June 25th 2021

Days km: 0.0km
Total km: 341.6km

Due to my shins I’d decided to take an unplanned zero in Collie. Alas the Black Diamond was booked out for the night so I moved down the road to the Collie. This is another backpacker type budget accommodation place and is as old as the Black Diamond is new. It has a cool vibe, and it was across the road from Macca’s which was nice. I saw James as I was checking in, he was on his way back to the track and I wished him all the best. I don’t think I’ll be seeing him again.

I enjoyed the luxury of having not one, but two major supermarkets to resupply at, and I bought way too much food. I also got a ton of Ibuprofen and Aspirin as my brother, who had suffered from shin splints pretty badly a few years back, said Aspirin worked a treat. I thought I would hedge my bets. Collie also has, fortunately for me, a camping store so I was able to replace my stove and a knife (I had misplaced this one day 2) without too much fuss.

I did my best to eat as much as I could, but my stomach just cannot handle 3 square meals at the moment so I was only able to struggle through half of the large pizza I got for dinner. On the plus side, breakfast for tomorrow was sorted. I had again, done way more walking than I had intended on a rest day but I had decided I was heading back on the trail tomorrow. Shins be damned. Sailcat had rested for nearly a week already and his shin was still not right, so I figured I’d try and walk it off. Take my time, no doubles etc. The aspirin was also proving pretty effective, which gave me hope.