Some courage is what I needed to approach the bong-smoking young man in the morning. In general, I don’t believe I have the right to tell anyone how to live their life, but there was a large list of pointers in my head, spun together during a bad night of hyped-up scatter braining. I managed to reduce an all out verbal assault to a friendly chat about how fast news travels on the trail (especially the bad things) and acted with dumbfound surprise when Alex told me he was still making coffee at eleven thirty at night. In my experience hikers generally go to bed just after dark due to exhaustion and the need to recover one’s sore bits. Every minute of sleep is a gift of energy the next day - an extra lit up bar on the mobile. Any break in sleep transmission is hugely frowned upon. The man wasn’t my son - if he was , he would have copped the full list of amendments, misguided behaviours and broken laws I could have mustered. I am not sure if Alex got the message or whether the answer is still ‘blowing in the wind’.
Another personal opinion point has to be made I feel, right here. Walking the Larapinta is an incredible experience in its self, bordering at times, on the mind altering. No other substance is needed to enjoy it in its full glory. Endorphins, adrenaline, mates and the sheer beauty of the place will see you through. I promise!
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| Fire is Life - Survivor |
Some courage is what I needed to approach the bong-smoking young man in the morning. In general, I don’t believe I have the right to tell anyone how to live their life, but there was a large list of pointers in my head, spun together during a bad night of hyped-up scatter braining. I managed to reduce an all out verbal assault to a friendly chat about how fast news travels on the trail (especially the bad things) and acted with dumbfound surprise when Alex told me he was still making coffee at eleven thirty at night. In my experience hikers generally go to bed just after dark due to exhaustion and the need to recover one’s sore bits. Every minute of sleep is a gift of energy the next day - an extra lit up bar on the mobile. Any break in sleep transmission is hugely frowned upon. The man wasn’t my son - if he was , he would have copped the full list of amendments, misguided behaviours and broken laws I could have mustered. I am not sure if Alex got the message or whether the answer is still ‘blowing in the wind’.
Another personal opinion point has to be made I feel, right here. Walking the Larapinta is an incredible experience in its self, bordering at times, on the mind altering. No other substance is needed to enjoy it in its full glory. Endorphins, adrenaline, mates and the sheer beauty of the place will see you through. I promise!
Section 2: Jay Creek to Simpsons Gap
Section 2 is a 24.5km section. You will need to camp
overnight to finish the section.
It is a long distance with some steep ascents. Highlights
include walking through the home of the few brushtail possum colonies in
Central Australia and exploring a landscape of rock outcrops over 2 billion
years old.
Information from the Government website
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| The rebel colonies of possums in the red heart of Australia |
In Australia the possum or Trichosurus Vulpecula is now a protected species with the exception of Tasmania where they are still hunted for their hide. The fast talking Kiwi, Douglas, told me that brushtail possums were an introduced species to New Zealand in 1840. The breading in the wild went, shall I say, better than expected with the population reaching an estimated 70 million. Prolific!! The main problem for NZ is that possums carry Bovine Tuberculosis, a nasty chronic infectious disease, which still is seriously affecting life stock throughout the country. Nevertheless, it was kind of strange hearing how the man was talking about knocking off cute little possums by their thousands.
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| Cute but deadly, photo courtesy of Pinterest |
Tuesday 26 July 2013
My lawyer and I walked together on this day and involved ourselves in my
favourite past-time, a good dose of 'walk and talk' therapy.
I found out he did several tours as
an army lawyer in Iraq. This meant that
he was away from his family, who were in Brisbane, for extended periods of time and living
in a country at war. After many years of service to his country, my hiking attorney found out that he had bladder
cancer in the classical way. Finding blood
in his urine.
What followed must have been a nightmare. The
operation was very intrusive where everything was lifted out, the bladder
removed and everything lifted back in its place. 'Oh yeah, and by the way you
get to pee in bag for the rest of your
life'. I could not even begin to imagine being on the wrong end of those words. The consequences...
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It was obvious the man of the law was struggling
physically on this track. The time between his bout of cancer to hiking a tough
trail was relatively short. The decision to punish one self in the land of the caterpillar
is a courageous and understandable one. Having stared death square in the eyes and
defeated its glare ‘now’ is as good a time to hike as ever before. Outrageous
solitude, absolute natural splendour and the physical test of all tests - the answer
to a life almost lost. If I had my last day on earth please let me climb
Razorback Ridge, watch the stars from Brinkley Bluff and soar through the
Heavitree Valley.
The self-deprecating humour and sparkling personality, drawing every hiker in. It was truly an honour to walk alongside, bask in the positive vibes and talk the
kilometres away with this man.
We strolled into Mulga Camp ridiculously early. Roz
and John had all ready set up and the afternoon just went as I had hoped. Lunch at the campsite, how unusual. A chance to rest our tender bits, lots of
laughter with great conversations all around.
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| Roz in a good mood |
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| John enjoying himself |
Believe it or not, a bon-fire spontaneously combusted in the evening. Only during emergencies are fires allowed on the Larapinta track. Ormiston Gorge, Ellery Creek and Standley Chasm being the exception. After an hour of deliberating the degree of criminality of the illicit flames we took the law into our own hands and extinguished the prohibited fire.
The jury was unanimous, a great day on the track.
Grey Bits
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| The offending fire is clearly being arrested |
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