Sunday, May 15, 2016 - 16.99 km I slept badly last night due to paranoia about mice/sleeping bag/tetanus shots - seeing a mouse scurrying down my bunk certainly didn't help - and woke feeling weak and nauseous this morning. Unsure whether it's because of the lack of sleep or something else. Maybe I need a …
Tag: australia
The Heysen 11: Back to the Trail
Saturday, May 14, 2016 - 20 km Leaving Hawker this morning, I returned to the Heysen via a ~6 km highway walk. It was pleasanter than your average highway walk, with minimal traffic and a flat gravel shoulder of 1-1.5 metres lining the road. Roadkill was scattered around generously though and I could have lived …
The Heysen 10: Rest Day #2
Friday, May 13, 2016 As the only tenter, I attracted attention and a couple invited me over to talk this morning. They turned out to be trail angels, generously giving me a spare headnet and pen, buying me dinner and offering to drive me to Quorn to get a gas canister (I refused the last). …
The Heysen 9: In Town
Thursday, May 12, 2016 I decided to rest for two days in Hawker. Despite being a tiny town with a population of around 300 people, Hawker contains a police station and hospital... not to jinx future hikers by mentioning that. The biggest tourist attraction is a panoramic painting of the view from St. Mary's Peak …
The Heysen 8: Back to Civilization
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 9.84 km https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49460270468/in/dateposted-public/ My original plan for today was to hike from Mt. Elm Campsite to Jarvis Hill Trailhead, then begin the next section of the HT along Yourambulla Ridge before entering Hawker for resupply/rest via the next exit point. That plan was based on the fact that I wanted …
The Heysen 7: Historical Fences
Tuesday, May 10, 2016 - 16.14 km The weather improved overnight and the sky was clear in the morning. Today's hiking was a mix of roadwalking, fence-walking (am I confusing people with this term? Maybe I should say fence-following), and a small amount of cross-country probably following some historical fence. A higher elevation section before …
The Heysen 6: HGTTG
Monday, May 09, 2016 - 19.03 km Today's weather was the same as yesterday's, but the walk was less exposed and didn't present much difficulty other than the mud. A tiny bit of single track (rare!), preceded fence-walking and roadwalking through hilly country. https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49459828903/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49460972117/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49460739216/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49459830893/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/186593395@N08/49459831108/in/dateposted-public/ Calabrinda Creek Campsite was bizarrely located on …
The Heysen 5: Safety Pins
Sunday, May 08, 2016 - 22.05 km I woke up at 10:00 PM, 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM, and rain was pouring down every time. My tent floor soaked through beneath my air mattress, but nothing else got wet. The downpour continued through breakfast and I knew that today's walking would involve exposure in traversing …
The Heysen 4: Mapfail
Saturday, May 07, 2016 - 11.87 km I only hiked 11.87 km today... and it was exhausting. Let me start by explaining something about the HT maps: the HT is represented by a thick blue line transposed over another line showing you whether the route uses 4wd track, road, walking trail or no path at …
The Heysen 3: Flies
Friday, May 06, 2016 - 16.22 km Some excerpts from today's journal notes: 'Terrible flies, shouldn't they land on animal crap somewhere, failure as flies''Flies terrible!!! 100 at once. Piggyback on backpack.''Flies miserable. Almost insufferable but haven't committed suicide.''Flies inside tent - happy to be two centimetres from eyes until made to be two centimetres …
The Heysen 2: Day 1
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 …
The Heysen 1: Logistics
Wednesday, May 04, 2016 The primary resource for HT hikers is the Friends of the Heysen Trail and Other Walking Trails' website. Currently it's not 100% accurate (for instance, the transport listings need updating and one of the links leads to someone's unrelated blog) but it contains useful information about trail towns, campsites and the …
The Heysen Trail: Introduction
Located in the lovely land of South Australia, the Heysen Trail extends for 1200 kilometres (more or less) from Cape Jervis to Parachilna Gorge Road. Scenery includes the Flinders Ranges, the hilly country around Adelaide and a chunk of coastline, with the route crossing both public and private land. The trail itself contains some single …
BANE OF THE TRAIL 