Australian Alps Walking Track - Day 15 - 17

This morning I wake up a new man.  I feel a lot better for having taken the short day.  I start today reading some inspirational print out from my wife and then get packed.  The pack is looking really light.  I chucked out some food last night as well as I am still just oversupplied with food.

So today is the day.  Big River!  On day 3 Hayden and Dave were talking to me about Big River, its the single sharpest descent and ascent in the whole AAWT.  I didn't care.  This morning was all business and I am ready to just smash it out.

As I follow the trail I keep taking photos of the morning fog below me.  Its just an amazing feeling this morning.  So the climb down to big river is not as dramatic as I was expecting.  Maybe it had been built  up in my mind for so long that in the end I'm just not impressed.  I get down to Big River fairly easily and start looking at how to cross.  I climb up onto the log so I can grab onto the crossing chain.  In doing so i take a chunk of flesh out of my knee.  I jump back down, its really difficult to put pressure on my leg, kind of a funny bone kind of situation.
In the end I just cross using my walking poles straight ahead from the trail in the shallower part of the river.

The climb out takes a little more effort but to be honest it was just a bit of fun.  I'm looking forward to seeing Ropers Hut.  So far the huts in this area have been amazing so I am looking forward to Ropers.

As I walking into the general Ropers Hut area I see someone packing up camp.  I stroll on over to introduce myself.  Mitch is packing up having stayed the night.  Mitch had started the day after we did, but from Walhalla.  Unfortunately on day 2 he tweaked his knee and had to pull out of his end to end adventure.  Having taken some time to recover, and with the time off work already in place he was now  tramping around checking out the huts of the local landscape.  To my surprise he also tells me he has been watching our SPOT tracker online!  That was a cool feeling to meet someone out on the trail that had been following Oz4Adventure.

So Mitch and I hike together for a while, across Warby Corner and below Mt Nelse to the Park.  All morning we can just see across vast mountain ranges.  Mitch is heading off to the Kelly Hut area so we go our separate ways at the Park.

Its not long before I cross the Langford East aqueduct and grab some lunch.  My plan is to stay at Cope Hut so I am travelling well and should be there by about 4pm.  As I continue to follow the aqueduct, which is a easy gravel dirt road, I take some time to check out the great views and little waterfalls coming into the aqueduct.  A couple hours down the trail and I meet the Wallace hut junction.

The AAWT now follows the Wallace's Hut track, John Chapman's updates have this listed but if you don't bring them with you it will surprise you when the track marker takes you up there instead of straight onto Cope's.

Wallace's hut is amazing.  Before I take shots inside the hut I actually take heaps of shots of the toilet.  Although its newer, it has some really great timber workmanship.  So I go into the hut and the floors are amazing, still the old timber floor slabs.  Built in 1889 it is the oldest hut and is still in its original form.  Really amazing.  I find myself really wondering how live would have been back then, these were tough people.  They lived hard, worked hard.... I'm in awe.

I follow the new trail along the Bogong High Plains Road to the Cope Hut Junction.  I head back down the trail to Cope Hut.  Again this place was so awesome.  The bunk beds and the stone fireplace, its just has a really cozy feeling.  Behind the hut there are also newly installed camping pads with awesome views off the back of the summit.  Its actually the first time I have seen these type of platforms.  Although the views would be awesome, I'm not a fan.  They look unnatural in this landscape.

I decide not to sleep at Cope Hut a) because i would want to sleep in the hut which I shouldn't and I could get caught out by a Range as the road is only 500m away and b) Mitch mentioned that weather was coming in tomorrow so I decide to keep going so that my hike into Mt Hotham will be short in the bad weather.

Following the Snow poles along the Bogong High Plains was pretty enjoyable.  Its really wet underfoot through this next 10 kms or so.  The infrastructure is pretty good so that you don't get absolutely bogged.  There are plenty well placed stepping stones to get you across the worst of it.  I am now going to push to Dibbins Hut which will leave me with just 9 kms in the rain tomorrow morning.

I decided to check out the phone coverage as I walk towards Basalt Temple.  I make a couple calls while I have a break.  Its about 5:30pm so I am looking forward to a nice break.  I just sit back for about 30 minutes and enjoy the views and landscapes.  Its not much longer before I am making camp at Dibbins hut.  I must say Dibbins Hut is the spookiest Hut I have come across, I think its because it has no windows and is tucked into the corner of a valley.  Its just wet and dark down here, I set up camp... not sleeping in there!

November 16, 2014 - Day 16

I am hours from a hot shower!  I am hours from a hot shower!  I am hours from a hot shower!

So once I have come to terms with the fact that I am hours from a hot shower, I pack up and get moving.  Its lightly raining, more of a wet fog almost.

I check out Derricks Hut which seems to have had a fresh paint on the exterior of the building lately and then continue on my way.  The wet fog stays with me all the way to hotham.  I'm just going to let the photos tell the story.

The only thing I didn't know was whether anything on the mountain would be open!  Would the post off be open on a Saturday morning?  Its 9:30am as I walk down the highway to the Post office, there is no one up here.  I do see a couple early morning cyclists through the fog....... Its open.  So excited.

I spend about 2 hours at the Post office cafe with my food drop.  Checking and double checking what I have and need.  I think I repacked 3 times.  My brain was just running at 200% it was pretty excited to be here.  It was also the & peaks cycling challenge this weekend so with a cafe full of cyclists I was able to hand out a couple of my Cadel Evans energy bars.  I am starting to get over them.

View from POst Office Cafe

The guys at the Post Office organised a room at Leeton Lodge for me.  $45 per person per night...... a short walk down the road and there I was....eye to eye with a hot shower!  The Leeton lodge was empty.  I had the whole place to myself which was awesome.  The next morning Tim arrived and we just caught up for the day and relaxed.   Tim also brought me a new spork as my plastic one broke.  I enjoyed relaxing but I also felt under pressure that I could be on the track.  Being a Sunday the town is basically closed so it was a quiet day at the Lodge.

View from Leeton Lodge, I will be crossing this range in the next couple days