AAWT Day 27: Orroral River to Namadgi Visitors Centre, 684.1km (22km today)

Before I take off to New Zealand to tackle the Dusky Track I had better close out this AAWT adventure.

It was a wild night at the Orroral River camp with raging storm cells over the nearby peaks. Lightning continued to intermittently light up the inside of my tent followed by the loud cracks and rumbles of thunder rolling over the hills throughout the night. Rain came and went. Not so bad down in a valley. I’ve often thought about how much of a lightning rod my tent pole (aka trekking pole) would be if camped up high during a storm. They are aluminium though and I don’t think they are much of a conductor for lightning. Still I’m not keen to try and find out.

With only 22km to reach the end of the AAWT it would take just half a day to complete and I was in no rush. Plenty of time on my hands. Light rain was easing as I rose for the day, lounging back in bed over breakfast listening to it patter down and opening up one tent door to vent any condensation from the inside. By the time I had finished my coffee the rain had completely ceased, with only larger drips consolidated on tree leaves above still falling. This brought me chance to get my camp packed up without the wet stuff falling from the sky. Of course my tent would remain wet and be packed up that way but it wouldn’t matter as I could dry it in town later today. The last tent pack up on track.

From camp I had a large hill to contend with straight away, one of only three I would have to climb for the day. It was slow work uphill. Still very humid and with sufficient rain to justify wearing my rain jacket it would be one step at a time instead of a straight up charge, to limit the amount of sweat that would inevitably pour out and risk saturating my shirt from the inside.

Everything is incredibly smelly. My clothes, shoes and socks, pack straps and particularly the same old shirt I’d been wearing for a montb with all the built up layers of sweat that would subsequently dry, leaving a line if salt crystals around the collar. I can smell the reek under my rain jacket and the stench has started to embed itself into my jacket as well. Yuck. One last time I would have to wear it before a solid wash in town, maybe two washes. I had my thermal top in the top of my pack to change into once I hit town to present a still dirty yet way less smelly version of myself for the unfortunate soul who would pick me up at Namadgi.

Originally I had a ride arranged with Chris Baxter but given I was going to be a day early and was able contact him with the limited phone reception to cancel it. I wasn’t quite sure how I’d get to town from the trail head but I’d work it out later. For now, my eyes were on reaching the end.

Showers of rain came and went through the morning and I had the umbrella out most of the time, keeping my head and top half dry, allowing me to undo the top portion of my jacket to get some air flow happening. It was still so humid.

At around 10am I walked into the Honeysuckle Camp Site. It was still raining and I was keen for a break so made for the large shelter to seek some cover for a while and see if it would pass. No phone reception to bring up the rain radar though. It was here I saw a tent set up under the shelter and met Jane & Cameron.

Jane was one day into the start of her AAWT adventure with husband Cameron and a car fully stocked for six weeks to follow her around as a support crew. We got talking straight away. They had just finished a breakfast cook up on the free BBQ and before I could get another word in the offer of a bacon and egg roll was on the table. There is no way to refuse that. It hit the spot perfectly and I was so grateful. Completely unexpected.

We spent a solid 40 minutes or so talking away. Both retired now, with many different trips under their belts, adventures from all over the place came up. They were from Dunedin in New Zealand which obviously segued into discussing the Dusky Track which they had completed in the past. Many good tips shared with me.

With a full belly and in a chipper mood I moved on to complete the final 13km or so. Not far away from Honeysuckle it started to pour and the umbrella was a constant feature in my hand for the rest of the day. Much of the single track was encroached by head high vegetation as well, saturating my whole bottom half as I pushed through it, often using my trekking poles out front to knock branches and send as much water flying to the ground before I brushed past. Wet but warm, I didn’t really care. The only thing really on my mind now was to reach the end as fast as possible.

Just before the final hill climb of the day I came across two separate couples headed south bound, day one of their trips. We stopped to chat in the rain for a few minutes. Congratulations went around on nearing the end and I gave them the run down on the sections ahead. I did have some concerns with the younger couple in their 20’s I would guess. They were obviously taking an ultralight approach to their trip based on the gear they had with them, which I highly encourage, but I did note their only rain protection on display at that time were light emergency type rain ponchos. I hope they had something a bit more substantial but didn’t ask, as the ponchos were going to get chewed up on the section I’d just come through. Damn, I thought I was ultralight. These punks were the new school for sure. Trust it all goes well for them.

They bid me farewell as I launched into the final climb of the AAWT, which after walking 675km or so didn’t feel like much of a hill at all. On a typical day at the top of the climb Canberra can clearly be see with the recognisable telstra tower on top of Black Mountain standing out. Unfortunately the only view I was treated to was a wall of low lying cloud and 100m visibility.

From the top I only had around 4km to go, all down hill. This sounded pleasant and easy. It was anything but. Most of the way down would be on steps constructed from local rock. A significant amount of work and money had gone into constructing these steps but whenever I encounter such steps I find them horrible. Invariably they seem to be spaced too far apart and too tall, jolting my knees as I move down them. I know other hikers out there know exactly what I’m talking about. Steps don’t allow for a natural stride and I often see (and use) new tracks forming around human made steps where a natural foot placement is possible. Whenever I encounter a hill, either up or down, baby steps are the way to go. Constructed rock steps didn’t allow for that and while so close to the end of the track I really wasn’t enjoying this section down at all. The lack of views in the cloud probably didn’t help either. I imagined on a clear day the views would be amazing based on all the rock features I was being led through.

Taking my time on the steps with slow and deliberate foot placements and using my poles to take as much pressure off the knee jolts as possible. I made it to the bottom. The ground finally flattened out and I strolled towards the Namadgi Visitors Centre, finding the last (or first depending on direction) trail marker and taking a selfie. I was done! I had successfully completed a long held desire to hike the entire 680km length.

This track sure did challenge me along the way and I was super pleased to have stuck it out. There were sections that truly sucked but the memories of these never really last. Its the blue bird days, with clear views and or an epic ascent of a peak that stick with you.

With a huge smile from ear to ear I entered the visitors centre to sign my name into the trail register, received a certificate of completion and a trail marker from the staff their. That is it trail done.

I quickly changed into some leas smelly clothes and called a cab, which surprisingly came within 10 minutes. Before I knew it I was whisked away to the Mont store in Canberra to purchase some pants, t-shirt, new shoes and socks. There was no way I was getting on a plane wearing the stinking trail runners I had but I’d have to make them last another 85km on the Dusky Track next week. They had barely stood up to the AAWT and would no doubt be shredded after the Dusky. The staff at the shop were massively impressed I’d come straight from the trail head to their store and went out of their way to look after me, offering up their bathroom to get cleaned up in, a pair of scissors to remove tags so I could walk out in my new gear and a huge discount off purchased items. Thank you so much.

Now in town and off track, from here, I lay low in Canberra for a few days, rest, eat, catch up with friends (and this blog) before heading over to the next challenge in New Zealand – the Dusky Track. So stay tuned for a new blog series very soon.

Happy trails.