Well last night was absolutely freezing. I have never been so cold in my life. The fireplace was pretty ordinary in that hut. To be honest that whole hut was pretty ordinary. The meat locker (the one on top) was broken so we could only use one. The dishes were just stacked around the burner and the meat locker so they were out for the antechinus and the rats to run all over. We didn't trust their cleanliness. If I was to do this trek again I would do like Michael and Karen and bring my own mug and plate. But the worst was how bad the fire was. It didn't draw any heat into the room! If you were just centimetres from it you got some heat, but otherwise, any further back, and you got nothing. And you had to set the fire in the back right hand corner of the fire place or the hut filled with smoke. I guess I would have preferred smoke because that would mean something was getting into the room!
The solar powered light turned off after 2 hours but (little known secret) - it restarted! The hut is very basic and the tin walls have lots of holes. We spotted one antechinus hunting around Michael's pack and Karen heard something in the night attempting to get into a pack. I was so cold so I didn't sleep much.
We set off at 8.30am and it was an immediate up. Today is our "off track" day - bush bash. Well it really wasn't. There's been that many people on the track that the path was quite worn. We headed straight up the hill which was a rude shock to the system. In the whole day we climbed just under 500m and descended about 1000m. Today was a tough day!
Karen and I soon were ahead but Russell not too far behind. Michael however was really struggling. By the time we got to the Trig point he had really had enough.
When we arrived at the Green Gully lookout we went up for a look. It was brilliant - wonderful views - and I got out as far as I could on the ledge (as I am wont to do). We were there for a little while then Russell arrived just as we were leaving. So I went up with him. Michael arrived 40 minutes after we did.
The 3 of us set off for the Rocks lookout 1km away. By now the sun was, well, sort of warm - it was freezing on the way up to the Trig!
The descent from the Rocks was the absolute killer! We were so tired and it was so steep and slippery. I fell a couple of times. Some times I just slid down on my bottom, it was soooo slippery and dangerous.
It took forever to descend and my legs were killing. And just when you thought you were over the tough bit, there would be a little ascent too. Then a super steep descent. It was so bad that I had to give Karen a pole, and she never uses one!
Finally we were down and the stupid sign said still 1.5km to the hut! This section criss crosses Brumby creek - we managed to do it without getting wet feet but it was tricky at spots - we had to put rocks in the water or slide along logs.
We arrived to the hut (after yet another up!!) at 3.40pm - such a long day!! Russell arrived 30 minutes later but still no sign of Michael.
This hut is great, very clean. The fireplace here is really good too - just as good as Cedar creek. Russell got it going just as it started to rain - but still no Michael - and now it was after 5, getting dark, and he didn't have a head torch. So Karen went back to the creek to look for him. I went after her and we decided we would need to go back for head torches and boots and go look for him, and just as we were gearing up, he appeared. We were quite relieved.
A very pleasant evening was spent about the fire. It's really quite cosy. Now hoping for no antechinus tonight...
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