Survival - 16. Surv Chapter 16

Once we were off the ferry at Devonport, we started to look for ways to get to Port Davey, which was one thing that we had overlooked, not realising that it is a remote area. After some searching, we learnt that there is a bus service from Devonport to Derwent Bridge, via Queenstown, which will take over seven hours, which we were not too keen on, and we eventually found a charter bus company, that can get us from Devonport to Port Davey in 5 ½ hours, and we decided to take that option.

Before boarding our bus, we did a big food and supplies shop, of which some was packed into a plastic crate, and would be dropped off at Melaleuca in 8 days’ time, by the local small airline service. Once that was done, and we had all our food, water, camping gear, first aid kit and extra fuel cannisters packed away in our backpacks, we boarded the bus, just after 12 noon, and we stopped once in the small town of Bothwell, for a rest break and a light meal, which will be our last decent meal in quite some time.

I also took the opportunity to send a message to Uncle Nat. “Plans have changed, we caught the overnight ferry to Tasmania last night, and we are on route to Port Davey, in the South West National Park, to start a 6-day, 71-km hike on the Port Davey track to Melaleuca.

If all goes well, we will collect our drop off supplies from there, and continue the South Coast Track to Cockle Creek, which is an 86 km hike over 7 days. We will send a postcard from Melaleuca, before we start the next stage of the hike. Love Jacob”. Once I had sent the message, I turned off the phone to conserve the battery. Over the past two days of travelling, Will and I had got to know each other well, and we enjoyed each other’s company, which I was pleased about.

When the bus arrived at the Port Davey campsite, we thanked the driver and unloaded our luggage, and checked in with the ranger station, to let them know our plans. Before it became too dark, we unpacked and repacked out backpacks, to make sure everything was in order, and after a light dinner, using the first of our camping meals, we cleaned up and set up our tents, before going to bed.

Will has a compact two-man popup tent, while I have a three-man dome tent, to store our backpacks in, and for both of us to shelter in, if the weather gets bad, but our very first night was great, I slept very well, and woke to the sound of native bird calls, shortly after dawn. Once we had completed breakfast, used the long drop toilet, which stank bad, we packed up our camp, and began our first day of the trek.

It was just 8 kilometres to the first campsite of Junction Creek, and since we still had plenty of daylight, left, we decided to continue on to Crossing River campsite, which is a further 9 kilometres away, so after a short meal break at Junction Creek, we continued on, stopping every now and then to check out the wonderful views and to take a few photos.

Although the weather was clear, there was a strong wind, which did slow us down a little bit, but we were both keen to carry on, and we arrived at Crossing River about half an hour before dark, giving us just enough time to set up our tents, and to get dinner started. Will said that he had started a travel diary, and after we had eaten and cleaned up, he retreated to his tent to write up about today’s trek, while I enjoyed the cool evening air, and the fantastic display of stars in the sky.

Once again, we were both awake and up shortly after dawn, and we had a cup of tea first to warm us up, before making breakfast, and packing up camp. Our destination for day two, is Watershed Camp, which is a 14 km hike, a little shorter than the day before.

In the middle of the morning, it began to drizzle with a light rain, enough for the outsides of our backpacks and our wet weather gear to be soaked, but we mostly remained dry, at around noon, the drizzle had stopped enough to allow us to heat up some food for lunch, and we both changed our socks, to keep our feet dry and warm, which is very important for long distance hikes.

When we arrived at the Watershed camp, it was raining proper and so we set up the popup tent first, so as to stow away our backpacks, out of the rain, while we set up my tent, where we dried off and changed into some dry clothes, before starting to cook our dinner, taking great care not to set the tent alight.

When dinner was eaten, we decided to leave the backpacks in the smaller tent, and we retrieved out sleeping mats and sleeping bags, so we could share the bigger tent, which would help us to keep warm, as the temperatures were getting quite cool at night, even thou it is the middle of summer.

The next morning, it was not raining, but there was a very strong wind, which made us struggle a bit with packing up, and we were about an hour behind time, by the time we left the campsite on our third day of our hike, and Will had commented that he was glad that we had chosen to come to Tasmania, as the scenery was spectacular, and he was doing a lot better than expected with the long distance hiking.

Today we had a 15 km hike to our next campsite at Spring River, and the rain held off for most of the day, with it beginning to drizzle about half an hour before we arrived at our next campsite. Suspecting that we may be in for some heavy rain, I pulled out the waterproof ground sheet, that I carried as a backup, if any of the tents were damages, and locating two shrubs far enough apart, I set up a thin rope between the two shrubs, the slung the ground sheet over it, and pegged down each of the corners.

Once this was done, we set up the two tents underneath the ground sheet, which gave us extra weather protection from rain and the wind, and a dry area between the two tents, which are facing each other, about a metre apart, which was enough room to do our cooking for the night. Once again, we left the backpacks in the smaller tent, and we both slept in my tent, as it helped us to stay warm.

During the night, the wind began howling, and the rain was coming down in bucket loads, luckily, we fairly protected from the winds, by the group of shrubs that surround us, and the extra sheet covering the top of us. I reluctantly climbed out of bed to check all the pegs, to make sure they hadn’t lifted with the strong winds, and I added a few more pegs just to be sure.

In the morning, the wind was still howling, and it was now snowing, and we decided that since we are sheltered, that we would stay put for today, in hoe that the weather would calm down a little tomorrow. Will had a pack of cards, so after breakfast, we started to play rummy, then snap, until we decided to have a break, and while Will was out taking a pee, I began a game of Solitaire.

By mid-afternoon, we noticed that the temperature was dropping, so we put on an extra layer of clothes, and climbed into our sleeping bags, to keep warm, and instead of having dinner that night, we just ate some light snacks, as we now had to start rationing our food supplies, even thou we had enough food for nine days, and with just two days till we reach Melaleuca, I wasn’t going to take any chances.

Thankfully the next morning, we woke up to clear skies, and just a light breeze, but there was a good covering of snow on the ground, but thankfully the track is clearly marked, and after a quick breakfast, we packed up and started our day of trekking, hoping that the weather would hold off at least until we get across Narrow Crossing.

With the unpredictability, I decided that from now on, we would set up the camp like we had for the past two nights, to give us more wind protection, and give us a semi covered are to cook our meals. Once we had made the short boat trip across Bathurst Harbour, we walked for about a kilometre, until we found a good clump of shrubs, that would provide us with plenty of shelter.

On our last night on the Port Davy Track, we had no rain or snow, but the wind was strong for most of the night, and in the morning, we had a good size breakfast and packed up, to begin our last day on this track. Today, we had to tackle a mountain, with an 80 metre climb up then about the same on the way down the other side, which took a bit of time to complete, but thankfully the rest of the day, we were on flat ground.

By the time we approached Melaleuca, it was raining heavily, and thankfully there is a hiker’s hut there, and we were able to dry off and enjoy the warmth of the hut with its stove. The park ranger called in just before dark, and we were informed that the plane had been delayed due to bad weather, and he was not sure how long it would be.

Thankfully we still had some food to last us for a few more days, so we just relaxed and enjoyed the roominess of the cabin, which had no other hikers staying, but that was not going to last for long.

By early afternoon then next day, four hikers who had just completed the South Coast hike, had arrived, and they we are planning on flying back out.

By the late afternoon, six more hikers arrived, who had just completed the Port Davey rack, and like us were planning on continuing along the South Coast track, and although there are 18 bunks in the hut, it was already beginning to get over crowded.

When the ranger arrived, just before dark, to pass on the information about more delays for the plane, he was this time carrying a plastic crate, which I recognised to be ours, and he apologised for mislaying our food supplies, which had arrived three days ago, just before the storms arrived. I handed the ranger a letter and asked him to pass it on to the ranger, for it to be posted, which he agreed to do.

Pleased that we now had our food supplies, we packed it all into our two backpacks, with plans to leave the hut early the next day, no matter what the weather is like. The next day, without disturbing the other hikers too much, we had a light breakfast, and set off on the next stage of our hiking expedition, with it still being quite windy, although the rain was holding off, and continued to do so for the whole day.

Our first camp on the South Coast track, is at Point Eric, with plenty of sheltered places to set up camp, which we were very pleased about, and once we had set up camp, we went for a walk along the beach, which was enjoyable, before we prepared a good size dinner, having had to do a fair amount of climbing up and down hills most of the day.

On day two of our trek on the South Coast, we came across a steep climb at Red Point Hill, about half way through the morning, and as we approached our next camp, we were glad to have completed our second day, with fairly good weather, and decided to set up camp at the second campsite on the other side of Louisa River, with another 16 kilometres of hiking behind us.

Day three, we woke up to see that it was drizzling, and we decided to keep on hiking, hoping that it will clear, later in the morning, so after a good breakfast, we packed up and continued on, Today we had only 12 kilometres to walk, but we had to go up and over the Iron Bounds Ranges, which is over 900 metres high, and it took us a good 9 hours to get to our next campsite at Little Deadman’s Bay, and that included a good 30 minute rest at the top of the ranges.

On day four, we would be walking just 9 ½ kilometres, with some of it walking along beaches, but we had to stop at a place called Grotto Creek, for a mandatory wash and scrubbing of our boots and tent pegs, to avoid carrying any diseases into a new section of the National Park.

When we reached a very long stretch of beach, we knew we were close to our next campsite at Prion Beach, where we have to cross over the New River Lagoon, also known as Milford Creek, and because it is fairly wide, there are boats with oars available for us to get across, and with no strong winds, we were able to make the crossing very easily.

The following day, the drizzle returned, as we entered an area of forest, which helped us a little with getting out of the strong winds, we had a few areas of small hills that we had to go up and down, and we also were in open beaches on two occasions, making it hard to walk, with the wind blowing directly into our faces.

At granite beach there is a small natural waterfall, but it was too cold to even attempt to have a fresh water shower, so we continued, till we reached the sheltered campsite, not that far from the waterfall. As we were setting up camp, the drizzle became rain, and the winds grew stronger, and we retreated under the ground cover for shelter, to set up the tents and start preparing dinner.

Will was complaining of having big blisters on his feet, so we decided that we would have a rest day tomorrow, since the bad weather has returned, and after dinner, I pulled out the first aid kit and gave Will two thick plasters to put over the blisters, to help protect them, and s the winds started getting stronger, we settled down for the night, and we eventually drifted off to sleep.

The next day, it was raining heavily, and the winds had not let up the whole night, so we prepared for a day of staying indoors, and to try andkeep busy, so we were not too bored. When the rain finally stopped, and the sun came out for a while, I decided to grab my dirty clothes and do some laundry in the creek, and Will followed my lead.

We have two more days of hiking to go, before we arrive at our destination, and in a way, I was looking forward to getting back home,even though it was another day and a bit of travelling to get back to Adelaide. Thankfully the rain stayed away for the rest of the afternoon, so we were able to get our laundry dry, and repacked into our backpacks, and we decided that we would continue tomorrow, no matter what the weather.