We did it. 450 kilometers plus or minus. We're both gob-smacked. You could knock us down with a feather although that may be more due to the celebratory beers and ciders we had for lunch than anything else! We never actually thought we could make it all the way, just that we would give it our best shot and it was going to be a hell of an adventure just extricating ourselves from whatever trouble we got into anyway! So here we are in Mt. Hotham at the Asgaard Lodge sleeping off that lunch we've been dreaming of since we left Thredbo. The damage has been surprisingly light - my toes are permanently numb (well, temporarily I hope), Lee has a sore knee, I have many blackberry scratches and puncture wounds and we are both liberally dotted with extremely itchy March and Horse Fly bites, but that's all. We've lost weight but none that we couldn't spare! We certainly didn't go back looking for it though we may have found some of it in the pub at lunch time! Lee had a warm chicken salad and of course I had a hamburger and chips. Both were delicious.
Today's walk was mainly an up hill jaunt, 440 m climbed over a distance of 8.5 km. We left camp at 6:45 and were in Hotham by 11. There was no fog today only sunshine so we got some stunning views back across the Bogong High Plains and across the ranges we'd walked to the east.
When we said good-bye to the couple at the camp they surprised me by congratulating us, as did some walkers we met near Hotham. Suddenly it dawned on us that we'd done something pretty awesome. No medals and no offers of peerage will come (though I've always thought Sir Brian had a nice ring) but we are pleased as punch anyway.
