25.6km +530m -617m Feeling somewhat refreshed after twelve hours in the hammock. A beautiful, if somewhat misty and damp dawn. It was a nice enough walk along the Port Phillip trail (though I think we’re some distance from Port Phillip) and mosquito creek trail. The weather is perfect for walking. After Ghost Gully campground the trail becomes less open and the forest provides nice shade. Rod had...
16.7km +393m -419m Another cold morning, though not as bad as the one before. I was packed up and twiddling my thumbs while I waited for Rod to get his shit together. The first few kilometres were unremarkable, though the sky was clear and blue and the temperature quickly climbed to a very pleasant mildness. Open plains and rolling hills and the occasional copse of snow gums. It’s a long walk...
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. This flat worm looks mighty round. It didn’t take long before we made it back...
10.94km +377m -170m Got driven out to Kiandra by Tim (thanks bro!) and started walking south. It’s good to be back on the track. The wind is strong but not annoyingly so, and just cool enough to counter the warming effect of hiking. Rod, who you may remember from such adventures as “the time two idiots walked a stupid distance mostly together” decided he loved the AAWT so much he’s doing the ⅔ of...
I’ve created two routes for the AAWT that can be loaded into one’s GPS app of choice; one that describes the route more or less along official lines and the other that captures all the side trips suggested by Chapman. I’ve also finished re-doing my GPS waypoints for the walk (all 399 of them!), based on my own experience from last year and Chapman’s notes. This includes...
I’ve got a big post about hiking nutrition on the back-burner, but for now here’s a video mostly about a new windshield design I came up with, and a quick overview of my cook kit.
Coros watch: 777.16km +31,594m -32,096m GaiaGPS: 761.2km +33,673m -33,404m (including Hotham hitchhike and Thredbo chairlift) It’s simple really. You put one foot in front of the other. As much as possible, you make sure your body has the food and water it needs to keep doing that day after day. You protect the body from injury and disaster so that it can keep doing it. You do this until you...
16.52km +336m -803m A clear, mild night with the stars all shining bright, and the moon didn’t rise until late, and a chorus of birdsong to bring in the morning. Some friendly campers loaned me a phone charging cable last night, averting disaster. Mount Tennent, the last peak on the walk (we go over the saddle) beyond which lies the visitors centre and their freezer of assorted ice creams. The...
38.33km +1390m -1777m Two paths diverged in the woods, and I took the one with the clearly defined trail markers and cairns, because the other one is like, probably a wombat trail and goes through blackberries or some shit. I woke at 3:30 to climb Mount Bimberi by moonlight and head lamp. The track is fairly indistinct in the dark, and the rocky footpad doesn’t make for the easiest walking, but I...
33.31km +884m -736m Another foggy morning. Things are starting to look familiar. Starting to look suspiciously like the old tramping grounds. And once the fog burned away, the first real day of clear skies and sun that I can remember in forever. I decided that even though I won’t do my planned loop, I will do an out-and-back to check out Blue Waterholes since the weather is so nice. It adds an...
29.86km +544m -578m The sun is out! Photo by Rod We tried crossing the Murrumbidgee at the regular spot, but quickly decided nahfuckthis. We walked upstream a few hundred meters to these rapids: Which we tried to cross, but quickly decided it wasn’t worth dying for. Fuck you for making me get my boots wet for nothing, you overgrown creek We diverted across country to the Snowy hwy, then down Long...
27.34km +536m -781m Just a short walk to Kiandra. We decided to cut across country and shave 3km or so off the distance back to the trail. Resupply at Kiandra. Being the last one through has its perks: Thanks Ron and Jimmy for all the uneaten treats! Also in the hut last night were hikers Cameron and Jane from Dunedin in NZ. Jane is doing the AAWT southbound and her husband Cameron is supporting...
