Friday, September 23, 2016 – 16 km

More stream crossings this morning. I counted six within the first half hour, but then was treated to a beautifully constructed trail up to the summit of Mt. Brown, where an observation tower offered a fantastic view.

After the tower, the HT crossed a rocky piece of ground and began following fences. It was quite risque in requesting hikers to cross a fence without a stile (oooh). Though Heysen markers sometimes jump mysteriously from one side of a fence to the other, they had never pointed me straight over before.

The water tank at Catninga Shed is free for all hikers to use, but you have to hop a fence to get there. The building looked, well, like a shed. I wouldn’t pay much to stay there (I heard but haven’t confirmed that the price is $50), but you never know – maybe there’s rum inside. The hilly terrain was strenuous, and I started listening to an audiobook to distract myself: Lolita. Whoa. If people have tried to get Harry Potter banned, they must have tried to ban Lolita.

I had an odd incident today where I started smelling gas. Apparently my fuel canister was leaking, sans stove. A faint hiss was audible when I placed it to my ear. I connected the stove, at which point there seemed to be no leak, then removed it. Still no apparent leakage. I monitored the canister for the rest of the day, but didn’t smell gas again. I’ll keep an eye on it.