Day 5 and 6 - Australian Alps Walking Track

Another cold night, this time Happy's Hut style it has become pretty easy to wake up with the sun at 5:30 to 6 am.  As I had plenty of food now I decided to have a double serve of quick oats and 2 hot chocolates to start me off.  Was funny to see the kettle of water I left out over night with 3mm of ice layering the top.

Despite my early rising time it took me about 2 hours to get out of the hut and start walking again.  At the food drop I had picked up letters which my wife and children had written me for fathers day.  I was meant to read 1 per day but as I was having a long breakfast I read all of them.  Some were drawings or letters from my kids, others were motivational print offs my wife selected for me.

I was so relaxed once I did get on the trail that I neglected to keep an eye out for the Grey Mare trail junction and instead I followed Tolbar to Jacks Rd which added about 3 km to my day.  From Jacks onto Grey Mare Trail.  Once on the trail I enjoyed my morning with very little obstacles.  I kept thinking about how much extra food I was carrying and what I should dispose of, so once I arrived at MacKay's Hut i was pretty certain it was a good time to drop weight.  Hayden and Dave would no doubt be coming through and maybe even sleeping here tonight so I decided to leave them a little gift which I hoped would lift their spirits and I knew would lighten my pack.

Shortly after I had left MacKay's Hut I cam across Peter & Lee.  They often do short sections they tell me to keep active.  They also warned me about a dingo dying on the side of the road about 1km ahead of me.  They didn't want it to startle me.  We had a brief chat about my plans for the day and they warned me that Mt Jagungal would take me all afternoon if I were to attempt it and still hope to get onto Grey Mare Hut tonight I would be out real late.  I took what they said on board and started preparing myself for a long evenings hike.   

         

Sur enough I came across the dingo lying on the side of the road, dead.  Or was he!  A couple hundred metres up the trail a Ranger truck came past and I told them about the dead dingo, not sure if they clear them of the trail. There response was memorable " Your not talking about that one are you!" and they point back along the trail from where I just came.  Sure enough, there was my dingo walking down the trail.  Funny.

As I continued I could see Mt Jagungal getting ever closer.  I was getting pretty excited to start climbing as its been flat most of the day.  I continually checked John Chapman's book to see where the entry to the side trip over Jagungal started and as I got a couple km's from the junction I had this crazy urgent need to use the bush toilet.  As a teenager I would call it a pre-game toilet stop.  I dropped my pack and urgently located my toiletry bag, raced into some scrub and ....well you get it.  Here is the trouble.... just as I started I realise that I already have hundreds of ants all over my legs and by the time I rush to finish i must have had 1000 ants all over me.  I raced back to my pack to discover it to was being ant encrusted.  They were nipping at me, legs, chest, neck.  I scrapped them and smacked them off me and my pack and got out of there.  I would get a reminder nip every 10 minutes or so for the next 2 hours just to let me know I hadn't swatted them all.  This really shook my concentration and resolve and now I just wanted to reach camp.  I stopped at O'Keefe's Hut to gather my thoughts and decided the ants were a sign I should press through to Grey Mare camp without my side trip over Mt Jagungal.

             

Mt Jagungal

Internal walls of O'Keefe's Hut lined with old newspaper

The rest of the afternoon was basically straight & flat.  As you follow the trail you are travelling aroung Mt Jagungal so all afternoon the fact that I didn't climb it was haunting me.  As the afternoon wore on I was crossing more small creeks and streams.  I found I could jump or walk across rocks to that I didn't have to take off my boots.  About 5pm I was broken, my feet were so swollen they were just raw stumps.  The blisters were irritated and to be honest I was just cooked.  My legs were jelly and I had no energy.  It took me another hour before I arrived at Grey Mare Hut which is tuck on a nice hillside that normally I would find appealing but as I was a worn out stump it killed me to get up to the hut.

I prepared dinner but could barely eat it.  I was so warn out my insides were cramping with every swallow of food.  None the less I knew I need the food so I kept eating.  My feet were throbbing and I think a little infected, they were on fire and felt like they were going to split open.  I set up my bed and had a fire but I stumbled around in the bush trying to find water with no luck so that leaves me with about 200ml to get me through the night.  This was my first really hard night.  I was thirsty and had leg cramps most of the night.  What was nice was that the hut had a number of bunk beds, one which is right under the window.  This is where I slept, watching the stars at night and waking with the sun in the morning.

November 6, 2013 (DAY 6) I woke having had the best nights sleep, not only since being on the trail but for months.  In the preparation for the hike I worked long hours to make sure every other part of life was well and truly organised prior to my departure, of course I would also think about the hike and preparations and be unable to sleep.  I really felt I had pushed too hard the day before so this morning I told myself chill out and enjoy.  I also feel that because I kept my boots on yesterday all day that my feet didn't get the cold refreshing reset of a water/creek crossing.  So within the first 2 hours of the day I must have had 7 water crossings and I took my time through all of them virtually freezing my feet providing a great relief from the previous days pains.  

Following Valentine's Trail I soon came across some more Australian wildlife.  Walking on the trail in the same direction I was travelling is the massive wild pig.  Its back was about 1.2m off the ground and was about 2m long.  Here is how the next 4 minutes of the hike went.  

See the Pig, Took the photo from a distance prior to yelling at it!

Step 1 - I yell at Pig    Step 2 -  Pig runs really fast towards me   Step 3 - I scream like a school girl   Step 4 - Pig jumps into the scrub but stops and waits for me just 1-2m off the trail, I think it was my girly scream....it didn't know what to do either!   Step 5, I wish I had on video as it would have been hilarious.  I checked my boots were tied tight, made sure all my straps on my Pack were tight and holding my gear snug against me.   I slowly creeped closer to the point where I believed he left the trail........then I set the Olympic record for Backpack sprinting.  My arms were pumping my feet barely touched the ground before leaping into my next stride.  I have never ran with sprinting precision as I did just then.  I got about 300m down the trail and decided to look back.  There was no chase, I think it was still trying to work out if that girly scream came from me!  Anyways, I crossed Valentine creek and climbed up to Valentine's Hut.  I definitely will spend a Valentine's here with my wife in the coming years.

Picture of my wife ( Valentine's Hut)

I signed the log book as standard every hut I have gone past and pressed on after a quick snack.  I came across a couple norwegian backpackers that had come from Schlink Hut and were staying at Valentine's that night.  I myself press on to Schlink Hut where I had a nice long lunch, a water top up and a general chill out.  Continuing on the trail I soon came across Whites River Hut which was to be my camp for the night but as it was only 3pm I decided to instead push onto Anton Anderson saddle.  So from Whites River hut the track is unmarked.  Nothing to follow.  So I started off and for the first time could see snow in my track, so I raced off and wrote my wife & kids initials and just started to climb everything I was coming across.  All day the local helicopter tours were flying over head, as I was in the Mt Kosciuszko area tours fly out all the time to show tourist the mountains I was climbing and huts I was visiting.

After about an hour I realised I had been having a little fun and not really following any type of navigation guides so i decided to climb the tallest peak I could see and get out the maps.  Took me about 15 minutes to work out I had walked virtually back on myself and had not achieved any distance since leaving Whites River Hut.  I could almost see back down the Schlink hut.  That being said I could see the snow covered peaks of Mt Kosciuszko which was a great marker.  From there I could identify Mt Tate which I needed to get over in order to make my way to camp.  So I set off, part hiking, part bouldering the large outcrops of granite.

As I feel I am back on track I set my targets on another mountain pass which I believe will take me towards Mt Tate.  As I got to the top of this ridge I could see a river system in the valley below.  I got out the maps and assessed that I needed to actually be on the opposite ridge to where I was.  I was shattered but knew sitting around wouldn't get me to camp so I climbed down into the valley and up the crazy steep other side.   Once I reached the upper peaks of this new ridge system I looked at the maps again, in the valley I crossed a very unique shape in the river so I wanted to confirm to myself that again I was on the best route.  SHATTERED, I should have stayed on the ridge I was first on which is the eats ridge described in Chapman's book.  I have now crossed to the West ridge.  Although shattered that all the effort was for nothing I at least could see the consolation prize.... both ridges lead to Mt Tate.

Anyways, it was difficult but by about 7pm I had arrived at Mt Tate and decided that the shelter of the rocky outcrop of the summit of Mt Tate was the best campsite I could come up with this late at night.  As there was no trail I didn't want to be walking in the dark on these summits after the day I had.  I set up my HMG Echo II shelter, chucked all my gear in, got a couple happy snaps then climbed in for the night.  It was freezing cold and I was really beaten up.  A couple positives was that all this off track trekking was great on my feet.  Nice and soft under my foot tread unlike the 4x4 trails of the past couple days.  I also had phone reception for the first time, Optus!  Knowing I would reach Thredbo tomorrow and could recharge my phone I spent the next 2 hours talking to my wife, family and friends.  With my voice shivering from the cold I told my stories and reassured my loved ones that my Solo adventure was no riskier than in a pair.  It was about 10:30pm before I got around to eating dinner and then off to bed.  I wore my IceBreaker thermals to bed, used my silk liner in my sleeping bag as well.  Nice and warm all night and had a really good sleep considering I was on a slight angle towards the bottom on my tent.

AAWT - Day 3 and 4

Last time we joined our intrepid adventurer he had wandered off into the afternoon sun.  With the wind at his back and a heavy heart he marched onwards only looking back for a brief moment to fairwell the landscape he had thus far conquered!  (Please read the above line with a deep tone and partially sarcastic American accent, like the narrator of the old Batman cartoons)

So let me take a moment to be honest, gain some perspective and bring everyone into the picture on how I'm feeling just about this point of the hike.

Firstly, I have never spent even 1 night alone camping or hiking before and I have never hiked or camped for more than 3 - 4 days at a time.   A lot of planning goes into these long distance treks, but how was I to know that my preparations were enough.  Do I have the ability to see this to it End.

I have not used a compass in 15 years and as far as being fluent in its use, I am not.  Yes setting a heading for South and walking there is self explanatory, but unfurling a map and understanding how to calculate the coordinates of where I am or want to go and being able to say in an emergency supply those to a third party.  No sir.  At this point, this is weighing on my mind.

Also, in general terms, you only have to ask me for a ride somewhere by car to know that my general orientation is poor.  The number of times I have driven the same route 5 or 6 times with the same friends only to continually make the wrong turns.  This is also weighing on my mind.

I am fairly immature.   True there are so many facets of my life which are mature and I deal with them with maturity but when you really look at me I am selfish and spoilt.  The result is that at times once the adrenalin has warn off my desire or ambition does too.  This was not the feeling I was having right about now however.  From the moment I got on the bus, till this moment in time and right up to my arrival at Walhalla, I knew I was going to finish my first End2End journey.

So I am now on a Solo mission.  About 2km after leaving Tim the trail leaves the road and heads off on a section of undefined track.  This was the first time on the AAWT that you are not on a clearly defined trail of some description and of course it so happens to be on the afternoon when I have wandered off on my own.

To be honest the sweeping valley was a really nice walk, soft under foot and regardless of the lack of track it was really easy to follow the old telegraph poles and then see that across the valley was a creek system where the trail ascends and then descends to the Murrumbidgee River.  So I just picked that reference point and went.  I also took the chance n the Murrumbidgee to have a quick splash bath to freshen up a little.  

I also came across some devoted campers/fisherman from Bendigo who drove out to this remote spot for a good old fish.  It was a remote valley and I was very surprised to see them set up.

Once again the trail continues along a four wheel drive track which is really road standard.  I follow this track until about 5:30pm when I arrive at Whitses hut.  I can see from a distance that Hayden and Dave are collecting fire wood for the cold night ahead but also to keep with god hut etiquette of leaving the place in a better condition ( with more firewood as well) then when you arrived.  I figured I'd warn them that I'm a little crazy so I yelled out " hope you guys have got the fire started."  I'm pretty sure they both went in side the hut at that stage!

Whitses Hut is a basic hut made of timber planks, which I assume at one time actually touch each other to create a wall which would stop the weather from entering.  These days those timbers have shrunk apparently so every breeze and every degree of cold is felt in its entirety.  Sleeping in a tent would definitely be warmer.

So just to clarify, these huts are part of the Australian Story, history and are preserved for emergency use only.  I considered companionship an emergency this night and all 3 of us stayed on the floor of the hut.  Again, that night and in the morning making sure that the hut was kept and cleaned to make sure our consciences were okay with this unique indulgence.

We talked till dark, comparing gear, food and our experiences so far and our plans for the balance of the journey.  Dave and Hayden were taking a slightly different route, they were leaving the AAWT at Mt Hotham in about 17 days time or so and going over Mt Feathertop then down to Bright, VIC.  Dave and I both at this stage had massive blisters on the bottom of our feet across the front foot tread and they had mentioned that they were getting concerned about where they had sufficient food.  I knew that from tomorrow morning I was going to have both Tim's food drop as well as my own plus the extra food I was already carrying.  I didn't dump the food as part of me kept saying this will get harder or I would hit a road block and need the extra food.  I was grateful for Hayden and Dave.  I knew they were half a day ahead of me, so Tim was able to tell my family at home that I was not alone but now walking with to hikers I met the night after his departure.  It would give peace to my wife, kids and parents.

I always knew I would keep on trekking solo but the story would be received as comfort back home.

Another honest truth is that I like to impress people.  I have a competitive nature.  So I knew Day 4 I was going to go out hard so that as the news got back to friends and family they would see that although my plans had changed into a solo trek, I was thriving on this new reality not dwelling on it.

Day 4 started about 6am with the sun rise.  A bitterly frosty morning which I had this overwhelming excitement about.  Having gone through what was starting to become a well organised morning routine of breakfast, pack, plan and go, I departed as soon as the tasks were complete.  Wasn't long when I came over a small crest and there to the West just beside the track was a mother brumby and her little baby.  I could tell they were warming in the morning sun, they let me get within about 20m before mum stood up and made a small sound and a nod of her head to her baby and they departed.  Up to this stage in the hike the closest a brumby had let me get was about 200m before running off.  All my photos were of these far off horses barely recognisable as such through my Garmin GPS' camera.

A Brumby is a free-roaming feral horse in Australia. Although found in many areas around the country, the best-known brumbies are found in the Australian Alps region in south-eastern Australia.                                                                                             I also came across another large brumby walking in the opposite direction on the trail.  We were both surprised to see each other as neither of us moved.  after about 20 seconds he realised I could take him down and moved off!

It was about 10am when I crossed the Eucumbene River and arrived in Kiandra.  This felt like I had achieved a milestone.  Reaching my first food drop, and at least a day and a half ahead of schedule.  I allowed myself some time to relax as I dug out our food drops, I still opened Tim's and grabbed his treats and the treats we were sharing.  Filled up with fresh water we had kept in the drop as well.  I was a little unsure on how the next stage was going to so I brought the full 6 days rations and barely left any of my unused rations from being ahead of schedule.  So I got heavy!  Probably about 22kg's now which is not heavy physically but as I wanted to be light it was heavy mentally.

New track installed - hard under foot

I left Tim's bucket out for Hayden and Dave as I knew they would be past later that morning and would no doubt enjoy a top up if they could.

I set off on the well defined fire trail towards Table top mountain.  The local DSE (Department of Sustainability & Environment) has done some track maintenance to no doubt stop erosion of some description but let me say - it was a pig to walk on.  Large rocks are not great under foot.  I spent most of the time walking on the grass along side the trail.

I could see Tabletop Mountain off in the distance and it felt like it was all afternoon to finally get to the base of the mountain.  The AAWT doesn't actually go over tableTop but since this was one of the first real summit style mountains I had come across I was pretty happy to climb up to check out the views.




Once on the summit of TableTop I took a couple selfies while sitting n the rock chair.  I can also see the Koscioszko Mountain area with a number of snowy peaks in the distance.

Table Top Mountain 1784m

Checking out the view from TableTop

Once I had descended from TableTop I continued on the well defined track for 5km or so and then decided to take the undefined short cut down to Happy's Hut.  The alternative was to stay on the trail and walk and extra 2 km's or so to the well defined entry to Happy's Valley.  Happy's Hut is located just below the tree line in a sweeping valley.  Its a typical old hut, fireplace and small food preparation bench.  There are 2 old wire based beds, but to honest I used them to organise my gear not to sleep on, I didn't want them to deteriorate under my weight.  I was also really excited to see a camping chair to sit on.  I spent the night reading, checking my maps/schedule and writing in my journal.  It felt civilised.

Happy's Hut viewed as I came out of the Bush Bashing shortcut 

Day 1 - 3 Australian Alps Walking Track

I have now been home for just over a week and find myself settling back into the real world once again.

Again, Thank you everyone for your support both through your traffic here on Oz4adventure as well as through my private Facebook page.  I do feel like I haven't finished as yet as I have yet to share much of my journey with you all.

As an article about my journey could go on for hours I have decided to break it down into sections so hopefully it makes for more interesting reading and better content.

Halloween, October 31 at 8pm having checked and rechecked our gear, had our last dinner with our families and said our goodbye's we left Spencer street Melbourne Bus terminal on the 8pm Greyhound 

service.  The thought being we could sleep through the night relaxed and start fresh and chipper on day 1 out of Namadgi the next morning.  We both did get some sleep but not enough to say we were in good condition the next morning.  The Greyhound service arrives downtown Canberra at 4am ( which we knew) so its an ideal time to call up anyone you know in Canberra and ask for a lift to the outskirts of town. 

Fortunately, I know snowboard adventurer Allistair Court who was excited to hear about our plans and was able to pick us up, let us have a shower at his home and then drive us to the Namadgi Visitor centre all for a 6am start.  What a legend.

After a couple happy snaps to get us started we set out for what we knew was going to be an epic adventure.  10 minutes later was our first toilet break!  I wish I could tell you more about Namadgi but to be honest we look for the trail and got moving.

The first couple days we knew were relatively flat so we had prepared ourselves for an easy go of it.  Both Tim & myself had pack weights of about 20kg's which is relatively light and well organised so we were confident we would do these first couple days easily.

Let me now take you to an exert from my journal, this is line 1; "WE CAN'T DO THIS!  This is so hard, my feet and back hurt even with 1/2 day being flat."  Having not trained in the last 12 months virtually at all, having not worn my hiking boots or pack since Wilson's Prom in November 2012 I was feeling what NIL preparation felt like.

Our original destination of Orroral River was reached none the less by about 2:30pm.  Its a fairly open plain of paddock with little tree cover and as it was warm we thought maybe we should continue to Sawpit Creek.  We filled up our water and as we were doing so we saw our first snake..... swimming in  our water source.  We definitely felt we should push on.  

Having reached sawpit creek we soon established that there was not much room to camp so we just parked my echo 2 HMG shelter right there on the trail.  Tim and I agreed to share my 2 person tent for the first 6 days until the Kiandra food drop, were we had placed his tent with our food for his use for the duration of the journey.

I slept very little both because my body hurt especially my feet as well as the general anxiety of the endeavours ahead.  I remember that I bought some insoles for my boots to do the Wilson's Prom last year and that they killed my feet.  I unfortunately neglected to remember this fact prior to our departure and so after day 1 my small toes had been crushed into painful stumps.

Day 2,  I had hoped would bring more comfort and ease to our adventure.  I decided to remove the insoles from my boots completely to provide some relief to my toes.  In doing so I would be walking on the unprotected frame of my boots.  By then end of Day 2 I would have a blister on the ball of my right foot that stretched from my 2nd toe right to my crushed pinky toes.

So much of the first 2 days were surprisingly on hard road type Four wheel drive tracks.  This was punishment on my feet.  We were both grateful for the river crossing at Cotter Hut, it allowed for a nice break and to cool my feet in the icy water.

As I was filtering the water with our Katydyn pump I hear huge splashes just meters behind me.  Apparently this family of Kangaroos thought Tim was in their spot and they came rushing across the river to tell him all about it.  They stuck around for about 20 minutes and in the end we left before they did.

We had to more aggressive climbs today, one being Murrays Gap which I have been told is a total of 31 switch back false summits.  Information provided by Hayden & Dave who we meet tomorrow.

There were a number of reasons for both Tim & I to get back home as soon as possible so althought we wanted to see all that the AAWT had on offer we also wanted to push a little further every day to hopefully finish a couple days earlier.  So in this spirit we walked a little further again and completed our second day of 31 km or so when we arrived at Bill Jones Hut.  We knew that earlier in the day we had avoided staying at both Oldfields Hut and Pocket Hut which by reputation were both huts we knew we should really have stayed at but pressed on through none the less.

Oldfields Dunny (toilet)

Oldfields Hut

Its at this stage of the evening that things changed for me and got a little more serious.  With a number of family issued ever present in his mind Tim had journeyed with me for 2 days.  Whilst we set up camp for the evening Tim discussed with me his desire to return home to resolve these family matters.

We planned an exit and from tomorrow I would be hiking solo.   

Bill Jones Hut

Having not really prepared for a solo adventure Tim and I started to review what changes needed to be made.  I would now have a first Aid kit, water filter, GPS and maps to carry.  I have only ever hiked for 3-4 days at a time and I have never hiked solo before so there were some new burdens to carry and weigh up!

I want to let everyone know that I fully supported Tim in his decision, his loyalty to me made him come out with me for 2 days which I considered at the time and still today as a real sling shot into this adventure.  I also want to point out that 3 years ago when I messaged to all my Facebook friends about who wanted to join me, within 1 minute Tim was on the phone.  Without him supporting this dream, I may not have ever gotten out on the AAWT.  My enthusiasm and focus on this adventure probably would have disappeared and i would never have had this experience.  So I am eternally indebted to Tim.

Day 3 was surprisingly easy going, we took the pedal off a little and just enjoyed what we knew was our last day hiking together.  We stopped by Hainsworth hut and signed the logbook whilst grabbing some brunch.  We noted that Dave & Hayden had started on the same day but from a closer point and were in fact staying at Witzes Hut tonight which was my destination as well.  I could potentially hike with them if they were interested.

About an hour later as we came into the Boundary Rd/Mosquito Creek junction we noticed a number of horsemen loading up after having had a weekend bucks weekend on the horses.  We had a quick chat to them and they kindly agreed to get Tim to a bus depot which ended up being in Wagga about 100km away.  We quickly took the supplies I needed out of Tim's pack and loaded me up.  I also scored 2 fresh apples from the guys so was stoked with that.

From this point forward it was just me and the voices in my head to journey to Walhalla.