A Dangerous Business

Date: 4th September 2023

Start: Consuelo Camping Zone

End: Carnarvon Visitors Centre

Distance Walked: 29.1 km

Current Song Stuck in Head: various songs from Hamilton

Desire to do any sort of hiking involving hills in the near future: nil

At the third time of asking, I finally got out of bed when I said I would. Perhaps foolishly, I decided to skip breakfast and just make myself a coffee before packing up and leaving. Considering how much I was worrying before I started about whether I had enough food, I really haven’t eaten as much as I thought I would. I can’t tell whether that’s a good thing or not, but I just haven’t been that hungry.

The group of four that arrived last night were the first to leave around 7:40, followed by me 10 minutes later. By this point, I had been nursing several fairly large blisters on my feet. Although I would cover them with band aids before I left each camp, as soon as my feet started sweating (which didn’t take long), they’d fall off. Even just having the pressure of them against the backs of my shoes was quite painful, meaning that I was basically limping for the first 100 metres. A side effect of this was that I developed a pretty bad attitude towards how I tackled the day’s walk. It became less about immersing myself in my surroundings and more about just getting it done. It’s something that’s, regrettably, becoming increasingly common for me and it’s making me lose my passion for coming out to these sort of places.

The first leg to Cabbage Tree was by far the easiest section of the walk: 13.8 km along a practically flat 4WD track through a forest of tall stringybarks.

Again, because of my mindset to complete today’s walk as fast as possible, I was rapid through this section. I only stopped a couple times to shed a layer and take a couple photos or shots with the GoPro. Every small hill just increased my frustration at still bring on track, wincing as every step further damaged my heels. All in all, I managed to reach Cabbage Tree campsite in 2 hours 50 minutes. At the time I was very pleased with this, but reflecting back I’m honestly disappointed with myself. Not just because I had a bad attitude, but might’ve worsened the blisters on my feet.

I spent about 20 minutes there refilling my water bladder and my stomach. The group of 4 came a few minutes after I arrived and had a proper lunch. They seemed a lot more cheery than me and were clearly actually enjoying the walk and not caring about when they finished. Their energy is something I hope to imitate, not being so worried about the time and how far I had to go, but just being present in the present (ugh, that was way too cheesy).

The final section from here back to the gorge was my worst section. It was not any harder than any of the previous sections, but in the physical and mental condition that I was in, I did not approach it in a good way at all. Continuing to head west for a couple km, the tableland narrows into a thin ridge, with the track then turning south, descending into a valley. The 4WD track ran out on this ridge, so it was back to the classic game of marker-following.

This valley was in a rough shape. I couldn’t tell whether it was naturally like this, or if it was the aftermath of backburning, or of it was the doing of feral animals like brumbies. Either way, it did make navigating a bit difficult, with several instances of my losing the track and having to scan for any orange markers, supplemented by a quick gander at my AllTrails map. It wasn’t the prettiest sight by any stretch of the imagination, which didn’t really help my mood.

Then came the climb up to Boolimba Bluff. I knew this climb was coming when I examined my topographical map the day prior and I saw it coming on AllTrails. But even so, even when it was a fairly gentle slope, even when I got up it pretty quickly, I was done. It was the middle of the day, I had little to no shade going up to the ridge. The end result: complete and utter exhaustion. I no longer had any interest in the track and the views it brought, all I now cared about was getting to the end.

So I rushed, tunnel visioned on the perceived relief I would feel once I crossed over Carnarvon Creek for the final time. Even as I looked through the trees see the views beyond them, I could only stop for the briefest of moments to whip out my phone, take a quick snap before dashing off again.

So determined was I to complete the track that I made the decision to not go out to Boolimba Bluff. It would’ve added an extra 1.4 km, which at the time I just couldn’t justify, even when I could’ve dumped my pack at the intersection and gone there unimpeded. To be fair, after seeing the photos that my parents took when they came up there, I don’t think I missed much. Sure, it’s a sick view, but it doesn’t top Battleship Spur.

Then there was the descent off the bluff, rivalling the climb I did on day 1 for steepness. The main difference here was that this part of the route is built and marketed for day hikers so it’s of a higher quality than the climb up Battleship Spur. It still involves hundreds of steps and a few ladders to descend into the gorge. It took some of the pressure off my heels, instead giving my knees as a good test of their abilities. I haven’t had to deal with any major issues involving them yet, but I still had an inkling of patience that allowed me to take my time coming down.

Once I got through the worst of it, the track levelled out, leaving me with an easy tramp over the main gorge walk back to the visitor’s centre. With a loud groan, I dumped my pack on the ground, stopped my AllTrails, and soaked in what I had just accomplished: walking 87 km in just 4 days.

Mum and dad picked me up and transported me back to the campsite where I took off my boots and assessed the damage. It… wasn’t great. The blister that had formed on day 1 had grown significantly, joined by a similar one on my left foot. I’m still trying to piece together what exactly caused these to form, because I’ve never had issues with blistering on a long time before now. The main 3 factors I can think of are 1: I was wearing a fairly new pair of boots that may not have been broken in fully, 2: the heat (far hotter than I had experienced in NZ and Tassie, and/or 3: the length and lower quality of the track. Whatever it is, I’d really like to know fast. I’ve got a week between finishing this track and starting the Great Ocean Walk in Victoria so it’s imperative that I heal quickly and I figure out how I can prevent this from happening down there. If it’s the climate, then I don’t have to do anything, Victoria is quite a bit colder this time of year. But if it’s the boots themselves or the length of track I’m walking each day, then we’re gonna have some problems.

Despite this, I’m glad I came out here to do this circuit and there’s plenty of great memories that I can take away from this place. The gorge is a beautiful place that is totally worth visiting and if you’re up for the challenge, then do the Great Walk! I’ll post a more detailed debrief of this trail in the coming days (hopefully with some deets on what’s causing my foot problems), along with a preview of my journey to Victoria. Why on Earth did I schedule these trips so close together…