash, Sophie and me. The coffee fired me up and I positively zipped along the coast path through Elwood and Brighton, which I later regretted because it was getting well past lunchtime and there is nowhere to get food on the path between Brighton and Sandringham. I was intending to stop in Sandringham but I kept going to Half Moon Bay where I sat by the beachside kiosk with coffee and a cookie. From here it was only a short way to Black Rock where I called it a day; 20 kms done and the furthest I’ve walked since September.

The second day the weather was beautiful and everywhere was busy. Between Rickett's Point and Mordialloc I took a mixture of beach, bush tracks and sealed footpath. I stopped in Mordy for coffee, then started out on the long push to Frankston. I’ve always run by the road in the past but I didn’t enjoy walking there so I went down a side road to the beach and walked all the way to Carrum, over 8 kms, on the sand. Some of it was slow going when there was no hard sand but it was a great place to be on a sunny day with a slight breeze off the water. I hadn’t appreciated before that there is a continuous strip of white sand between Mordy and Frankston. But lots of other people knew about it - the beach was packed with families. The beach had an almost tropical feel, if it wasn’t for the continuous strip of unattractive houses along the dunes. This was meant to be a shorter day but I ended up with 19.6 kilometres.

The following day I started with another kilometre on the beach, which this morning was full of dog walkers and devoid of families. Then I went onto the Seaford bush trail which is through pleasant enough bush but you can’t see the beach. In Frankston I followed Kananook Creek, got a coffee from Maccas and then sat by Frankston beach. It was another beautiful day and getting hot. I went up Oliver’s Hill (I even tried to run a tiny bit) and along into Mount Eliza. By the time I was leaving Mount Eliza it was really warm and the suburban streets offered no shade. I didn’t get as lost here as I did last time I came through. Between Mount Eliza and Mornington I had the worst stretch of this journey, on the shoulder of the busy highway where the grass is full of litter, and once I got to the back streets of Mornington I was really feeling the heat. I chanced again on the little creek that I had discovered on my last visit, and mistakenly took a circuitous route to the town centre and my bus stop. All up I did 22 kms.

On day 4 I headed for the bush tracks along the coast towards Mount Martha, with a few sea views along the way. It was hot from the get go. I stopped at a cafe in Mount Martha where the owner was completely run off her feet and had a little moan about this to me, but it was the place to go because all the other cafes were empty. Then I made a change from the previous times I’ve been here as I wanted to avoid the coast road which has no footpath or shoulder but plenty of fast traffic, and I went up the hill inland. The first bit was suburban streets, all nicely manicured gardens, then I made an unnecessary detour along a creek, and soon I found a nice bit of bush which led eventually to the summit of Mount Martha. This was not a dangerous summit and I would not have known I was at the top if there hadn’t been a sign telling me; the good view came lower down where there was a wooden lookout tower (pic above). I could see the entire sweep of the Mornington Peninsula and the opening through the heads. And then, as usual, it was so nice to pop out onto Safety Beach, to see the fringing white sand and the calm turquoise waters. I walked down into Safety Beach and ate an ice cream as I walked towards Dromana.  The bay looked wonderful and the beaches were busy. I was really overheating as I strolled through Dromana and on to Macrae; I had intended to stop at Macrae but the bus wasn’t due for ages and there wasn’t a thing open there so I realised I would have to go on to Rosebud. Which I did, walking 25 kilometres in total.

After four days of sunshine my fifth day was grey and threatening rain. I followed the paths through the deserted camping areas around Rosebud and then hit the beach for the long stretch through Tootgarook and Capel Sound (pics above). It was exactly high tide so there was no hard sand and it was slow going but the cooler temperature was great. There was virtually nobody around. I went into Rye for a snack and then went back onto the beach until I reached the narrow trails that lead to Blairgowrie, including the bit beneath the moonah trees that form an arch over the path (pic below). At Blairgowrie I crossed the peninsula to the back beaches and picked up the Coastal Trail; this was the place where I had left this trail when I did my walk at Cape Schanck last year so I was able to do a bit of the Coastal Trail - Bridgewater Bay to Sorrento Ocean Beach - that I’ve never done.

The trail is inland at first behind bush covered dunes with no sea views so I made the detour out to Spray Point. Very soon I was surprised to see a fat snake slithering off the track; it didn’t seem like snake weather at all. There are dramatic rock formations all along the coast, mainly sandstone stacks and incomplete arches, but not looking their best on such a grey day. The huge dunes give the beaches a totally different character from the bay beaches. I went down onto Koonya Ocean Beach (first pic below) and walked on the soft sand; it’s a steeply sloping beach so walking was hard. I wasn’t sure where to leave the beach and unfortunately I picked the wrong spot: I had to climb a high dune and this caused my bad ankle considerable pain, then at the top I lost the path completely and had to bash through some impenetrable melaleuca. Through no expertise on my part I met the correct path and went on to climb lots of steps to St Paul’s Lookout where there was a great view down towards Point Nepean and over nearby little islands (second pic below). By this time it had started raining. I passed pretty little Diamond Bay and reached Sorrento Back Beach (third pic below) but I didn’t linger there as the rain was getting heavier. I walked into Sorrento as fast as I could, hearing thunder on the way, but luckily the rain soon lessened. 22 kms for the day.

My sixth and final day was muggy with a bit of sun. After the long bus ride to Sorrento I returned to the back beach and followed the coastline to London Bridge (pic). This included walking the length of Portsea Back Beach, a lovely straight stretch of golden sand. 

From London Bridge onwards I was in Point Nepean National Park and my goal was to go to the tip of the peninsula, a further 5 kms. There are plenty of tracks here but most are closed to the public because it’s army land. There are bunkers all over the place.  I was able to make a detour off the road, past a couple of rifle ranges, to go up Monash Tower on Cheviot Hill for a good view towards the other side of the heads: Point Lonsdale lighthouse was very prominent as well as the beaches at Queenscliff. I then crossed to the other side of the peninsula (not a long way at all) for a view back along a sandy beach towards Portsea and my first view of the tip of the peninsula, where there are more bunkers. The track came back to the road for the last kilometre to the tip and it is amazing how narrow this strip of land is down here, but still quite high so there are great views on both sides, of the bay and the ocean. I watched the Sorrento to Queenscliff ferry. Unfortunately the road was blocked off for the final 800 metres (a covid reason which didn’t make sense to me) so I could see the tip but not quite get there. 

I walked the road back to the park entrance, calling in at the beach where Harold Holt drowned and seeing a cute echidna on a side trail (guess what, pic above), and continued the extra kilometre into Portsea where I had a 3pm lunch at the pub. With 18 kms today I had walked 127 kms in total. I was fairly tired, pleased that my foot had survived the exercise, although it was still sore from yesterday’s sand dune, and I realised this is the longest walk I’ve done since my Great North Walk.

Gibraltar-Washpool World Heritage Walk September 2020

 

The Gibraltar-Washpool World Heritage Walk in northern NSW had been in my original plan of hikes to do before crossing into Queensland in July, but as I got closer to Queensland I didn't want to risk the border closing again so I decided to continue to Queensland and leave this hike for another time. Driving back home I felt the time for the hike was right, even though this was possible not what the Mackay doctor intended when she told me I could do mild exercise six weeks post fall; ok, it was only five weeks after my fall and I knew the hike was a silly thing to do but I didn't want to drive all the way from Mackay to Melbourne without one last overnight hike, and who knew when I might be allowed out of Victoria again? Even with a partly mended broken ankle I was going to do this hike. This was not supposed to be a difficult hike and was apparently well signed, although the area was significantly bushfire affected last October after the route notes were compiled. It is a 45 km basic loop with many suggested detours to sights of interest so the overall distance is flexible, which suited my circumstances. I booked my campsites and drove to Mulligan's campsite, a beautiful section of forest that was saved from the fires, the suggested start.

September 22 Mulligan's to Coombadjha campsite 10.7 kms. The walk started with a couple of creek crossings and I was pleased to see there was water flowing. Most of the creeks I've seen recently have been dry. Then the trail went into rainforest which was lovely: lots of tall skinny trees with hanging vines and epiphytes, bright tree ferns and low ferns, Bangalow palms, grass trees and blue gums. There was plenty of birdsong in the air. 

I wasn't looking forward to seeing evidence of last year's bushfires and at first I didn't go past any burnt areas but this soon changed and there were big areas of skeleton tree trunks and brown foliage. In many areas there were thick bunches of leaves growing directly off the blackened tree trunks from ground level up, and this looked most peculiar; I believe this is called epicormic growth. The more I saw such trees the sadder I thought it looked. I kept hoping that the trees I could see in the distance would turn out to have normal branches. I met two guys doing a survey of birds returning to the bush after the fires; they were specifically searching for scrub wrens.

I had a long uphill followed by a long downhill, then the trail crossed the highway and became a formed road, descending steeply to the forest floor. I had moved from Gibraltar Range National Park into Washpool National Park. At the bottom I made coffee at one of two campsites that were close together and then went on to the other one to put up my tent. On the way I saw a lyrebird. The campsite was in a rainforest clearing, not a burnt tree in sight.

Later I went for a stroll in the rainforest following pretty trickling creeks but sadly much of the forest was badly burnt. 

The day had started out really windy, and the wind was very noisy around the treetops, then the wind dropped and it was alternately sunny and raining but neither for very long. Several people came to look at this campsite but they all went away again.

September 23 Coombadjha to Boundary Falls campsite 20.6 kms. I was up before 7am since I went to bed so early last night. The weather was beautiful, coolish to start off and blue sky all day. My hike began with a lovely kilometre along Coombadjha Creek in the rainforest passing a little pool. It was hard going with my bad foot on the narrow twisting rooty path.

Then I was back on a fire trail and I walked through burnt areas for the remainder of the day, sometimes regenerating trees with the epicormic branchlets and sometimes completely charred. 

After a couple of hours, having returned to Gibraltar Range National Park, I came to a camping clearing where I had originally intended to stay, but it was too early to stop for the day so I decided to have a short break. Almost immediately two hikers arrived from the other direction; they were the first hikers I'd seen and I was the first they'd seen. We had a nice morning tea together.

The trail continued past some huge granite peaks, looking like high piles of boulders with trees growing all over, and patches of boggy ground with green and yellowing grasses, which would have been pretty if not for the burnt stumps and stalks that were there too. There were lots of scattered boulders among the trees. At times I could see a panorama of mountains on the horizon, quite distant. I crossed several flowing creeks with clear water.

I detoured to Duffer Falls hoping to find an oasis among the burnt stuff, but the whole area was burnt and the trail was indistinct. The falls cascaded in three strands over reddish blocky rock into a sizeable pool and there were smaller falls lower down.

My destination, Boundary Falls campsite, had a few unburnt trees including some tall blue gums and a smattering of tree ferns. This was not a lively place. The bird survey guys had set up camp here so I was able to have a chat about the birdlife, and hear that they had found five scrub wrens. I found the bird life surprisingly prolific. My foot was quite sore after 20 kms so I was happy to stop walking. I did the very short walk down to Boundary Falls, which cascaded over granite into a dark pool; I could sense the water was freezing without touching it.

September 24 Boundary Falls to Mulligan's 19.7 kms. A second day of perfect weather. I started with a climb which was nice because I find downhill hard on my bad foot. There were more granite boulders and patches of wetland, and then I crossed the highway again and the trail became more of a narrow footpath. 

The forest understorey showed good regrowth with ferns, grass trees and even some wildflowers. I was following Surveyor's Creek as it wound through wetlands passing granite peaks. At Dandahra Crags, an outcrop topped with jagged boulders, I started on the summit track but realised this would be too tricky with my foot on the way down, so I settled for coffee on a nearby log. 

The trail continued creekside, with both banks showing bad signs of fire, to the confluence of Little Dandahra Creek and then I followed this creek. Soon I came to a large boulder edged pool. I sat with my feet in the cold water then had lunch. The rest of the trail was alongside this creek, which was really misnamed as it was wider than all creeks I've seen recently and full of water. 

Towards Mulligan's the forest seemed a bit less burnt. I reached the end of my loop at the picnic area and straight away went to sit on a rock by the creek to cool my feet, seeing two lyrebirds on the way. Apart from masses of finches, honeyeaters, parrots, kookaburras and many other birds, I had not seen any wildlife, not even a lizard. 

September 25 In the coolness of the next morning at 7am I hiked from Mulligan's out to The Needles (first picture) which was a 6 kms return side trip I could have made on my first day. (So my total hike here was 57 kms.) I walked through rainforest which was only burnt at the edges and had some nice tree ferns, but seemed odd as the understorey was bare. Towards the lookout the ground became increasingly bouldery. The lookout was truly spectacular: the deep Dandahra Creek gorge featuring endless folds of forested mountains and the curious granite spires jutting out into the gorge from near where I stood. It was the best moment of the whole hike.

My return to hiking, September 2020

 

Almost three weeks after my accident I decided it was time to get back on the trail. I wasn't going to be able to do the Mackay Highlands Great Walk as planned but I wanted to experience what I could of Eungella National Park. I had abandoned the crutches and I thought I could manage a short walk in the moon boot using my hiking poles.

I started with a 2.8 kms out and back to Araluen Cascades in the Finch Hatton section of the park. The road to the trailhead was more rugged than the trail, with water over the road at several low creek crossings. I took the trail really slowly and just one walking couple questioned whether this constituted resting up. I could imagine them reporting back to my Mackay doctor, who had been annoyed with me for my brief stroll on the beach at Cape Hillsborough.

I saw a big goanna near the start and a smaller one later plus the obligatory bush turkey. It was lovely rainforest with palms and figs. The main problem I had was the large number of steps, mostly just one at a time but I found them tricky. Otherwise the path was a gentle grade and smooth.

The waterfall was a short flow over granite into a pool. By the time I got back to the car I was exhausted from the stress of watching every foot placement.

That afternoon at 5.30 I went to Broken River in the other section of the park near Eungella to see if there were any platypus. It was 500 metre return walk to the lookout, and I was very excited to see a succession of about six of them. They didn't surface for long and they are smaller than I thought.

The next day I went to another viewing area on the river and saw a few more platypus plus lots of turtles. 

Then I did a 2.5 km loop walk by the river and this one felt more comfortable although the ground was rougher. Again it was palm and fig rainforest with hanging vines and all sizes and varieties of palms. There was a causeway across the river where I turned back and I sat for a while as it was a lovely spot with low rock platforms in the wide river and little rapids. It felt so good to be in the bush.

In the afternoon I drove to another place by the river nearer Crediton Hall and walked a 2.3 km loop. The terrain here was rougher with constant tree roots so I had to be very careful. The palm fronds shone in the sunlight. The river appeared green but it flowed nicely with occasional rapids and pools. This walk wasn't as close to the river as the earlier one but I could always hear it trickling along. This was also a part of the Great Walk so I have at least been able to do a few kilometres and quite likely the best ones.

Two days later I went for a 7 km walk at Sarina Beach, still in the moon boot but no hiking poles. Sarina Beach and adjoining Campwin Beach are bookended by headlands. I walked from my motel to the southern end of the beach and up to a lookout on the headland where I could see beaches along the coast; then I walked out to a boat ramp right beneath the headland  with a rocky cove on one side and mangroves the other side. There was a sign warning of crocodiles.

From here I walked the full length of Sarina Beach and continued on Campwin Beach to Coral Point lookout on the northern headland. I could see a line of ships on the horizon queuing at Hay Point. It was low tide and the beach was huge and there were long exposed reefs near to shore. It was not a pleasant day, very windy and at the lookout it started raining lightly. I returned along the beach to the motel. My foot in the moon boot was tired and my back was sore but overall the walk was successful.

The next day I didn't do much walking but I did a lot of sitting at Cape Palmerston National Park on a long sweep of beach. 

The following day I wanted to walk the length of Carmila Beach but it was very low tide and the water's edge was so distant I could barely see it. The sand was too soft for me to be able to walk comfortably with the moon boot. When I got to Clairview Beach the tide had come in considerably but the firm ground was too rough for me to walk and the soft sand was on a slope. The beach was alternately sandy and rocky and there were lots of islands just off shore. The water was a lovely aquamarine.

Two days on and at Emu Park I was ready to try walking without the moon boot, just in trainers, and with hiking poles. I was unsteady at first but it became easier. I started out with walking along a sealed path above the beach with great views of the Keppel group of islands. It was really windy but warm and sunny. Then I went onto the beach and walked the length of it to a headland on nice firm sand. The water was wild.

By this time I wanted to get out of the wind so I followed an inland bike path back to the town. I finished with a stop at the bakery. All up 7 kms.

I did a couple of beachside walks at Bargara, now four weeks post fall, wearing trainers and using hiking poles. For the first one I walked south along the paved path to Kelly's Beach and then walked the full length of the beach. Then I walked back. It was a lovely morning, fairly still and blue sky and the water was a deep aquamarine. The coastline along here is broken up by large patches of black boulders, at headlands and also in the middle of the beaches. On the return leg I stopped at the golf club for a cup of coffee and sat on the verandah overlooking the ocean. 5.5 kms today.

The next day was overcast and humid. I walked north along the paved path passing masses of pandanus and several small beaches separated by boulders to Neilsen Park. From there I found a grassy path that went into scrubby bush towards Mon Repos Beach, famous for its turtles, and then down onto the beach via a creek crossing I had to paddle. This was a longer beach, about 2 km. I walked in the water until the beach became too stony for comfort. Several patches of dune were roped off for the turtles but this isn't the time of year to see them. I managed a loop in the bush on the way back and was able to use stepping stones to return across the creek. I had done 9.5 kms when I got back to Bargara and my foot was really tired.

Now I felt I could return to the bush, this time in hiking boots. I did a 4 kms walk at Coalston Lakes National Park, walking through dry rainforest over a couple of hills to two completely dry crater lakes with unnecessary (at this time) bird hides; this really was walking for the sake of training and I wasn't surprised there was nobody around. 

The same day I did a short walk at Auburn River National Park, descending into the gorge where there were huge red boulders in a puddle of water. The next day I walked along the rim of the gorge passing lots of bottle trees.

Then I did a 6 kms hike at Sundown National Park, walking high up above the Severn River to a water hole where I uncharacteristically went for a swim. There was a loop trail around the edge of the park through forest and grassland.

I continued to Giraween National Park for two hikes. Giraween is boulders on steroids; they are huge and everywhere, stacked up, balancing, randomly lying around. I did a 9 kms hike past several interesting boulder formations called the Castle, the Sphinx and the Turtle (which only looked like a turtle when I saw it from a big distance the next day). The following day I tried to climb the Pyramid but I had to give up before the top because my foot wouldn't co-operate on the sloping granite.