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Australian Alps Walking Track - 2011 Diary Dave's Website AAWT 2011 Overview Schedule Pictures Map Diary
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Day 26 Date: Saturday, 10 April 2011 Kilometres: 33.8 AAWT Total kilometers: 610.0 AAWT Animals: birds, brumbies, kangaroos People: couple of vehicles, two families at Hut Weather: Cold early, partly sunny and mild later Campsite: Oldfields Hut Camp location: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-35.67754,+148.75520 Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/byrnesinoz/AAWT2011Day2609April?authkey=Gv1sRgCKjwve3g5vPTmgE
I got myself up at 5:30am, knowing I had a potentially long day if I was to make it to a hut tonight, which seemed like a good idea given the forecast of rain. There was a heavy dew overnight, so both my tent and sleeping bag were quite damp. I started walking about 7:30am and had two kilometers to walk to rejoin the AAWT after leaving it yesterday to retrieve my food drum. Once on the AAWT, the first thing I had to do was ford the Murrumbidgee River. At first I thought I might be able to rock hop, but soon gave up and just waded through, getting wet up to my crotch. There followed about 12km of mostly cross-country walking to compass bearings. Although it was tiring walking through the tussocky grass and low scrub, it was easy enough to see where I was supposed to be going as I followed several watercourses and climbed over some low saddles. The last part involved following a line of old telephone poles that once served one of the old homesteads. I reached a gravel road around 10:30am and the remainder of the day was spent following disused 4WD trails across a series of plains interspersed with low timbered saddles. At times on the plains it felt like I was in the arid outback, with saltbushes-like scrub stretching into the distance. I kept up a good pace and, nearing the end of the day and Oldfields Hut at 4:30pm, caught two families struggling up the hill from the last plain obviously destined for the same hut. I easily overtook them and beat them to the but by about 30 minutes giving me time to wash and unpack before they arrived. There were three rooms to the hut, so I took one. They also had a few tents. It was pretty noisy with young kids running everywhere. I hope they appreciate me getting up at 5:30am! |
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