Wednesday 26 Dec 2018

Neil and I woke up before 3:30, had a cup of tea and some granola and were out the door at 4:00. He had graciously offered to drive me to the foot of the mountain, which later became to the park boundary, and finally to the end of the steepest sections. My goodness am I glad!

I would NOT have been able to even push my bike up the incredibly steep ascent. It matched, perhaps not in length but certainly in steepness (I’m guessing 25-30%), the climb out of Wonnangatta (sp.?) in Victoria 15 years ago, where I also was offered a ride. It took us 2 full hours in the 4WD to get to that point. We said our goodbyes, a bit emotional for me, because Neil and Annette have been such incredible hosts. But all good things have to come to an end.

From the drop off point it was only 15 km to the camping area, and although we were past the steepest part there were still some mean hills to be tackled, one or two that were barely pushable (20%), requiring all my strength.

But I managed. Those 15k took 3 hours though. Nice and cool though, it started at 18º and got up to 25º by the time I finished.

The camp area is not much. It looks pretty, but there is no water other than a mud puddle by the road (although a somewhat cleaner one a bit further upstream) and no hut, as is mentioned in the very recently updated trail notes. Oh well, I still had 5½ of my 6 litres of rain water from Neil’s place left over and I can boil the funny looking stuff.

I left BOB at the campground and rode the scenic bypass track to the viewpoint, where there was a sign that there is mobile coverage! So I may be able to upload this post tomorrow when I come by the viewpoint again.

I took the road back. The views are indeed spectacular and I’m glad I took the time to do this little circuit. After all I got here early enough and without BOB it is amazingly much lighter and easier. Still, there will be a fair bit of ups and downs when I start out tomorrow.

Totals: 15k 2:15h 370m+ 470m-

Including the BOB-less part: 39k 4:30h 935m+ 1050m-