Friday 28 Dec 2018

A leisurely start of the day: woke at 5:30, we all helped Girlie feed chooks, horses, calves, goats and then went in for breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon. Beats granola! It rained a tiny bit and I might as well wait it out here rather than get soaked on the trail. But the sky cleared and I decided to continue on. Trinette and kids also left, along with their little Scaly-breasted Lorikeet that they rescued a few weeks ago. Not totally legal to keep indigenous birds, but the little thing would have died otherwise and is now probably beyond fending for itself. Girlie also gave me a huge chunk of delicious fruit cake for smoko, although it will probably last for about three times. What a wonderful lady.

One of the very oldest trail markers, you don’t see many of those

I followed the BNT about three quarters of the way today, then decided on a short detour along the Gladstone Monto road, fewer ups and downs that way. Most of the way was reasonably flat with the necessary little 12-15% climbs (= push) through the gullies.

The Gin Gin Road out of Kalpowar is super wide now since there appears to be active logging going on in the State Forest. I saw a few logging trucks go by with a heavy load of timber. The recreation area was empty when I got there, but a few more people have arrived, some to go off-road motor biking tomorrow. Last time, fifteen years ago, I had it all to myself, but this is sort of fun too. I’m set up in the picnic shelter again, so no need for the fly on my tent.

Totals: 50k 4:00h 520m+ 525m-