Journal:
I slept long, but woke up quite a few times during
the night. The floor of my lightweight tent is
slippery and, because it was pitched on a slight
slope, my air mattress kept sliding down to the
bottom of the tent. I need to put something on
the tent floor to make it stickier. Anyway, I
rose at 6:30am in the pre-dawn light to find a light
fog and very still air. Ghostly. The
previous evening I had finally spoken to Steve, the
ferry man at Burrinjuck, and he said that the
earliest he could ferry me across Burrinjuck
Reservoir was 3:30pm, about two hours later than I
had hoped. This took the pressure off me for
an early departure and I had a leisurely breakfast
and packed up, leaving the campsite as the sun burnt
off the fog at 8:30am.
Two kilometres later, I became less leisurely when I
remembered that I had left my waterbag back at the
campsite. I don't use it to carry water while
hiking, but it's very useful around camp and I did
not want to lose it. So, after a few curses, I
hid my pack behind a tree by the road and began to
jog and walk back to the campsite where I retrieved
the bag. The round trip took about 40 minutes
making it likely I would not now reach the
Burrinjuck Store until after 2pm. Suddenly, I
was glad the ferryman was not booked for 1pm.
Thereafter,
I had a very pleasant walk along rural back roads,
frequently shaded by trees with almost zero traffic
until I reached the boundary of Burrinjuck State
Park and the track became more of a fire trail as it
descended through forest until nearing the shore of
Burrinjuck Reservoir. At that point my route
left the fire-trail and became a foot-trail that
followed the shore for about 5 kilometres around to
Burrinjuck Waters camp. The Reservoir was very
low and this meant there was a cleared rocky sloping
area between the forest and the water all around the
Reservoir which, to my mind marred the spectacular
scenery just a little.
At the
camping area I found my way to the Store and was
greeted by the friendly proprietress who confirmed
that Steve the ferryman was expected at 3:30pm.
It was now 2:30pm, so I bought some lunch and a
paper and sat outside in the sun at a picnic table
and enjoyed the warmth and mountain scenery. A
couple of kangaroos loitered outside the store and
the proprietress turned on some music for me.
Very pleasant.
Steve arrived a little late and very apologetic
before towing his small boat down to the boat ramp,
along with a visitor. We launched about 4pm
for the fast trip across the Reservoir to a point on
the southern shore where he dropped me off.
The low water level meant he couldn't take me as far
as I might have hoped, but he did his best, dropping
me off on a barren shore and pointing out a gravel
road in a saddle which I should make for.
After wending my way cross-country over the barren
shore, I finally reached the track and then followed
it south across some farms until it finally reached
a more-travelled
road and I found a Hume & Hovell marker confirming I
was heading in the right direction. The sun
had set and I enjoyed walking through the rural
landscape in a valley bordered by forested mountains
in the increasing gloom. My feet were starting
to get quite tired and I kept peering into the
distance hoping to see some lights that might be
from the tavern I was heading for. Soon it was
dark and I was on a sealed road with just enough
star light to stay on track. I had a headlamp,
but preferred to rely on the ambient light and not
to use it unless absolutely necessary. I did
nearly miss the turn-off to the tavern before
arriving there at 6:30pm. There was very loud
juke-box music playing and I was told that they had
given my room to someone else because I was later
than scheduled. I had thought about phoning
ahead when I knew the ferryman was going to be
later, but decided against it. Bad decision.
It also turned out that the proprietress was unwell
and not about. However, what seemed like a
problem was soon resolved by some very helpful
people and the proprietress, who got out of her
sickbed, and I was given some dinner and a TV to
watch in the rustic bar (as the sole occupant) while
they sorted out another room for me. The
jukebox noise was generated by a building crew
working on some new accommodation who were having a
few beers and barbecuing their dinner.
Everybody was friendly and they offered me a steak,
but the lasagne was already en route.
The tavern was originally a police station dating
from the 1880s
with lots of historic stonework, woodwork and
artifacts. I was very tired and badly in need
of a shower by the time I finished my dinner at 8pm.
As I headed to my room, they offered me some bread,
butter and peanut butter to use for breakfast since
they did not expect to be up. It was very
generous of them and I just cut off the mould that
was on the bread when I reached my room.
I showered and washed out some clothes before
updating my diary while watching a DVD on the TV
which had no aerial/sattelite connection.
What had seemed like a day of small problems had
turned out OK and I had met some very nice and
helpful people along the way.