Day 10 – Tidal River Zero Day

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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 geocaches. By the time we’re done, the visitor centre is open and they point us to a temporary store that has been erected. They do hot food, too!

We spend the rainy morning doing laundry, reading. I check out the just-released program for the Canberra Writer’s Festival. Eventually Robyn leaps up and yells “let’s go for a walk!”

So blissfully packless, we wander up to Tidal Overlook on the Pillar Point track. There are spectacular views, and oh so many orchids. The sun comes out and glints off the wet scrub.

The day that started off so maudlin has turned to blue skies and wonder. We drop down to Squeaky Beach. I feel like I’ve been here before. I shoot a text off to my mum who confirms we came here for a weekend when I was about six. She remembers the car alarm kept going off all weekend.

The sand is still squeaky.

Surrounded by astounding beauty, I feel pensive. There are only a few days remaining, and the idea of reaching South Point is lurking in the back of my mind. A full stop at the end of this part of my walking life, or a semi-colon leading in to other things?

Back at the campground we sit in the shelter outside the shiny new visitor centre and cook dinner. Robyn reads out loud the coroner’s report of the death of Celine Cremer, whose remains were found at Philosopher Falls in Tasmania two days before I began my hike down there. I can’t help but imagine how incredibly scared she must have been.

As Friday afternoon fades to evening, cars and caravans trickle in, tyres crunching on gravel, and empty lots begin to fill up. I go to bed to the background chorus of laughter and occasional loud bursts of off-key singing. Intermittently, on the other side of the park, a car alarm keeps blaring off and being silenced.