Total Distance – 469.5km
A Heysen Trail Story
As it turned out, my biggest concerns last night were not little critters, but completely man made objects. No sooner had all of us tucked up into bed then BEEP! Pause. And then BEEP! Pause. And then BEEP! again. The battery in the smoke detector must have died.
Mark, as the only person whose career title was “fire fighter” was quickly nominated as the person best placed to get out of their warm sleeping bag and deal with this issue. With no way of turning it off, the offending alarm was quickly banished to the outhouse.
Ahhhhh. Blissful peace. Until I was awoken at 1am by BEEP! Pause. And then BEEP! Pause. And then BEEP! again. The smoke detector in the other room was now also throwing a hissy fit. With no sign of movement from the lower level of sleepers, I steeled myself and got up to investigate.
There it was. Beeping and flashing away. Well out of arms length even after standing on a chair. The cold forced me to climb into the windowsill and manouveur with all the skills of Spiderman. I pull the raucous alarm off and scurry out to the dunny block. Throw it in there like it’s a live grenade into a bomb containment facility and run back to cover. It happily beeps away with it’s mate all night.
The walk today seems like such a short little one! Just 13km. Such a sweet, little thing. I lie in bed reading for a bit until routine gets the better of me. I get up and get cracking. I leave just half an hour later than I usually do.
And by cracking I mean cracking because it was positively freezing! Reaching a private pasture, I stopped with the intention of taking a quick toilet break and getting my gloves and rain pants on. Such was the cold. To my dismay, I found that the tie on my shorts had become completely knotted, and there was absolutely no way these frozen fingers were going to get that knot undone!
Only thing to do was to get my longs and gloves on and keep going. My theory being, that as soon as my fingers were warm enough to undo the bloody knot, I would stop again. This definitely needed to occur as soon as possible!
I had just about reached that point when, unexpectedly, a fellow came riding up to me on a motorbike. Dog panting behind. He pleasantly informed me that him and his mates were mustering a large herd of sheep and could I please assist by walking in a certain manner, and not scaring them back in the direction they were coming from. I could hear the farmers loud calls and the thundering hooves and noise of the sheep on the move.
The rider then informed me that he would have offered me a ride, but that there was no room on the bike. The dog promptly jumped up, and off they rode together. The dog with a smug smile on it’s face.
I was in a sheep muster! But I was also absolutely busting, and there was people in unknown locations all over the mountains. Nothing for it but to soldier, very carefully, on.
Sheep continued to pour down the mountain, weaving in and out of the thousands of grass trees which grew there. Unable to bear it any longer, I picked a likely spot, and went for it. All good. Knot undone. No people observed. A couple of sheep put out. Winner.
It really seemed like I finished the walk as soon as I started. Perhaps 13km is a little too short for me now? It was easy walking, all down hill though. We’ll see. It’s nice just to have a relax in the tent reading my book and listening to podcasts. That’s what a holiday is for right?
It’s now 4.30pm and I have on practically every piece of clothing I own. I think cold might be an understatement for tonight.
Ha ha Lin, a good read! I sympathise with all the trials that good old Mr Heysen has sent to test your resolve. So far, you are standing tall! xxxxxxx
Sometimes when you’ve gotta go, you’ve just GOTTA go!!
Such a ridiculous scenario in the wilderness of pastoral SA!!
Unbelievable! How is it that you are out in the wilds, have seen hardly any other people, yet when you need pit stop, you are surrounded by people, sheep AND a smug dog!! lol