This morning I leave for three days and 1700km of driving around the alps, hiding food caches in the bush. I’m beginning to get the feeling that it might be too late for second-guessing.
I’ve teamed up with two other solo hikers to do our food drops together and share the fuel costs. Ron gave me his caches last week (with all the trepidation of a man handing over his beloved first born) and set off to start his walk. He’ll meet us at the first drop location at Rumpff saddle, having walked six days to get there.
Doug is joining me for the drive, starting here in Canberra. We’ll put food caches in at Kiandra, Thredbo, Benambra-Corryong rd, Mt Hotham and Rumpff. After this, I’ll drop him in Walhalla to start his own walk, and I’ll drive back to Canberra (taking the scenic route through Bairnsdale and Bombala) before taking the train down and bringing up the rear like some sort of tardy laggard.
(Evening)
A long day of driving through some amazing country. We took the back road to Kiandra (Boboyan road) and saw many wallabies, as well as the Namadgi visitors centre and Mount tenant where we will each end our individual walks in some weeks’ time. Before long the road markings turned yellow, signifying Kosciusko park and the increased need for snow precautions. In Kiandra we carefully stowed our caches, being mindful to make sure both that we can find them again, and that they won’t be stumbled upon.
Shortly after leaving Kiandra, the low oil light came on in the Subaru. Turns out the dipshit who changed the oil yesterday was distracted and forgot to replace the oil fill cap, causing a litre of synthetic to spray throughout the engine bay. Luckily the dipshit keeps a spare bottle of oil in the boot and the filler cap was still sitting on top of the battery. No harm done, and cleaning that is a job for December Chris.
We hit Thredbo and left our caches in trustworthy hands there, then continued along the Alpine Way, first west then north, through ferny alpine forest and dramatic cutaways made for the road. We saw parts of the snowy hydro project.
Then turned down the Benambra-Corryong road. Much of this is twisty, turny dirt, but with care one could certainly drive a low clearance 2wd down it. The Subaru lapped it up. A feral deer crossed the road before cameras could be readied.
We made camp for the night at Gibbo River Bush Camping, which as far as I can tell is just a big grassy area near the river where off-roaders sometimes come to get bogged. Doug showed off his new self-made ultralight tent, and I showed off my hammock and self-made quilts, and we both made the appropriate noises of appreciation that can only come from one that recognises that even if the seams aren’t straight, this represents significant effort and skill.
Bed time is 8pm. More driving tomorrow.
