It was really nice
to wake up in a bed, use a real bathroom, and cook breakfast on a stove, but we
still had to prepare for the two days of hiking ahead. We realized overnight that my water bag was
leaking, so I had to head down to reception to see if they had any duct tape to
fix it. I was greeted by an awesome
surprise - a baby wombat! The owner had
a 14-month old wombat wrapped in a pink blanket which I got to snuggle while
she hunted for some tape. The wombat's
name was Dora, and she was about the size and weight of a watermelon, but
really soft. My goal for the trip was to
see a wombat, so it was cool that I got to hold one!
Our driver picked us
up at 8:40 am and we were on the trail by 9.
Our first animal encounter was a
group of these guys:
The day had lots of
hills, and almost immediately Ryan started having trouble with his knee. After half an hour he put a tensor bandage on
it, and shortly after that he started taking Advil in hopes of keeping the inflammation
down and not making it any worse.
Luckily I was feeling great, so it was my turn to talk Ryan through the
hike. To his credit he never complained
at all though. He's much better at this
stuff than me!
Despite Ryan's
trouble, I really enjoyed this day the best out of all of them. A lot of the hike was through gorgeous gum
trees, where I got to spend some time looking for koalas and birds and just
enjoying the scenery. It was different
from the other forests we hiked through, so it was a nice change of pace.
Once we were through
the forest, we got to this grassy field with an awesome view.
Through some more
farmers fields, down another hill, then back up the other side brought us to
the second beautiful view where we ate a delicious lunch and had a rest. By this time Ryan was really starting to feel
rough (though you wouldn't know it by the picture), so we kept tabs on how far
we were from the road at any given point in case we had to bail. Then we got the brilliant idea to find him a
walking stick which helped enough to get him through the rest of the day.
Ryan must have been
feeling a little bit better, because he got so into our conversation that he
walked right next to this beautiful snake before noticing and yelling out to
me! I was walking behind him, so we were
in the funny situation of the snake being on the path between the two of
us. Eventually, after we had plenty of
time to take pictures and check him out, he slowly got off the path and let us
continue.
The last part of the
hike was less eventful, but a bit rough.
Luckily there were lots of boardwalks so it was relatively flat hiking,
but for once I got to return the favour and carry Ryan's bag for a little
while. Luckily we had learned by day 5
how to pack light!
We FINALLY made it
to our campsite, which was extremely nice.
Unfortunately there was a 600 m walk to and from our trailer to get our
stuff, so we only grabbed the necessities and then went back to setup camp. The site had benches so we didn't have to eat
on the ground, and it also had a "loo with a view" which was pretty
cool. The outhouse was on the top of a
hill on a cliff, so they put a window in it so it was a really nice view while
you did your business.
After dinner and a
game of cribbage we were in our tent by 6 pm.
And boy were we smelly! Let me
tell you, the boots got packed away tight that night!
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