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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