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Update 5
I lost one or two fairly ordinary photos due to a corrupted floppy
disk (isn't technology wonderful?). The remaining photos (only two,
sorry) numbered 500 onwards can be found here
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June 29:
Goulburn to Tarago (38km) |
| Cold.
6ºC, a stiff norwesterly blowing all day, and just enough
rain to keep you perpetually wet.
In short, a c--- of a day.
Actually, if the truth be known, the weather didn't get me
down. I started walking at 7:30am, and seven hours later, at
2:30, I'd walked all but 30 minutes and covered 31km. Colin, the
lovely gent at the Lake Bathurst Tea Rooms, opened up especially
for me and rustled up a lunch out of nowhere, while Carol and
David, the couple I stayed with for two nights in Goulburn,
drove my pack ahead to Tarago and organised accommodation for me
there in the pub.
I was buggered and cold when I walked into town at 5 (38km is
a long way), but it was a pretty good day, all in all. It's
heartening to cover such a long distance with relatively little
ill-effects.
I passed the halfway point today, so it's all downhill from
here (er, except for the parts that are uphill). |
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June 30:
Tarago to Bungendore (31km) |
| Apart from my
splendid evening's accommodations, today was a great big nothing
day. Not warm, not cold, not short, not long - just generally
not interesting.
Or maybe I'm just too tired to write a journal of it.
The high points: Yolanda (of the massaging fame) and her
husband Kasse came to visit me in their mobile home. They stayed
the night in Bungendore (that name always sounds to me like
something you would shout if you hit your thumb with a hammer -
"Aww Bungendore") and had dinner with me in the local
pub.
Second high point: The total friendliness and hospitality of
the couple I stayed with. Geoff and Caroline Banbury run a
gorgeous old B&B in Bungendore ("The Old Stone House"), and
somehow got roped into putting me up for the night. But nowhere
will you find more gracious and friendly hosts. Thank you, both
of you. |
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July 1:
Bungendore to Queanbeyan (26km) |
| I've decide that I
don't have the energy at the end of each day to share with you,
the readers, my observations on life, myself, my situation and
the society we live in. I think about all this stuff constantly
- all day - but by the time I get in at night, shower, have
dinner, talk to my hosts, write this web update prepare for the
next day and try to be in bed by nine, there's no emotional or
intellectual energy left to discourse on the way of things.
I'll write something at the end of the walk and post it on
this web site, I promise. In the meantime, you might like to
read the collection of thoughts (my "ramblings") that went
through my head during my world trip last year. You can find
them
here.
Today was just a little one. Almost a rest day. Even with the
10% extra added on for GST, it was still only 26km. A regular
stroll! I had a walking companion for half of it (Hi Hilde!) so
it went even faster.
A great chap and rabid AFL player/supporter by the name of
Glenn contacted me through my web site and offered to put me up
for the night in Queanbeyan. Isn't Australia wonderful?
At the end of the day's walking today I was suffering less
walking pain than on any other day so far. I guess I'm finally
getting used to this thing. So I'm going to try for an extra big
day tomorrow.
P.S. A big thank you to Colin and Jan for the meal they
shouted me at the Queanbeyan Kangaroos Rugby League Club.
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July 2:
Queanbeyan to Michelago (45km) |
| Well, it had to
happen.
After two weeks on the road I have turned into a walking
machine. Now, I can't deny that my feet hurt like buggery
(not that I'd know how buggery hurts) and that I limped sorrily
into Michelago, but the bottom line is: I walked 45km today!
I've never done that before, not in my entire life. It's further
than a marathon (I'm going to entirely ignore the fact that
Olympic marathoners do this distance in a little over two
hours). In the 10 hours from 7am to 5pm, I walked all but 75
minutes. After - ooooh - 35km it started to hurt. The last 10km
- two hours - were a bit of a blur. My poor feet - I've
calculated that each one suffered about 25,000 impacts with the
bitumen today.
So why? Why did I put myself through that, I hear you ask?
Well, I am very keen to make it to Cooma in three days, so
that I can have a full rest day there. (Actually, I can have as
many rest days as I want, but I really want to get to Kozzie by
next weekend). Because I wasn't carrying my pack today (four
days in a row), I wanted to cover as much ground as I could in
case I'm forced to carry my pack for the last two days into
Cooma. So now you know.
I spent virtually the entire day pondering and worrying over
personal issues that I'd rather not go into, so there's not much
to report.
P.S. A big thanks to Glenn (a mate of Glenn's) for taking my
pack in his car today. |
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July 3:
Michelago to Bredbo (28km) |
| Okay. Today you
don't get a journal entry. I'm going through so much emotional
turmoil (over things that are nothing to do with the walk) that
I hardly even know what road I'm on. I can't bring myself to
write about it - sorry - as it is intensely personal. I know
that probably makes you want to know even more what's up, but I
just can't. I can't go there, not on a web site.
25 minutes before I reached Bredbo, my friends Mark
("Toenails") and Lee pulled up next to me on their way back from
the snow. They felt like catching up for a drink (and of course
I did too), so they met me at Bredbo Pub, where they shouted me
a few drinks, dinner, and a nights accommodation! Such good
friends. Thanks for that, guys. |
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July 4:
Bredbo to Cooma (35km) |
| I'm in Cooma.
Somehow this feels like an important milestone (why don't we
ever use the word "kilometrestone"? It's not totally
without romance). I've crossed the great townless void between
Goulburn and Cooma (well, one town - Queanbeyan), added 200km to
my total in six days (up to 450km now), and I finally feel like
there's nothing standing in the way of my getting this bloody
trek finished. Everyone I meet tells me that it's going to be
cold up in the mountains - too cold - but I'm not
worried. I've got warm clothes, and I'll really only be walking
one day in the true mountains anyway (Jindabyne to Thredbo).
After that it's only a half-day's uphill cross-country skiing
from Thredbo Resort up the slopes to Crackenback, then across to
Kozzie (and yes, I know, Kosciusko is officially spelled
"Kosciuszko". A hearty thanks to all those people who have taken
the trouble to write to me and correct me on that).
Today I crossed the most desolate part of my journey - the
stretch of highway from Bredbo to Cooma. There is a stretch in
there that goes five kilometres without a bend in the road or a
single tree. It's all kinda just prairie (check out photo 502,
here). Paradoxically, in this most desolate area, more
people stopped to offer me things (lifts, food, donations) than
on any other day so far.
Mission Australia in Cooma mobilised the troops on my
arrival, organising accommodation for me in Dodd's Hotel and
shouting me dinner. What a fine part of the world this is.
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July 5:
Rest day in Cooma (0km) |
| Does anyone mind if
I just rest today? No walking, no web updates....
Bliss. |
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| The
Cause |
All monies collected on this walk will be donated to Mission Australia
to care for the homeless. To learn more about their work, visit www.mission.com.au |
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| Spread
the word |
The
more people that know about this walk, the more successful it will be.
Please
TELL
YOUR FRIENDS! |
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