Sunday 10th May The cry of a dingo (we think), howling at the moon perhaps, woke us both overnight, and we both felt it was very close by. The morning looked good again, although a little overcast. We rose early, and performed our morning activities in some haste in order to make an early start for what looked like a long day. We bade farewell to our excellent camping spot at the slightly earlier time of 7:30am, and made our way along the Murruin Creek towards the intersection with the Little Wombeyan Creek. Michael discovered a goat skull in fine condition, and being determined to decorate Grandilla with it, strapped it to his pack despite the increase in weight.  Having reached the inlet, and checking our navigational aids to ensure we were on the correct spur, we began the Big Ascent. We figured it to be about 500m in elevation. It was slow and steady going, somewhat hindered by the now endemic tussock grass. We observed several wallabies, three pigs and a large eagle, as well as the splendid sights of Bindook Mountain and the Murruin Valley spreading out below us. Progress was encouragingly quick, if tiring, and it was not much longer than one hour since we left the base that we reached the top. Well, essentially the top, as more climbing was to come, but we felt we had successfully risen out of the valley.  Soon after we came upon an empty hut, beautifully positioned perched over the valleys. We had a short break, checked our location, and then began a stretch along the 4WD tracks marked on the map. These appear to be solely for accessing private properties, of which we passed several through the morning. Some were essentially derelict, with no signs of recent activity, while others appeared to be well maintained. No humans were sighted. We made our way with excellent speed to a property from which Michael had received a generous lift at the end of his last trek that way. The residents were not present, and the property looked in a general state of disrepair.  Passing through these properties we saw more wildlife than at any other time in our trip. Admittedly, this was largely due to a substantial mob of kangaroos which we roused several times, but the increase in sightings just as we were re-entering inhabited lands was notable.  We successfully located our chosen spur, where we descended along a Water Board track to a ridge, up which we would have crawled had we followed the Murruin Creek. It was only midday by that point, and we were elated to be so far along. Michael continued down the ridge a little to where he had concealed another cache of foodstuffs, and so our lunch was embellished with flavoured, sugary drinks and chocolate. We added a hot coffee to this mix, and so being thus re-invigorated by several stimulants we descended to Tom’s Hut, where we met a small herd of wild cattle.  At this point, the weather, which had become increasingly overcast and had been sprinkling at times, became officially wet – the first inclement weather of the entire six days. Michael’s brand new raincoat was unveiled and donned, at which point the precipitation instantly ceased. From Tom’s Hut we followed the track, and the cattle, until we departed Water Board territory. From here we faced two significant climbs, the first of which was ascended behind yet another herd of wild cattle. The End being so clearly in sight (literally, at the end of this climb) we pressed on with surprising gusto past the rather depressing junkyard property nestled below Grandilla and up to Top Camp, the small, bastard offshoot of the lower desolation.  At this collection of debris there was, amazingly, a functioning telephone. We had checked Michael’s mobile phone throughout the walk, but after our success over the Cox’s River we were lucky to have “Emergency Calls Only” instead of the more frequent “No Service.” In any case we made good use of the phone in a dilapidated caravan, and were able to let both Yvonne and Anna know that we were alive at had completed our journey. Anna was in Sydney attending to a family matter, but Yvonne said she would come out to meet us later in the evening.  We had then only to complete a short rise up to Grandilla to reach the very end of the trip. The obligatory and highly anticipated beers were quickly enjoyed, and followed by others as we washed (in warm showers!), ate and sat about a fire, waiting for Yvonne to arrive and discussing what had been an arduous but hugely rewarding trek.  Walking time: 7:30am to 3pm (minus breaks) Casualties of the day: None! |