25km +545m -793m
It was not six degrees last night. I don’t know what it was, but it was frosty in the morning. In light of that, I think I did a decent job of not being especially cold during the night. Having my cold weather quilt might have been nice though.
A beautiful dawn, and we were walking by not long after 7.
It didn’t take long before we made it back to Kiandra and Rod’s food drop. There was a whole extra drop of food that would have been for his son, and I picked through the offerings. I knew this would be the situation before I came out, so I didn’t bother packing all the food I’d need.
After resupply and Rod scoffing down his celebratory tin of spam, we walked through the old township of Kiandra, down to the Eucumbene.
Where I got to put my newest invention through its first trial. A pair of lightweight waders made of 1oz sil and tyvek soles. They weigh 90g together and allow me to wade streams without removing my shoes (dangerous and painful) or having to get my boots soaked. I’ll try to remember to update this post later with the video Rod took of me crossing the proper river a few meters further on.
It’s good to be walking with Rod again, though having spent the last two weeks hiking up from Victoria, he’s in slightly better shape than I am. The 25km today was pretty rough. We did pass through some beautiful open plains and some gorgeous eucalypt forest, some of which looks like it may not have burned in twenty years.
There are much fewer horses than last year, though they’re still around. It’s good to see that the cull has had such a noticeable effect.
I was starting to feel it by the time we got to Witzes hut. They say the second day of any decent hike is usually the hardest. Certainly that was true for Rod, having lost his son that day.
Just sitting down to cook dinner brought out a slew of aches. I’m looking forward to a good ten or eleven hours in blissful comfort in my hammock, and hopefully a warmer night.
Tomorrow will likely be much shorter, with Rod only intending 17km, but we do have to cross the Murrumbidgee.
