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Journal: |
It again drizzled during the night and there was heavy
condensation in the tent despite a rising wind, so everything was
damp when I began my early rising at 6am (no light til 7am). I knew
I had a lot of ground to cover if I hoped to get to Mt Hotham in
time to be sure things would be open. I am unfamiliar with the ski
village there and didn't know what I would find. To get there, I
figured I had about 30km of walking, predominantly uphill, with a
pack loaded with five days food and plenty of wet (and therefore
heavy) gear. My guess was 25+kg.
I hid my food drum, now containing mostly rubbish, but also a few
things I didn't think I would need, e.g., extra gas canister and
extra peanut butter. The first 20km was going to be on the Twins
Jeep Track where the going was quite good underfoot and no
undergrowth to deal with. It was quite clear and, as I kept my pace
solid, I enjoyed the expansive views over the mountains, many
valleys still filled with fog. The trail either followed the ridge
of The Great Divide, or followed the contours.
The pack was heavy, but I was optimistic and, apart from my wet
socks and boots (for the third day in a row), I felt dry for a
change. I took a break after 2 hours at the Mt Murray turnoff, and
decided in the interests of staying dry and on time, to avoid some
"faint trail" official AAWT route along the crest of the ridge and
later over The Twins. This meant walking an extra 3.5km along the
Guide Book alternative, but was probably faster and drier. The Twins
were lower than Mt Hotham that I would be climbing later.
After a brief lunch in a pleasant grassy saddle under The Twins,
with great views north and south, it was only another hour before I
reached The Great Alpine Road, and the 8km uphill slog on the
bitumen, obligingly waving to every grey nomad RV that gave me a
toot (which was pretty much all of them, plus most cars) as they
ground down the long hill in low gears. Although a grind, the grades
weren't too bad and I maintained a reasonable pace. Near the top the
road disappeared into fog and about this time my route left the road
to follow a foot trail from Diamantina Hut to the Mt Hotham summit
(1868m).
It was a cold lonely foggy and windswept place which I had all to
myself. The Rooftop Run, which I've done a few times, finishes here
so I was familiar with the place. No views because of the fog so I
made a quick exit and embarked on the road walk down to Davenport
Village where, with the help of a friendly barmaid in the only
apparently open establishment in the largely deserted ski village, I
got a room in a Ski Lodge, 50m from the bistro which doubles as the
General Store.
I was to be the only resident apart from the caretaker, a
friendly guy named Ken. I emptied my pack and all contained bags and
hung or laid everything out to dry from every available place in my
room. I didn't have any clean clothes, so had a lovely hot shower
and put some dirty clothes back on for dinner at the bistro. I'm
booked in for two nights and will be washing clothes tomorrow
morning.
Did I mention that one of the first things I did on entering my
room was to smash my head onto a protruding bunk causing a
substantial bleed down my forehead into my eye. Apart from that it
was a day which largely went to plan and I'm looking forward to my
day off. Ken said he had a couple of Army guys here a few days ago
walking the AAWT, who chucked it in here. As the leader of the Trail
Crew I met yesterday said, you have to be pretty hardcore to walk
this first third of the trail at present. The terrain is tough
enough, but the bushfires of a few years ago combined with the wet
summer mean that the scrub growth has been prolific. It's much worse
than 30 years ago when I hiked the same stretch.
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