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.