Waterfall (and snake) Day!
81.6km / 50.7 Miles
This morning I woke up super early… probably because of the 7pm bedtime I took! The sleep in the tent was good, it was finally a lot warmer that I didn’t have to wear every single layer I had! Sleeping on the tent platform wasn’t too bad either. I woke before the sun was up, and waited till there was at least some light before I emerged out of the tent for breakfast. A couple of the guys were already awake and cooking breakfast outside. The hut was pretty small and crowded, so I opted to grab my food from my pack and come and cook breakfast outside too. After the staple ‘super blended energy’ oatmeal and coffee, I decided to pack my bag and tent up and hit the trail early.
My body was hurting from the mountains yesterday, and my blisters were getting worse. I was bandaging them up, but they just weren’t getting a chance to heal. I was glad of an easy-ish day! The first 5 km were pretty flat. The old Du Cane hut was half way and then at 5km and 6km were the waterfalls. The Du Cane Hut was very run down, but cool to see what the huts used to look like- made you very grateful to the newer infrastructure on the trails now! It was here at Du Cane Hut that I saw my first Tiger snake of the trip! Yuck!
The first set of waterfalls were just a 1km round trip off the main trail, and let to two different falls. The first one I went to was D’Alton Falls followed by Fergusson. They were both so different and worth the downhill, slippery, tree root filled trails down to them. I was one of the first on the trail this morning so I got to enjoy them both to myself for 15/20 minutes each. Oh – and second snake of the day was seen just before the junction down to these two waterfalls! (My ankles were starting to feel a little vulnerable.)
At km 6 was the junction for Hartnett Falls – The tallest of the 3. The walk down was a little longer than the others, taking a good 30 minutes to get to the bottom. My knees and feet were hurting quite a lot at this point. I sat down at the bottom of the falls for a while – finally getting to take my boots and socks off and soak my feet in the cold water! Again I was one of the first ones there so I got to enjoy the falls in peace and quiet. The walk up was surprisingly more easy, especially on the knees. Hello snake number 3! And this time this big guy wasn’t on the floor, he was slithering on top on the shrubbery! Yuuuuuuck! I stop at the top of the falls, and climb over onto the rocks to take a photo down the falls and across to the mountains! I’m waterfall-ed out for the day and ready to get to Windy Ridge (Burt Nichols Hut) for the night and to rest my feet for the afternoon!
The last 4km was easy, but just tiring. I was really starting to feel how tired my body was. I could have really used a rest day, but I knew we were chasing some bad weather that was coming in and I was desperate to get to Pine Valley and my last summit before the rain and snow came in! After getting back to the Hartnett Falls junction, I ate something quick for lunch and then powered up on the uphill to the Du Cane Gap, before a down hill to Burt Nichols. This downhill took a while – my knees and my feet were done. I walked this last bit with a couple of people nice and slowly, but actually hiking with others and just chatting away made time go quick and the distance seem not so long!
Wow, Burt Nichols Hut was huge! I’m staying in the hut! It looks warm, and the sleeping rooms are away from the common area. This was surely gonna mean a good sleep. Every one is at the hut pretty much by 4pm, everyone seems to be having an early dinner and we all hang out for the evening. We also got to see the poop-copter come in and take the toilet waste away – that was pretty exciting!
This is probably the most social I’ve been in the evenings! We head out to the helipad as the sun is going down to watch the sun set and then to star gaze! We are laying out there till 10, – WAY past my normal bed time haha! I peace out at this point, seeing as I’ve been bitten alive by mosquitos and I’m exhausted! This girl needs her sleep! Tomorrow was Pine Valley day! Saw my first possum!!! After all the fear of seeing millions of possums and having to fight them for my food, this was my one and only possum I saw. We saw this BIG guy on the walk back from the tent platform, it was like he was waiting for us to go back to the hut so he could sneak in with us and feast on all the food. Well buddy, you were huge, and there was no way you were being subtle about your presence. Scared the shit out of me though.
