Tuesday, May 17, 2016 – 10.4 km
I packed up my tent as soon as I woke up this morning, but lingered at Bridle Gap trying to inspire myself to eat breakfast. I’m feeling less sick now, but haven’t had an appetite since Mayo Hut.
When I finally got on the trail, man was the walking easy! There haven’t been many days on the Heysen when I’ve thought ‘this is easy’ (actually there have been none) but that’s what I thought today. After a short descent into Wilpena Pound on single track, I completed an eerily flat stroll to the Wilpena trailhead. The scenery was peaceful and pretty and Wilpena Creek was running, which makes it the first running creek I’ve seen on the Heysen.
I saw some euros (the animals, not the money… unfortunately).
The Wilpena Pound Campground has a store, but due to assuming that the selection would be limited and pricey, I had contacted the visitor centre in advance for permission to send a resupply package. Today is one day past my ETA due to my extra rest day in Hawker, and I was hoping to not experience anything similar to the ‘lost hiker’ AZT incident that now makes me laugh but didn’t amuse me at the time. It turned out to be the exact opposite: when I arrived at the visitor centre, no one knew where the box was. The employees were kind and helpful in making calls to various, increasingly outlandish places in an attempt to find the box (at one point there was a theory that it had been left at the bus station in Hawker, but I still don’t understand the logic behind why it would be there). The situation was looking increasingly bad and I began browsing through the plain pasta selection, but finally the package was located at the Wilpena Resort reception desk after two calls there. The first time they had forgotten they had the box, but I guess the second jogged a memory and/or inspired a search. One of the receptionists said ‘oh good, someone came to pick up the box’ to the other receptionist when I arrived, so it wasn’t Illuminati-level knowledge. So! If you send a resupply package to Wilpena, know that the employees are now experienced in the ways of resupply packages. Also check reception first.
