July 2nd 2021

Days km: 40.7km
Total km: 485.4km

It was such a lovely walk yesterday, my best day on the trail so far. So naturally today would have to absolutely suck. It started off well enough. I slept pretty well and started my day by walking down Cardiac hill. Then I encountered trail magic, one of the farmers in the area left out an Esky filled with Apples and bananas. I hadn’t had any fruit since Collie and it was absolutely delicious.

The track followed the river for a while, which meant lots of sharp, short, ups and downs so many that I briefly wondered if this was the rollercoaster that folk had mentioned previously. After leaving the river the trailed levelled out somewhat but… The trail was endless kilometres of chest high bushes that rained down water at the slightest touch. As they almost covered the trail it was impossible not to touch them, so I no time at all I was soaked. And irrationally angry.

I reached Gregory Brook campsite just after 1pm and was appalled to see it was hemmed in by these same bastard bushes. The whole camp seemed cold and dour, with the sun barely getting through. I was cold, wet and angry so in a tiff I decided to keep going. I was able to get a signal down the track a bit and called Donnelly River general store to sort out accommodation, as I’d be arriving after they closed.

I honestly don’t remember much of the trail. I was hiking on pure rage.

The main issue I had when I got to Donnelly River was actually finding where I needed to go in the pitch black, but once I found the bunkhouse my anger finally started to dissipate. Joel, James and Meg where there so I got to catch up with them briefly. After showering and eating I felt so much better. But f@$% that part of the track. It suuuucked.