Thursday, May 05, 2016 – 17.86 km
I left the pub around 7:00 this morning, realized after walking several blocks that I still had my room key, and scurried back to slip it under the locked door. I chose to view this incident as ‘Discovered mistake so quickly! 🙂 ‘ rather than ‘Blatant incompetence before hike has even started 😦 ‘.
An initial bout of road-walking westwards from Quorn transformed into fence-walking with pointless ups and downs. One could technically contour across the landscape, but it’s private property. The pastoral scenery was pretty in the morning light, though.
I reached Dutchman’s Stern Conservation Park, where the Dutchman’s Stern hike (~6 km) intersects with the HT. I highly recommend it – the views were amazing and the best scenery all day.
I slackpacked by leaving my pack at the second junction and returning to the first junction along the Dutchman’s Stern trail.
I ended the day at Dutchman’s Hut. It’s posh, with a microwave, kettle and flush toilet! And rat traps, but a microwave, kettle and flush toilet! It shares the property with other buildings, I think a private residence and some sort of B&B. The rainwater tanks had plenty of water.
The Aussie couple I met on the bus to Quorn arrived an hour after I did, and we talked about gear, trail food and trails. They’ve hiked the Bibbulmun Track and also the Larapinta, which is on my to-do list. No one else arrived tonight, and the Aussies are heading back to Quorn tomorrow, so I’ll have the next section of trail to myself.
Rat report: 0 rats seen.
