Sick of waiting Nov 30

Monday morning and we're still at Macalister Springs. The rain and fog
has kept us here, although several school groups have gone through,
but we want the views. Anyway, if it smartens up at all we'll be off
today.

While here we met a lot of people, including a group of 40 year old
guys, Stuart, Pete, Andrew and Richard who were fantastic to us,
shared their wine and beer and chocolate with us, would have cooked a
steak for us and gave us lots of food when they walked out. The food
was great to eak out our dwindling supplies.

6 days to Hotham.

Batteries low and no sun for the Solio charger, so you may not hear
more until Hotham.

Macalister Springs Nov 25

Today's walk was brilliant! We are now in one of Victoria's bush
walking Meccas, so the tracks are well tramped and navigation is easy.
The views from Mt. Magdala and Mt Howitt were spectacular. We got our
usual early start and arrived at Macalister Springs at 2 PM.

Lee took panadine (paracetemal+codine) as well as the
anti-inflammatorys and tied her boot less tightly at the back and she
had a much better day. We are running low on anti-inflammatorys but we
met a journalist on Mt. Howitt who had some out at Mt. Howitt car
park, 4 km from the hut so we got 14 from her, enough to let us finish
the walk.

Vallegjo Gantner hut at Macalister Springs was built in 1971. It was
architect designed and is very flash even though the roof leaks a bit.
It's raining probably until Sunday, so we've claimed a corner of the
loft and we are going to rest Lee's heal and my blisters until the
rain stops. Luckily we've accumulated food and some was given to us so
we can afford to stay. Sadly this will cause all of our books to be
empty, but w won't have to carry them to Mt. Hotham.

12.4 km total, 985m climb, 785m descent

Chester's Yard Nov 24

Today was a hard one. We had 2 km of 4 wheel drive track, 10 km of
walking track then 3 km of 4 wheel drive track. Some of the walking
track was good, some was very bad with a steep side slop and lots of
fallen trees. This walk is even tougher than I expected and I knew it
would be tough. At one stage I spit the dummy and yelled at Lee that
it was beyond our capabilities and too tough and that we should pull
out at Macalister Springs.

The forest is more open here, and the views from Mt. Clear were fantastic.

Chester's Yard is a small clearing with a nice stream running through
it so no walk to get water.

Lee's heal pain seems even worse today, so we will limp into
Macalister springs and if it doesn't improve with a days rest we will
try to bum a ride out. When we did the food drop there, lots of people
were around. It's 4-5 km from a reasonable road.

15.1 km walked, 855m climb, 645m descent.

Nobs Track Nov 23

The rain stopped and we woke to clear skies.

The day started with about 6 km of foot track so we were dreading a
repeat of the horrible bush we walked through yesterday. It turned out
to be a very nice walk up to Mt. MacDonald. The views from there were
spectacular.

We then had some ridge top walking that was slow going for us. We
ended up at a grassy saddle on Nobs Track where we are camped. Water
is 1.3 kms away South down Nobs Track.

Lee's heal is still sore. We are contemplating pulling out at
Macalister Springs if it doesn't come good.

Distance 10.8 km, climb 815m, descent 440m.

Low Saddle Nov 22

We rose early, worried about Lee's heal and the 17 km walk in front of
us. It rained most of the night and most of the rest of the day.

The walk up to Mt. Sunday was beautiful although in the misty clouds
we couldn't see much. We made it there in 5 hours for that 14 kms.
With 3 kms to go and that down hill we thought we'd match Chapman's
time of 6.5 hours total.

The 3 kms down from Mt Sunday was a nightmare however. The track was
heavily overgrown with fire regrowth. The difficulty was compounded by
the rain. It took us 3 hours! It seems 1 kph is our speed in that sort
of crap. It spoiled a good day.

17 km walked, 715m climb, 1110m descent.

Rumpf Saddle Nov 21

Rest day.

Lee rested her heal and I went up the Barkley Jeep track to the
Jamieson-Licola road to retrieve our food drop.
250m climb, 250m descent, 1.5 km.

Rumpf Saddle Nov 20

Our wading in the Black River yesterday didn't locate any trace of the
AAWT so we picked a spot where the spur came close to the river as our
departure spot. This was about 1/2 km down stream from our camp. The
regrowth after the 06-07 fires looked pretty thick on the spur so we
got up at 4 AM and breakfasted and packed in the dark. We were ready
to wade down to the spur as soon as we had enough light to see the
river bottom. By 7 AM we had filtered our water and set off up the
spur. We took 5 litres each as the weather was still hot and our climb
for the day was 1.2 km.

The regrowth on the spur was bad. Dogwood 2 m high and thick bracken
made walking very hard even though the track was up a very old fire
break and there was a faint foot track from time to time. We had
roughly 6 km of mostly steep climb or descent in this before getting
to Macmillan's track and easier walking. We stopped for lunch at 11
and had numerous rest stops but that 6 kms took us 6 hours and left us
pretty buggered.

Macmillan's track took us to the Jamieson-Licola road which we
followed to Middle Ridge road. Here we were meant to do some more
mountain climbing but Chapman suggested taking Middle Ridge road in
bad our dry weather. We felt the heat constituted bad weather and Lee
was limping with heal pain. We arrived at Rumpf Saddle about 5 PM too
tired to go looking for water so we set up our tent and had a dry
supper. Rain started soon after we got the tent up.

1.2 km climb, ??400m descent, 15.7 km.

It was a day we'd rather forget but will remember with dread forever.

Black River Nov 19

It was 20 degrees at 5 AM when we woke so we knew it would be a hot
day. That's a hot night when you are over 1100m altitude.

Leaving Fiddler's Green on the Mt. Selma road we climbed steadily to
the Champion Spur track. From there it was an undulating track until
we had a steep descent into the Black River. We saw our fourth snake
of the walk on the Champion Spur track. We followed the Champion Spur
and link track rather than the official route down the Black River
track and when we saw the state of the river upstream from where we
hit it we were very glad we did. You have to follow the river for
about a kilometer by that route and it is just a huge log jam about 3
m thick. There was a flood after the 06-07 fires and it must have
piled up all the fallen trees.

The camp site is small and had no shade all afternoon so we moved from
shade to shade until 6 PM when we could finally put up our tent. We
were going to have a rest day here but the lack of shade has put us
off.

We spent a good hour wading in the river looking for tomorrow's track
out. We found no track, but identified the spur it should be on, so
we'll have a go at following that, unless it's 20 degrees again. If
it's going to be really hot we may stay here as we can cool off in the
river.
(we left at 6 AM)

Fiddler's Green Nov 18

Located high on a long spur, Fiddler's Green is a small open area with
some grass where people camp. We don't really like it a lot, but the
next camp site we know of is a days walk away! Oh well.

We left a food drop here along with 10 liters of water so no filtering
to do tonight. No nice bath either!

We took the Victor Spur track out of Red Jacket, avoiding the official
track through the forest which Chapman claims is poorly defined. This
met with the Matloch-Walhalla road and the the Mt. Selma road which
got us to Fiddler's Green. The temperature is about 24 and there is a
nice cool breeze.

Until now, we've been walking through nice snow gum or mountain ash
forest. We are now in forest burnt in 2006-07 so not as much shade and
not as pretty. The plus side to that is any new fire will not be too
bad and we may survive!

Our total distance was about 15 km, climb 840m, descent 200 m. We are
at about 1100m altitude. We are 82.7 km from Walhalla. We are missing
beer, cider and hot showers.

Red Jacket Nov 17

Today's walk took us over the divide between the Thomson River and the
Jordan River, a climb of 675 m and a descent of 640m over 11.8 km. We
climbed two peaks in the process, Little Easton 931m and Easton 992m.
The first 3 km was along old, steep fire break and included the two
peaks. I should have photographed the fire break, in places it was a
tangle of fallen trees that we had to crawl over. Some of the climb
was nicer though, open forest and not as steep. Once on top we were on
fire roads and the walking was easy until a very steep descent to the
Violet town track.

I keep forgetting to mention that the AAWT is on Google Earth. If you
search for Red Jacket, Victoria, you will find us! I traced the track
all the way to Mt. Hotham before we started, but it would be hard to
do without the guide, as where it follows roads, it is called the road
name instead of the Australian Alps Walking Trail. If you want to try,
start in Walhalla.

Red Jacket, Blue Jacket, Violet Town and Jericho were part of the
Jordan gold fields found in the 1880's. There is lots of big sluiced
areas and other diggings evident. There is also an old grave yard with
3 marble grave stones still existing.

Descriptions of the camp site weren't favorable but it's the best
river camp site so far. Hardly any mozzies (big surprise), a lovely
river burbling away beside our tent and it was cool but sunny. When we
arrived, there was 15 cm trout jumping out of the water feeding on
insects. There is a nice pool too so we had a swim. We washed our
clothes again as there is lots of water. We carry two so called
kitchen sinks for this purpose. They are water proof collapsible
canvas buckets. Just part of the 20+ kg we have on our backs ever day!

Thomson River south of Easton Dam, Nov 16

Today we started our walk on a trail through the forest past some
clear felled logged areas and then on to old logging roads. According
to Chapman we did a 90m climb, 770m descent over a distance of 11.8
km. Chapman estimated 5 hours for this and we took about 1/2 hour
less. About the last 2 km of the descent was very steep on the Trig
Point Track and then we were on Park Road followed by the Thomson
Jordan Divide Road. These took us 1 km past the Easton Dam to our camp
site on the Thomson River. Crossing the river was a bit testing as the
log bridge had been washed 2 meters down stream and flood debris was
piled at each end.

No hip or knee problems today, possibly thanks to anti-inflammatory.

The camp on the Thomson River was a bit hot as it is only at 480 m
elevation. There are a lot of mozzies here too. We had a good bath and
washed our clothes.

Sronach's Camp Nov 15

No phone reception here.

The AAWT crosses the Thomson Valley Road at Stronach's Camp. The walk
today started out quite overgrown but after about 4.5 kms it turned
into quite a nice grassy fire break track. It was a pleasant stroll of
9 kms with 420m descent and 145m climb. Chapman alows 4 hours, we did
it in 3.5 so our fitness is improving. No hip trouble today but some
outside knee pain which also could be ilio-tibial related. This is
another common complaint at the start of a walk. We are religious with
our stretching. Hopefully anti-inflammatory pills and jell and this
afternoons rest will do the trick. A big down hill jaunt to the
Thomson River tomorrow.

Whitelaws Hut Site Nov 14

Chapman says this hut was built as part of a series of huts along the
newly formed Alpine Trail for the purpose of getting people out
walking and riding horses. It burnt to the ground in the 1939 bush
fires. There is a concrete chimney remaining and plenty of water in a
little stream about 50m away through scratchy shrubs. Why no one has
cleared an adequate path to the water is beyond me. It can't really be
more ecologically sound to have hundreds of people breaking their own
trails in.

Broke camp early, 7:08 and had a pleasant short walk to here. The
track is still overgrown from the Baw Baw village turn off onwards,
but some clipping had been done and we found our way easier than last
time and it only took us 2 3/4 hours vs. The 3 the guide book says.
The knee to shoulder high scrub slows you down!

It felt like we could have easily done twice as much, but we are
sticking to the plan, using easy days to walk into fitness. No hip
pain today and the blisters are healing.

It has clouded over since 2 PM, so we may get rain tonight, though
none is forecast.

6.7 km, 235m descent, 175m climb.

Mt.St. Gwinear still

Due to the blisters and hip pain (which is fine today) we brought
forward our rest day from tomorrow. Hopefully that will settle it
right down.
This is our favorite campsite in the Baw Baws. It is a small alpine
meadow surrounded by snow gums. There is usually water in a small hole
but that's dry right now, so we have to go 50 m down off the ridge to
the head of a creek to get it. That pool is kind of scungy like an old
cow trough, but we have to filter the water anyway due to the chance
of giardia.

We are not feeling so stiff today so perhaps our bodies are adapting
to hoiking 20+ kg packs up mountains!

This could be the last entry for a while because phone reception will
be hit and miss from here on.

Mt. St. Gwinear turnoff

Today's walk was a steep climb of about 275m to the summit of Mt.
Erica and then a rambling stroll down well maintained track to one of
our favorite camp sites about 1/2 km short 0f the Mt. St. Gwinear turn
off. We'd walked in a food drop to the junction before the walk so we
retrieved that from it's hiding place and then had a nice snooze. I've
now got a blister on my heal and a sore hip where my ilio-tibial band
crosses it, so even the short 'easy' days we've planned are taking
their toll. I've taken ibuprofen and put some Voltaren jell on it.
This is a common ailment for me on the first few days of a walk and
then it goes away, so I hope this time is the same.

It's much cooler now that we are sub-alpine and rather than a
half-hearted breeze we've got a nice cool wind. Delicious!

Today's walk was about 9km, with 450m climb and 200m descent.

Mushroom Rocks Correction

distance traveled 8.9 km ,climb 775m guide book time was to car park,
it's another 1.3 km to Mushroom Rocks and 100m climb.

Mushroom Rocks

It cooled off quickly last night and we got reasonable sleeps in spite
of Lee having to get up 3 times in the night. All that re-hydrating I
guess. So we got a good early start, about 7:30 and beating the heat.
The track out of O'shea's was very steep, taking us up a spur and then
straight up the hill to the Mt. Erica road. We then were on the Erica
road for about 4 kms. It too is fairly steep but not as bad as the
fire track we were just on. We stopped for a break at the picnic table
at the Mt. Erica car park, then headed on up the trail towards Mt.
Erica. Mushroom Rocks is about 1.7 kms along. The rocks are large
granite boulders about half the size of a house. They are interesting
shapes, but none reminds me of a mushroom. There are some nice grassy
areas under them that make a good camp spot. There is a ski hut about
200 m away where we can usually get water from a tank. Our guide book
says the is also water in the creek down from the hut.
We got here about mid day. Our climb was about 715 metres, distance
walked, 7.6 km. The guide book says 3 hours. We are not fit yet!

O'shea's

Day one on the track was a bit of a horror. We left Lilydale at 8:15
driven by our neighbors, and arrived at Walhalla about 11:30. By 11:45
we were on the track. It was very hot, 34 in Melbourne so probably
high 20's on the track. It is meant to be a four hour walk to O'shea's
but the track has been diverted due to last years fires. We got here
at about 5:45, hot and dehydrated.
The camp site is very nice. We have a running stream, table and a
dunny. Luxury! Only problem is the trillion mosquitos that live here.

Catching up!!!

Well I've been more than a little bit slack with the blog, apologies to the regular readers.

I left off writing entries when we finished the Camino walk in Leon. Leon is a beautiful little city and we had a nice few days there recharging our batteries after the long walk. From there we took the train to Barcelona.

Barcelona is probably the most beautiful city I've been to. I'll put some pictures up here in February when it's too hot to do anything else!

From Spain we flew to Canada and had terrific time visiting relatives. Most of our time was spent at Jeff and Kelly's farm, helping out with the farming, but we also got some time at Smithfield and Kananaskis and Scotch Creek with our families.

We flew back to Australia on Oct 15th and have since been getting caught up with our mail, and planning the remaining 1/3 of the AAWT that we started in 2007. This time we will be walking from Walhalla to Mt Hotham and then down to Harrietville.

I'll try to keep the blog up to date with our progress, but it will depend on where I find phone reception how frequent the entries will appear.