Start – Hanmer Springs
Finish – Boyle Village
Daily Distance – 0 km
TA Distance – 2095 km
I guess I did exhaust my hitching luck yesterday after all.
A slightly frustrating, unplanned zero day today. My plan to hitch back to the trail at some point around
mid-morning was delayed until early afternoon as I lost track of time catching up with people I ran into
around town. Not a big problem as I hadn’t planned to walk too far today anyway, just a quick 10-15km.
What I hadn’t accounted for in my planning was the length of time it would take me to get back to the
trail. Including driving time, the journey that took me to Hanmer in 40 minutes, took 3.5 hours to do in
reverse. By the time I eventually returned to the trail it was dinner time and really too late to start
walking. I had also had to deal with the stress of having the police pull over to talk to me and my eventual
hitch driver enquiring, by way of greeting, if I had any weed as driving with a joint is the best way to
drive! Mildly concerning on both counts. Fortunately the police were just checking I had enough water,
rather than preparing to bust me for breaking some law about hitching on state highways, and my driver
turned out to be far less stoned than he would have liked. All in all, could have been worse.
While it was a pain to get back, I don’t regret going to Hanmer Springs as it is a lovely little town. While
the 30° temperatures put me off visiting the hot springs, I nevertheless found time to eat lavishly and just
sit quietly under shady trees to rest from the trail for a while. The next section is another long 6-8 day leg,
so another tiring week is on the cards.
