Great South West Walk, Day 3 – Cut Out Camp to Fitzroy Camp, 25km

Hooray, hooray, hooray.  The wind has gone!  The sun is out! Happy days!

The wind died down early last night.  Not a breath.  Not a drop of rain.  I woke up at 1am and realised I had slept for a solid five hours…unheard of!  An excellent sleep.

Taking advantage of the promisingly blue day, I determined I was going to take things slowly, look at things, have a break every 5km or so….and essentially, that’s what I did!

The morning walk was pleasant.  Easy and flat.  Cold mist rising through the trees into the shining blue of the sky.  For the first time in a week, I realised I could listen to the bush properly.  Hear the birds singing, the frogs droning, and the wallabies skulking through the forest. The bush came alive again.

I was walking along, in deep contemplation about the likelihood of seeing snakes, when I saw an emu further up the track. I’d come across a  day hiker earlier, a local, who warned me that the snakes “were starting to wake up.  I don’t have these poles for myself , they’re to prod off the snakes!”  I had also read a recent note in the hiker registration log at Cobboboonee Camp which read “Saw snake and leech”.  Exciting times to look forward too!

So, I was in deep thought when I saw this emu.  We stared at each other for a while, and I took a photo, even though I knew there was no way it was going to turn out.  It appeared to head off into the bush, and I slowly approached where it was standing. When I got to where I thought I had seen it, I marvelled at how such a big bird could disappear so quietly.  I turned around looking for it, and registered a strange squawking sound that I have never heard before, that could only belong to baby birds.  I had only just wondered to myself “Oh, I wonder if those are emu chicks”, when I heard a terrifying sound.

I heard a loud, vicious, threatening “nug, nug, nug, nug, nug” call, and looked up and into the maw of the beast. Beak wide open, feathers fluffed up all round the neck like a mane, angry eyes and only 15 metres away.  I had just enough time for my brain to register “oh, I was right” before it charged me.  I screamed, walking poles flailing like my life depended on it.  Luckily this deterred the crazed animal and it pivoted away from me and into the bush. 

I hustled. Where had it gone? I couldn’t see it.  I rounded a corner and saw an emu scurrying along the track.  Same one? Different one? I didn’t know.  I was terrified I was going to get jumped from the side of the track again.  I didn’t think about snakes for a while after that.

The afternoons walk is just as easy as the morning.  I spot the white and pink heath that is synonymous with this landscape.  Yellow robins are abundant, there are a gang of cockatoos that seem to follow me around screeching their lungs out, lizards rustle in the leaves, and I see a cat dart from one side of the track to the other.

I reach camp about 3.30pm.  There are a couple of fellows here, Geoff and Jamie, who are walking from Moleside (my stop tomorrow), back to Portland.  They seem happy to keep to themselves, but it is quite nice having other voices at the campground.

I’m now going to make the most of this dying sun to laze and read a bit before the cold of the night falls. By the way, I did see a leech.  Flicked it off my hand of all places.  Hope that’s the last of them!