Great Ocean Walk
Day 1 Apollo Bay to Elliott Ridge 9.9kms
Not entirely sure what prompted me to think that a multi-day hike carrying my worldly possessions was a good idea. But somehow a few enthusiastic people and a lack of excuses had me researching an ultra light tent and packing things into glad bags for the 4 day hike.
We started at Apollo Bay, the plethora of cosy looking B&B’s had me thinking twice as we positioned a car 50ks down the track and had our final hot meal and beer before the pain.
The first bit of the walk was along the road and seeing civilisation whilst we all adjusted our turtle-like packs and got into a rhythm was oddly discomforting. The scenery was beautiful and in surprising fashion the weather in Victoria was stellar. We walked along beaches and we walked along rock platforms and we adjusted our packs and we compared weights (lightest Jay at about 9kilos, heaviest probably Ryan at around 28 as he decided to bring beer and whisky....in bottles). I came in around the 14 kilo mark with water and the tent.
Some of the signposts were a little unclear, so when the group stopped for a break and one of the alpha males headed off ahead I followed. Mostly in fear of him getting lost and dying of exposure and also fear that if I stopped I wouldn’t be able to start again. As we walked up and down hills and up and down hills all the while looking at the beach we may have continued across I became less and less sure we were going the right way. By this time we had gone too far to turn back. The day was getting longer and the mosquito’s were setting in, and I was getting slower and slower on the uphill bits. At a few forks we made ill-informed decisions (that oddly-enough turned out to be right) and kept plodding our way towards camp. Hills and more hills awaited our every turn and I’m pretty sure I started abusing the alpha male who had put us in this position. I had images of the rest of our group waiting at the camp site for hours having taken the easier beach-side route. The last and never ending hill was torturous – I didn’t know it was the last hill, so it was seriously soul-destroying. That is, until we saw a Koala – he was on a tree about 2 off the path and seemed to be awkwardly looking for a comfy position. He surveyed us disinterestedly as I attempted to take a pic without a flash and alpha male tried to take a pic with his mobile. At this point I heard children laughing – it wasn’t the delirium that alpha male thought was setting in but the evidence of a campsite not too far away.
Triumphantly we arrived in the campsite and attempted to find our walking buddies. But they were not to be found. It would appear that we did indeed take the only path up to the campsite and we had (slightly) beat everyone else up there, and they looked as beaten as we did (except Jay who had run up dumped his pack and returned to advise the other girls how long was left to boost their morale). Cheryl had even swapped her (20-something) pack with Natasha (15 kilo) to get to the top.
It was a leafy, damp campsite and we were happy to arrive before dark – particularly for those of us who hadn’t put up their tents before. There were loos, clean water...and as we discovered late at night mating wombats and crazy ducks (some weird noise of things moving in the trees that sounded like a toy being wound up).
Not entirely sure what prompted me to think that a multi-day hike carrying my worldly possessions was a good idea. But somehow a few enthusiastic people and a lack of excuses had me researching an ultra light tent and packing things into glad bags for the 4 day hike.
We started at Apollo Bay, the plethora of cosy looking B&B’s had me thinking twice as we positioned a car 50ks down the track and had our final hot meal and beer before the pain.
The first bit of the walk was along the road and seeing civilisation whilst we all adjusted our turtle-like packs and got into a rhythm was oddly discomforting. The scenery was beautiful and in surprising fashion the weather in Victoria was stellar. We walked along beaches and we walked along rock platforms and we adjusted our packs and we compared weights (lightest Jay at about 9kilos, heaviest probably Ryan at around 28 as he decided to bring beer and whisky....in bottles). I came in around the 14 kilo mark with water and the tent.
Some of the signposts were a little unclear, so when the group stopped for a break and one of the alpha males headed off ahead I followed. Mostly in fear of him getting lost and dying of exposure and also fear that if I stopped I wouldn’t be able to start again. As we walked up and down hills and up and down hills all the while looking at the beach we may have continued across I became less and less sure we were going the right way. By this time we had gone too far to turn back. The day was getting longer and the mosquito’s were setting in, and I was getting slower and slower on the uphill bits. At a few forks we made ill-informed decisions (that oddly-enough turned out to be right) and kept plodding our way towards camp. Hills and more hills awaited our every turn and I’m pretty sure I started abusing the alpha male who had put us in this position. I had images of the rest of our group waiting at the camp site for hours having taken the easier beach-side route. The last and never ending hill was torturous – I didn’t know it was the last hill, so it was seriously soul-destroying. That is, until we saw a Koala – he was on a tree about 2 off the path and seemed to be awkwardly looking for a comfy position. He surveyed us disinterestedly as I attempted to take a pic without a flash and alpha male tried to take a pic with his mobile. At this point I heard children laughing – it wasn’t the delirium that alpha male thought was setting in but the evidence of a campsite not too far away.
Triumphantly we arrived in the campsite and attempted to find our walking buddies. But they were not to be found. It would appear that we did indeed take the only path up to the campsite and we had (slightly) beat everyone else up there, and they looked as beaten as we did (except Jay who had run up dumped his pack and returned to advise the other girls how long was left to boost their morale). Cheryl had even swapped her (20-something) pack with Natasha (15 kilo) to get to the top.
It was a leafy, damp campsite and we were happy to arrive before dark – particularly for those of us who hadn’t put up their tents before. There were loos, clean water...and as we discovered late at night mating wombats and crazy ducks (some weird noise of things moving in the trees that sounded like a toy being wound up).
posted by Nic000 @ 9:23 pm
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