25/6/09

Up with dawn. Coffee via LES. Feel good. Going to explore this side of the river today - north along track up to camp 20. Out 12k walk (each way). Write diary, eat B'fast. Crazy roo on other side or river racing back and forth. Hilarious. Pack green shopping bag 4 day trip. Food: Nut Mix (finally located at bottom of food bag) left over dinner beans, rice and beef, 1 beef jerkey stick and dried fruits. C. 1l water. Knife, compass, map, camera, 1st aid kit, jeans (yes will be hot but safer) with Epirb strapped to waist. Hat. Sunnies. Tobacco. Sunscreen. Let's go. Depart 10:00am.

Walk is lovely. Through endless floodplains with waist high grasses, curiously uniform but spaced out little trees and the ubiquitous termite mounds. Periodically little turn offs to river and campsites. Nearly always deserted. Lovely little oasis amongst huge gums and almost rainforest feeling bush down to spooky rivers edge. Lovely big lagoon on left (west) about 2k up. Try to sneak up and spy crocs basking, but no luck - birds see me and explode into flight. Lots of small groups of different types of birds - some HUGE - some look like geese. Prob. Good eating. :) Being ultra careful near water - still scary. Trudge on. Hot now. Sweating in jeans. Feels great! Stop several times at shady places and just sit and drink it all in. So calm. Amazing feeling. Campsites get further and further apart the further north. HavenŐt seen any snakes but amazing birdlife, the occasional roo and a zillion tracks. Lots of goannas apparently.

Dust. Heat. Baked Earth, Isolation, dried up river beds. The best. These are the 'forgotten spaces' I always see from plane windows passing over and always wish I was there. Now I'm here. Wow. Shirt off occasionally. Apply sunscreen to arms. But need to work on my 'mid-winter-holiday' boasting tan. After Camp 17 long dry almost featureless section. Starts to become hard going. Eventually track comes alongside a long series of billabongs and waterholes, starting small and dry and eventually becoming huge, deep and lush. Water lillys and amazing birds - see 3 birds that I initially think might emus - then as I get closer - cassowaries? Round here? Maybe not - but HUGE! My chest height. One lazily flaps from one little bank to another. Easily 1.5m wingspan. Wow. See up ahead suddenly a small herd of cattle. Ah - so that's what been churning up the banks of these lagoons. And uh-oh. Bulls in there. Bout 8 of them. They spot me and take off - loping into the bush about 50m away. And yep - some of them have some terrifying looking horns. Gulp. Stop, wait, then cautiously continue. Approach one of the larger waterholes cautiously and quietly, shirt off so red fabric not so visible. Hoping to glimpse a basking croc as the park guide states should be possible round here. Scan the far banks - hard to see - they prob. blend in real well. Then 'SPLOSH' and I turn just in time to see a dark tail disappear into the water. Yep! That was one! Thought maybe quite small - 'bout 1.5m (I think) I'm about 6m away from the water and about 2m up. COOL!!!!

Trudge on. REALLY hot now & running low on water. Damn! About 600ml left and still not at end of track. Let alone return trip. Bugger. Put some pace on, and, when I almost despair, consult map and compass again and again - finally - there it is - Camp 20. The end of this track and the furthest north I have ever been in Australia. :) Go down to river, past camping father and son and sit. Again - dark, mysterious, semi-tropical, ominous and creepy. Doing the maths now. It's 2:15pm - has taken me 4 and a quarter hours to get here - but going mostly quite slowly. Dark at 6:30pm. Want to be back by 5:30. 4-500ml of water left. This is going to be kind of tough. So after 20mins rest - head out. The return trip is gruelling. Don't stop - only 3 sips. Keep going. Feeling dry. Keeping the thirst just at bay. Afternoon cloud cover (monsoonal I guess) helps and I set a good pace. 1st 1/3 is really hard but I cover 7km in 1 hour. Then it's familiar landmarks. Water almost gone but it's gonna be o.k. Last 1/3 totally gruelling. Feel like I'm in the army. But even manage to grab a couple of pieces of good hard wood - thick branches for the fire tonight - in the final 2k. And then. I'm back.

Throw down wood, charge to tent, grab water bottle, woop out loud and drink. Down to my little stone ridge over the river, drop the billy on the rope and haul up and soak myself down. Damn that feels good! What a walk! Awesome!

Interesting too - on the way out felt so clear and positive, then on return - imaginary conversations with C again. And anger. And bitterness. Is it always in the afternoon? Coffee come down? Hmmm...

Crash out in tent 4 a while, back out just before dusk. Down to my rock overlooking the river and sit. Think about plans for tomorrow. Try meditating again, then set fire. Big one tonight! Thinking of going tomorrow. Darkness falls - light fire when almost black. Best fire ever! Old ironwood burns bright and long! Gorgeous sliver of new moon rises in west. Eat dinner. Stay for a long-time walking around, sitting by fire, staring into flames, standing looking at stars (need to learn more constellations). Fire is compact but still merrily burning when I turn in around 9:00pm. Sleep more easily tonight. Less fear of crocs (but still knife out and at back of tent). Sleep through.
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