Start – Hamilton Hut
Finish – Harper Road Campground
Daily Distance – 19 km
TA Distance – 2251 km
Manly experiment to push through the early morning cold: successful.
Execution of basic skills like walking without falling over: suboptimal.
Well that hurt! Less than 500m after leaving the hut and I’m face down, sprawled in the dirt and clutching
my ankle. The easiest path of the day and I can’t manage to safety navigate it without firing up my oaf
gene and spraining an ankle! At least there aren’t still 19km to walk, oh wait…
Fortunately today’s route provided free healthcare like an alpine NHS. With several score river crossings
my ankle received frequent icing to keep swelling at bay. My toes turning numb from the cold was less
desirable, but one problem at a time. I have also been fortunate that much of the terrain has been
unusually gentle today. It has still been a slog, but with frequent ice baths (even when I really wanted
them to stop) and greater attention about where I’m sticking my feet I have survived the day with only
mild pain and no further mishap. Tomorrow is a 30km road walk, so easy terrain again, which is great. It
was a perfectly flat path that I failed to negotiate this morning though, hmm…
In brighter news I am camped less than 2km from lake Coleridge. I took a walk over earlier and it is
stunning. I have rarely seen water of such a perfect azure blue. Even better a boat pulled up nearby and
the owner jogged over with an unexpected question. “Are you ok with puppies?”. Well, as it happens I
rather am! Queue a 3 month old German Shepherd puppy bounding out to play on the beach. I have never
met a dog called Bruce before, but he was a true sweetheart. Even if he did have an obsession with trying
to chew all of my things, me and cover my camera lens in slobber. From lying in the dirt to ending the
day covered in dog hairs. Washing day can’t come soon enough.
