We emerged from the tent pretty late this morning. Allen and Aiden were already up and we joined them in the shelter for brekkie. After packing up we left the campsite around 10:30. The hike before lunch was all inland through mostly open Eucalypt forest, with some patches that looked like temperate rain forest. Sytske and I swapped knowledge of the biota. We spotted a few birds but no large animals. We found out why when we caught up to a group of elderly hikers from Sydney tramping through the forest like the Elephant Brigade from the Jungle Book. Sytske got a chuckle out of that wisecrack. They said they saw a black wallaby a little ways back run off the trail. We made sure to pass them before they disturbed anymore of our wildlife.
After ~10 km we arrived at Blanket Bay, where we lunched. There were many dead birds on the beach and even a dead seal. I guess it must happen on more accessible beaches too, but on this remote one no one is there to clean it up. We stopped for a while and I took a short nap. At about 3 PM we pressed on, determined to make it to the Cape Otway campsite just past the lighthouse.
Not long after lunch we had to take our boots of to cross the 10-foot wide Parker Inlet. That was a little annoying. Then we had to climb Parker’s Hill. That was also a little annoying. Then when we got to the top I went to take a photo of the view and found that my lens cap was gone. I had to run all the way down the hill and found the cap where it fell out of my pocket as I was putting my boots back on then run all the way back up the 293 stone steps. That was really annoying.
But we continued on, needing to cover about 10 km of track just inland from the coast. One of the best parts of the hike so far is how the vegetation and environments change so dramatically so often. At one point we broke out onto a road and could see the lighthouse off in the distance, 4 km away. This was at about 5 PM. We pressed on and Sytske and I we re both getting cranky and tired. The trail continued just off to the side of a paved road and the flies were relentless, adding to our woes.
But then we spotted a koala, two black wallabies, and an echidna in short succession and those spotting definitely raised our spirits. We trudged on, past the lighthouse (which was already closed to the public because it was so late) and finally arrived at the campsite close to 7 PM. There was a group occupying the group site but that was it. We chose a site (we had 8 to choose from), set up the tent and made dinner, first 4-cheese pasta and then Mi Goreng.
For after-dinner entertainment a koala climbed right up a tree right in front of us, munching away on the tree’s few remaining leaves. As I write this now the stars are starting to come out. I’ll probably sit and enjoy them for a minute before I go to bed—it’s not too cold, although I realize I should have brought pants. We are now a third of the way through the hike, both in distance and time.
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