July 8th 2021

Days km: 22.6km
Total km: 616.6km

It took me a while to get warmed up this morning. It was cold, but the main issue was my back which was stiff and sore. The uber soft mattress at the hotel did not do my back any favours at all, and to be honest, I actually regretted taking a zero day there. Not really the mindset you expect after having a day of rest.

Still my new pack felt pretty great. I am now rocking an Atom+ 40l pack from Atompacks. I’d used this pack on the West Highland Way in 2019 and it was great. I didn’t take it with me on the Bibb to start with as I was worried about the 9 day food carry, which would have been a struggle with 40l. In hindsight I should have arranged a food drop at Brooklyn Hwy or Gringer Creek.  

A couple of k’s out of Pemberton is the Gloucester Tree. You can climb this bad boy, but a fine mist of rain was falling which would have made an already pretty dodgy climb…dodgier. There would not have been much of a view anyway.

It was a really pretty walk amongst the great Karri tree’s and the sun even came out. For a good part of the way the trail followed a bubbling creek, and there were Roos bounding up and down the trail all day.

I sauntered into camp just after 3pm and meet Harry. He is heading south as well, though he is going a lot faster than me. He had been unable to find accommodation at Pemberton and had had a miserable night in his tent at the caravan Park. So yeah, my back may have been uncomfortable in the soft bed, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. It was good to give my inner whinger a bit of perspective.

I got my new sleeping pad set up, which was huge. It’s a Nemo Tensor, long and wide (the only pad I could get in time), which is about 200g heavier than my Thermarest Neoair Xlite, but my god is it comfortable!