Day 57 Zero Day at Marlborough

Day 57 Saturday 12th June, 2021

I was able to stay in bed for an extra hour as I needed to go to the shop and try and work lunch out for 6 days. No wraps here at grandma's Cafe. They didn't open till 8 as Grandma, who usually opens at 6.30am was away in Rockie. Her daughter doesn't do early apparently.

I walked to the shop but couldn't come up with a weight friendly solution. I picked up some biscuits and cheese. But wasn't happy. There is a Puma service station on the outskirts and I needed to make a few phone calls on my dying phone. Said goodbye to Craig who will post my book to Perth on Monday and wandered past the shop again. Then onto the Puma. They had muesli bars but at $5 each and 12 required would have been an expensive solution. I did spy a chicko roll and a double expresso and would later regret that purchase.

The solution was to stop and catch up with family and friends for the day. Moved over to the motel/caravan park across the road and stayed still for the day. This proved fortunate as the motel has a little shop and had nice and natural muesli bars at $4 a box. They had other supplies like noodles etc which grandma's was short on. I don't want to cook lunch so a couple of boxes of bars was it.

I used the opportunity to wash and the charger worked as the day warmed up. I Grandma's did have a charger for $30 but I decided to leave it for now. The one thing that Grandma's does is good food. The chicko roll and iced coffee was making me queasy. The walk back into town is about 2 kilometres. But had to make do with the motel restaurant dinner. Which was OK. Finished the day off with a couple of beers and some mindless television. 

An old harverster of some sort

Side of Gypsy wagon

The gypsy wagon used by Craig and
Shirley
on the Trail

Day 56 to Marlborough

Another clear and cold morning

Friday 11th June, 2021 27.1km

1527 / 3571.9km

Another cold night. Apparently a cold front is moving through and I can expect another couple of nights.

Today the plan is to get to Marlborough. It's a 10k walk down this backroad then I can choose to either go out to the highway or continue for a short while along farm tracks next to the rail line. Belinda said maybe someone will offer me a ride? I wish. For a start there has to be traffic and for the first 2 hours nothing comes past.

The road south

In the end I decide to stick with the rail line. I walk slightly slower but I'm not worried about traffic. I enjoy the walk and get a few more toots until it's time to hit the highway. However it's now only 5 kilometres so should only take an hour.

following the rail line

I see my first live snake just as I step off into the grass as a truck passes, I think it was trying to warm up on the bitumen. All I could tell was, it was black.

I get into Marlborough about 2pm and head straight to the post office just to notice a sign on the door saying its closed for show holiday. That's Rockhampton show. However the lady sees me and opens up to give me the parcel and she also takes my excess stuff and posts it on. Very kind and I'm thankful.

I go to the pub as they offer $5 per person camping with a shower. I was just selecting my spot under a tree and talking to Belinda to book me a room at the motel out on the highway. The museum is closed on the weekend which is a bummer as I was looking forward to looking around here, as Marlborough first mined chrysoprase a mineral like Jade and was supposed to be the best in the world.

another toot!

As I was standing there a gentleman rolled up and introduced himself. He is Craig Landy who did the trail with his partner in the early years in a self built Gypsy wagon. He wrote a book, The flight of the Black Cockatoo, which I bought off him and he signed it for me. He offered me a bed and to cook tea so I threw the pack in his ute. Had a couple of beers with him at the pub and chinwagged into the night.

Another generous person on the trail. I was glad for the bed as even in the house it was very cold. Having trouble charging my stuff as the charger doesn't seem to like cold weather. It didn't seem to charge my battery pack at all and said it would take 7 hours to charge my phone. I get better results from my solar panel.

Me and the cows know which way to go

The track out to the highway

Day 55 Granite Creek

 Thursday 10th June, 2021 29.4km

1499.9 / 3599km

Early morning pack up

It was bloody cold. Beanie, gloves and jacket to start the day.

Today I follow the rail line through paddocks across Granite Vale Station. The next camp spot is Granite Creek the one where the bloke said there were crocodiles. The plan if it goes OK, is to get as far as I can so the Friday walk isn't long into Marlborough so I can get my parcel and post the excess.

The sun may warm it up a bit

The walk down the fence is pleasant and I enjoy it. The second gate has lock on it (tell Debbie) but I climb over. The trains keep coming and I get a small thrill when they toot acknowledgement. Still a kid I suppose.

Following the fence and train line

Some friends

The notes again make no sense when it states the track leaves the rail line. Well it doesn't and I just continue along the

fence. The recently graded track along the fence runs out and I have to crawl under a boundary fence and bush bash to a gate which I have to climb then I can see a rail crossing across the paddock which I head for. I catch up to the trail notes, just by a different route. Now it's down the right side of the rail along cow pads till I meet a fence and have to turn. The country is open and I angle across the paddocks in anticipation of the trail notes. In the end I walk straight onto a track across Granite Creek.

Granite Creek Evergreen

The notes say to head for the Evergreen. A name

Another shot up Granite Creek

they have given a patch of timber. I reckon it's just the trees along the creek. Maybe in my short cuts I missed something. The water in the creek is certainly green. I follow this track all the way through the property till I hit the road into

Riverview Station on the Styx River. Then it's onto the road into Ogmore. There are no shops or pub in Ogmore and in the end I just walked through without getting the camera out. The old pub was a mess with whoever living there leaving rubbish all around.

I then went as far up the back road to Marlborough as I could. Stopping on the side of the road opposite a dam.

an intereting bit of bent pipe

been threre a while

Memorial outside Ogmore

Day 54 not St Lawrence

Wednesday 9th June, 2021 38km

1470.5 / 3628.4 km

A little bit wet and cold

Last night while listening to the rain I worked out I was going to hit Marlborough on Saturday. I have things at the Post Office to pick up and if I do a zero day Sunday, I would still be hanging around Monday. So I need to decide to either slow down or speed up. I have a bit of walking on the Bruce highway and have already made the decision that I would try and get a lift. I think it's about 15 kilometres on the Bruce

So it's speed up.

I head off down the hill which is very steep and starts stretching all sorts of different muscles. As I'm plodding along the flat a car pulls up and offers me a lift to the highway. He is going into St Lawrence which is 6-8 kilometres off trail, so I accept.

The hill down

The highway

At the highway I start down on the left side attempting to get a lift but at 110kph no one stops. I've either got to find a safe place and stand still or get across the other side and walk. I decide to walk. It's fast pace with me having to walk off into the grass for trucks and caravans but I get to the Waverley rest area in a couple of hours. This was where I was planning to stop.

A bird visited me while I was having a cup of tea

No driver reviver open so I have to boil my own billy. Whilst I was doing that I reread the book and they have done it to me again. The book has printed 2 sections on one pages and that would make Friday a 36 kilometre day, so I'll probably get there on post office closing time. Bugger bugger bugger bugger.

More highway

Then I hear a couple talking about the State of Origin. Bugger bugger bugger bugger. I should have gone to St Lawrence and propped at the pub and hit Marlborough on Sunday. But now instead of an afternoon relaxing talking to Grey Nomads I have to get back on the highway and move another 15km to Wumalgi Siding, a rail siding 6 kilometres off the Bruce Highway.

I go to the highway stick out a thumb look and hope but in the end I have to cross the road and walk.

Now 6km to Wumulgi siding

I get to the campsite before sunset. Belinda has talked to the property owners I will walk past tomorrow and they have mentioned crocodiles to her so when I go under the trees to set up camp the inreach signal drops out and she panics as she can see I'm beside a lagoon.

By the time I've fetched water she sent 15 messages in a panic. I message back all ok and now I can get on with my tasks and getting ready for bed. I'm exhausted and now I have trains rumbling past to keep me awake. The least of my troubles is crocodiles.

Wilangi homestead

I do wonder if it was for the best. I'm a blues supporter so St Lawrence might not have welcomed me.

Day 53 Killarney

Tuesday 8th June, 2021 32.3km

1432.5 / 3666.4km

Deacey Homestead

We chatted into the night but all of us are in bed early, so by 9pm all is quiet. We had discussed many things one of them was about my medication I should be taking. The thyroxine should be refrigerated and I only carry enough to get to the next resupply. This time however I left the 20 or so tabs I needed in my car in Hervey Bay. Anyway Leonie has the same medication and has arranged for her son to bring a strip of 26 tablets when he comes down to pick up the truck. Much appreciated by me but it means I don't head off early. In the end I accept a lift in the truck to the top of the pinch, the steepest part of the climb.

Top of the pinch

A trail marker points the way

I am also scouting for those behind me so I walk past the turn-off and go down to what they call the Killarney Dip Yards. The dip being a dip in the road. The trip down the hill is apparently overgrown and may not be suitable for the trailers Craig and Debbie are towing. The water down behind the Yards is clean and clear with a slight taste but overall good. Actually there is a lot of water in the dip. Not flowing but looks like it's spring fed.

The water at Killarney Dip Yards

I walk back up the hill to the trail turn off. I follow the bearings as per the book. So far I've followed one bearing for 100 metres then changed to a second bearing for a kilometre that supposedly ends at a gate. In orienteering or rogaining the checks would be up to date. But with no gate then a 3rd bearing change for 700 metres to an old pole in the middle of the scrub means I am compounding errors by the time I'm supposed to change to 4th bearing.

the Schneider's Inn campsite

I sit and contemplate and walk along the fence looking for a clue that will make me comfortable. About 600 north there is a gate in the fence and it does have BNT signs attached. I go get my pack and text Belinda to see if I have missed some update. The members pages has no official update. I take the third bearing and head down the hill. In my gut it just doesn't seem right so I only go about 500 metres and give it away and return to the gate. People have come up this way from the south but I can't find a definitive clue.

The view to the coast

So return to the road and decide to take the long way round. tomorrow's 11km walk now becomes a 30km walk. Tonight's target is Schneider's Inn campsite at the top of the range overlooking St Lawrence.

I was probably right where I initially was but the clues are getting harder to see as the years go by. I did get to talk to the man from Killarney Station and he confirmed he put in a new fence and also cleared a fire break either side of the fence. He mentioned he did the old wagon line some years ago and I was probably right where I hit the fence. Someone needs to re-do the write up for this section.

I get to the camp spot just on dark. A couple tourists in a car roll up but I'm too tired to talk. There was a light shower of rain during the night.

Day 52 Deacey

Monday 7th June, 2021 30.5km

1400.2 / 3698.7km

The road continues

This is the day the book instructions got me again. I got up and marched on down the road and got to the next designated camp spot fairly early. It was supposed to be a lagoon but it was just a muddy puddle. The book says the next camp is 2.5 kilometres away. As I wander away I pass by Maryland's Homestead where the lady, Judy Day, is 82 years old and leases 3 properties along this track.

Dry creek beds

The problem with the book this time, was the distances are out by about 6 kilometres. So the creek I'm looking for is about 9 kilometres not 2, I'm pretty buggered and it's late by the time I get there. I just finish filling up my water bladder when a car pulls up.

You never know what reaction your going to get so I'm always cautious. I've only had 2 negative responses but this time is Graham who manages the Deacey Station for Judy Day and he invites me to the homestead for a feed and a bed.

His father used to manage this Station and he is hoping to take up the lease himself. He is 67 years old. He tells me 4 properties along the road were all bought by the government as they were going to dam Colloroy Creek to get water for the mines. That fell down and now Mrs Day is getting old and he his hoping to take up the lease. He is like every one else, and finding it difficult to get workers. I could have picked a few jobs on this walk.

A tunnel of trees

Like every other property person they are meat and 3 veg people and I have a good steak dinner. The mattress provides the best night sleep I have had for a long while and I get a poached egg breakfast to go. He is sending a truck to Rockhampton and I could get a lift a the way to Marlborough but I decline. We have a good chat into the night with his partner Leonie. It was a good stop.

Colloroy Homestead

Whelan Creek Bridge

The lagoon

Marylands Homestead

Used for dry lick for cows

Colloroy Creek. I was going to camp on the
bank to the right when Graham pulled up.

Day 51 Whelan Creek

Sunday 6th June, 2021 27.2km

1369.7 / 3729.2km

The homestead chapel

The party shed

I got up early as I was very cold and moving was better than shivering. I walked the kilometre or so to the homestead and saw they had a chapel type setup but the party I heard was in a shed a little farther on. There were all the cars that passed me yesterday. I was hoping to see a recovery breakfast in progress but most were still in bed.

The end of the bitumen

One of my water stops

The bitumen finished, so it definitely wasn't a short cut to the highway and I didn't see any more traffic.

It was just a plain old walk today. I didn't really have to but I did take the 500 metre diversion into Undercliff Homestead to fill up with water. I met Alan and his dogs, he had a 12 week old Dachshund (no picture). When I was leaving it followed me down the road so I had to pick it up and take it back (sorry Isabelle).

Then it was a quick walk down to the camp spot on Murray Creek. I managed to wash a bit and my shirt. I found a camp spot well away from the creek as there was a lot of disturbance along the sides from wild pigs and got a fair night's sleep.

Murray Creek

Old gate

Day 51  6th June, 2021