Distance: 13.5kmElevation: +300m -450mTime: 3:00Total Distance: 13.5km Perfectly edible. Not a disappointment. -Robyn’s review of the fish and chips at Lake’s Entrance. [This hike is being done for depression and anxiety. Some awesome people do big walks to raise awareness or funding for organisations combatting mental illness. I’m taking matters into my own hands and cutting out the middle man.]...
Distance: 35kmElevation: +400m -500mTime: 9 hoursTotal Distance: 48.5km Let’s just keep walking? What a beautiful place to wake up. Magpies and kookaburras ring in the dawn chorus along with some less musical but no less joyous ducks. Any morning chill is tempered by how warm it is compared to Canberra. In the light of morning we can see that we’ve camped twenty metres from an idea site with a...
Distance: 5kmElevation: +40m -30mTime: 1.5 hrsTotal Distance: 53.5km So you guys are carrying tents and everything? What do you do if it rains? In the night I hear the skitter of small claws on the timber decking of the bridge above. My guess is foxes. If there’s a sunrise, it’s hidden behind wreaths of mist and moody clouds. We skip breakfast and coffee, clear the slugs from our shoes, and set...
Distance: 23kmElevation: +280m -200mTime: 5.5hrsTotal Distance: 76.5km Where yous guys walken to? Wilson’s Prom! Oh fuck yeas! The stay at the Black Bull motel is very comfortable, with clean and well appointed rooms. We start the day with a very nice continental breakfast. The Greek yoghurt and berries alone garner an 8.5/10 Beef Wellingtons score. The proprietor wishes us well as we heft packs...
Distance: 18.5kmElevation: +750m -150mTime: 4.5hrsTotal Distance: 95km C: I’m just happy to be here. R: [Distractedly] A bridge! C: I don’t think I can make that sentence any shorter… We wake to chill winds and overcast skies. A pair of kookaburras still patrol the periphery of the campground. No point rushing, it’s going to be a short day. We follow the track as it winds up the river valley...
Distance: 27.5kmElevation: +300m -850mTime: 7.5hrsTotal Distance: 122.5km It’s not all waterfalls and bakeries. Sometimes it’s straight roads and sunshine. A beautiful morning breaks and you can tell right away it’s going to be blue skies and a mild warm day. Perfect walking weather. From the visitor centre we follow the Forest Trk for a scenic detour to start the day. We are sung to as we walk...
Distance: 27.5kmElevation: +40m -40mTime: 7hrsTotal Distance: 150km The improbable adventures of Christopher Robyn. One last look around reveals my missing sock hiding in a garden bed by the laundry. I return it lovingly to the fold. We head to Yarram bakery cafe too early for breakfast rolls so we get cheesecake and vanilla slice instead. You can do that sort of thing when you’re burning 3000...
Distance: 22.5kmElevation: +40m -40mTime: 5.5hrsTotal Distance: 172km What’s the most important thing about telling a joke timing I cut my snake bandage in half and use it for a makeshift compression brace. Let’s see how that goes. We walk over to the café and “supermarket” for breakfast. 9/10. With bellies full and rain gear donned, we stride out into the morning drizzle like a couple of hard...
Distance: 30kmElevation: +150m -150mTime: 7hrsTotal Distance: 202km Pffft, René Descartes; what does he know? I brought camp shoes with me to have another try and see if I like them. They’re bulky and weigh 170g, and I’ve used them once. I ditch them with the other orphans by the bins. Every bit helps. We head into town for breakfast at one of the cafés. The day is shaping up to be gorgeous...
Distance: 37kmElevation: +400m -400mTime: 9.5hrsTotal Distance: 239km Ouch! Why does boiling water have to be so hot? –Robyn Sad sad news from the real world to start the day. As we were setting up camp last night we chatted with a guy who’s just finishing an eleven month lap of Australia with his wife and two young kids. Crazy what some people will do. Took a photo just in case we get lost. We...
Distance: 10km We start the day with yet more bad news; Robyn’s friend Ginger has taken ill and won’t be joining us for the next few days as planned. Also the general store is closed for renovations, its delicious gooey centre temporarily out of reach of the trail-famished hiker. Thankfully we weren’t banking on resupply here. We’re gutted. We go for a little walk around the park to collect some...
Distance: 23kmElevation: +700m -700mTime: 6.5hrsTotal Distance: 262km Gaiters are like a warm hug for your calves We pack up and hang around until the store opens, then enjoy hat coffee, hash browns and potato scallop-cakes on our way out of the campground. The next few days probably involve more elevation than the rest of the walk combined. In the peak season there’s a shuttle bus that runs to...
Distance: 24kmElevation: +1200m -1100mTime: 7.5hrsTotal Distance: 286km Well, it doesn’t look like a lot of elevation. –C I wake before dawn with my tarp pitched high and watch the rising glow of daylight spread across the cove from the comfort of my hammock. We eat breakfast on the steps above the beach. I can think of few nicer ways to start the day. We’ve got a 22km, 1200m day ahead of us;...
Distance: 25kmElevation: +600m -700mTime: 7hrsTotal Distance: 311km Oh no. What is it? Oh no… What??? I think the line goes to Cape York. We wake in the dark, assemble, and set off southward through the bush by the light of our headlamps. The track is well made, but we still stumble a bunch over shadowy roots and rocks in our haste. The lights of a container ship drift through the shipping lane...
