The Drive across from Perth to Qld

The drive across started a little late as I spent too long the night before chatting with Lee and Frances. The Port drinking may have also have had something to do with it.

I drove until I was tired and then just pulled up and slept in the car. A couple of hours at night but mostly day driving. Two kangaroo encounters along the way both during the day with one actually turning around and running into the back tyre on the drivers side. No damage to me but I bet he had a headache.

When I crossed the Darling river at Wilcannia it had a little water in it. Now this town was supposedly where the paddle steamers came up to, yet I have never seen the river more than knee deep. It was later in the day that I heard that the Darlings Flood waters were going through Mungindi and I couldn't get to Queensland via Moree, Mungindi or St George. So I turned north at Cobar to go through Bourke where the flood waters would arrive a little later in the week. It would be a fair few days before the waters would reach Wilcannia. There has been a lot of rain through this country and the plains have tall green grass for 1,000s of kilometres.

There was a lot of water damage on back roads from Tambo through to Clermont and thunderstorms every couple of hours. I got drenched in a downpour at Belyando Crossing but but as it was so warm I stood there in my shorts and singlet and just put up with it. It was the third bath I had coming across. Just no shampooing at the pumps allowed.

The following day was the first of my drives to a cattle station, Kirkland Downs, to drop of a food parcel. I drove the route I would walk and checked out the creeks. The two major ones on the Dotswood Road were flowing well and I hope that continues for the 5 weeks till I am back.

I then had to try and get through to the next Station, Kangaroo Hills, only to find that the road from Ewan north was currently impassable due to washouts. I left the parcel with Helen at Ewan which means I have to tack and extra day into the parcel further north.

I then had to back track around to Herveys Range road and through to the Lynd and up to Mount Garnet to go south down to the next Station, Yammanie, where I had a good chinwag with Vicki. She is looking forward to visitors this year.

From there its back up to Mount Garnet and onto Innot Hot Springs Caravan Park who will hold a parcel for me. I had planned a two night stop here in the luxury of a bed but my planned date puts me there on a weekend that is already booked out. I might have to either speed up or slow down to try and bring onto a week day.

As I went out of town I saw a sign to Irvinebank and since the trail passes through there I thought, Why Not? The initial road was rough and then it turned into a track and whilst I didn't need 4WD it was very slow going. When I eventuall crawled across a 40 metre wide creek into Irvinebank I thought, thank goodness I don't have that steep old road. Then I looked at the map and yep I do. It will be one hell of a day leaving Irvinebank. My car says we climb to 1000 metres but you do that by going up 100 down 50 then up 100 down 50 etc etc etc. That was coming in reverse.

If I knew it was the trail I might have taken more notice. Still there's plenty of water to start the climb and dry creek was running well.

I went through to Mutchilba and dropped my last box and drove to Mareeba then to Mount Molloy. The trail currently follows the main road from Mount Molloy to Mareeba and after driving I thought, "Not for Me". It will kill my hip constantly walking on the shoulder camber or the first bit out of Mount Molloy is just plain dangerous. Very Little or no road shoulder and a very busy road. I waved at a bloke riding a bike when I was crossing the Nullabor only to find out two days later he has been cleaned up by a truck. I am working on an alternative.

I dropped down to Mossman and have checked the current route out of the Daintree Village and whilst the first bit has no shoulder the road does not have heavy vehicles. The other bit is boring. However, I met up with an old workmate who is staying at Newell Beach (4k outside Mossman) who's son works on the council and is mates with the land owner that is causing the diversion. I will be following up later in the week and it currently looks good. Keeping this under the hat as I dont know the full story behind the reasons for no access at this time and I whilst I might get through I will ask for others coming behind me.

So now a bit of rest and playing tourist and getting some supplies for the next section before picking up Belinda on Friday and moving onto Cooktown.

First Aid

 My First Aid Kit:

My first aid consists mainly for stopping the blood flow and or snake venom. I have a snake bandage and the one I have has little squares on it that let you know when it has been stretched to the correct tension.

There is Fixomull that covers the red spots on the feet and then used to sick anything else down. Also I have alcohol swabs and some non stick dressings to clean up any open cuts.

I carry some pain killers, anti inflamatories, throat spray and antihistamines.

There is a needle that is wrapped and some dental floss that used to floss and repair. I would like to say I could do a rambo and stitch a few open wounds but the repairs are more likely to be clothes or packs. Dental floss is strong and is good for those applications.

There is a Space/Emergency Blanket for whenever. I have always carried one, never used it though. Also a mirror. It is a signalling mirror but I use it to look at those hard to see places.

I carry spare laces for boots and the toothpaste are those liitle tabs from Lush. My gay pride toothbrush is getting worn out and I also have some Ethique Shampoo Bar that is an effective soap. I have also shaved it into washing machines when I washed my clothes.

And of course the scissors.

Pack set up

 

I have spent a while looking at my weight and I have reduced as much as I can. However due to the nature of this walk, the length of time I will be away and my age there are things that I will not do without. So my current pack (the one on the right) does get a little uncomfortable when loaded past 15kg.

My current plan and equipment means that about a third of the time I would be at 15kg or above. So I have bought a pack that may help me carry a heavier weight. Its classed as lightweight pack but the harness system apparently carries a heavier weight. I haven't tested it over a long distance but the waist belt set-up certainly sits better.

The weight of the pack set-up for a 5 day walk and 3 litres of water is 17.2 kg. It drops by about 800 grams per day overall as I use up the consumables food and of course as I drink the weight go es dowwn during the day. water weighs 1kg per litre.

Food Preparation

The food equation is one of the most time consuming. I am working with other walkers who are also planning on doing the track. They are walking as well but with a trailer of sorts (Check out a monowalker if curious) This comes with some advantages as they can carry much more therefore having a longer period before a resupply. Some of the disadvantages can be found when encountering locked gates and off track walking with obstacles like fallen trees .

The National trail is designed as a horse trail so most of it would be ok.

My plans always revolve around weight. About 5 days is around the average. Although it could be up to 9 days. The photo shows 5 days worth. This amount comes in around 4.5 kilograms.

Breakfast is cereal and milk. Lunch is the bread and peanut butter/vegemite or tuna. Dinner is based on lentils with either rice, mince or noodles. The flavour comes from either a curry powder or cup a soups. dehydrated vegetables can also be added. I have some chocolates for snacks. Tea and hot chocolate powder are for drinks.

With 4 weeks to go before I start the drive its time to make sure the body has at least a little preparation.

The actual walk involves walking 20 -25 kilometres a day with a loaded pack, day after day and its very hard to train for that and do the normal home stuff.

All I can do is make sure some of the kinks are ironed out so every day I walk for about 2 hours covering 8 - 13 kilometres. I wear my walking boots and have been trialling orthotic inserts. This should help those feet and back problems I was experiencing on the last walk.

I plan to change the orthotics regularly as one of the problems with long distance walking is wearing shoes and boots well past their best supporting capacity.

This time I have a herniated disc in my neck at the C7 vertebrae to add to my woes and whilst I have backpacked with it in the last year I don't know how it will hold up on a multi week/month walk.

 The preparations are now ramping up in earnest.

We have contacted many people in Qld to organise the first section. This involved working out where I may need to drop a resupply box and ringing people to see if they were willing to hold onto them. Some were cattle properties others local store people. So far no one has refused to help.

The trail goes through many cattle properties and we will also have to contact them closer to the date I will cross their properties. This is mainly so I don't interfere with things like mustering.

My plan for the first 800 or so kilometres to Mingela is now fairly settled. The initial e-mails and phone calls for he next section has begun. Belinda will do some of the final preparations.