A Dangerous Business

Before I start, I apologise for the delay in getting this post out. I would’ve liked to have written this about a week ago, but I was delayed by a weekend trip I took with my housemates (fun) and a bout of food poisoning once I arrived home (not fun).

Best walk I’ve ever done?

That’s the question I’ve been asking myself for the past week. It’s got a high bar to clear to claim that title, I’ve completed a lot of world-class walks in my time. But I think it’s got a good case behind it. Let’s examine it:

The Good

– The views. Oh my word, the views. I explored the Great Ocean Road on a family road trip about 10 years ago, so this region isn’t new to me. The trouble with the road is that it spends a decent amount of time going inland away from the ocean (Great Inland Road just doesn’t have the same ring to it…). Although there were a couple sections on days 2 and 4 where the trail did go a few km’s inland, for the most part it sticks to the coast, giving you the chance to see parts that those driving through don’t get a chance to.

– After the campsites on Carnarvon, the ones on this track were luxurious. Each one had eight distinct campsites giving a decent amount of privacy, a cosy shelter to eat at and converse with my fellow walkers, and a composting toilet that really wasn’t that smelly. Heck, the campsite at Cape Otway had USB chargers and lighting! Of course I’d prefer a hut with its rigid walls and bunks, but for what it’s worth, these campsites were perfectly comfortable.

– Having public transport available to and from both trailheads was fantastic and was one of the main reasons why I chose this track (not to mention the $10 daily fare cap for regional travel in Victoria). I didn’t check to see how much hiring a car would’ve cost me, but I’d expect it to be in the hundreds of dollars. Granted the bus from the Apostles to Warrnambool only runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but that can be easily planned for if you’re doing a 5 day journey like me, or the full 8 days like those smarter than me would do.

– Having people to talk to at the campsites. Big shout out to Dana, Sam, James, and Tom for making this trip so memorable. It was great getting to share the trail with you and I wish you guys all the best for your future adventures!

The Bad

– This isn’t really a problem with the track itself, but I still had issues with shoulder pain for large stretches of the track. I’m thinking it’s got something to do with how I’m packing my pack, as it always felt like there was more weight on my left side. I’m hoping to meet with a physio before I leave for Kiwiland to get some help with that.

– I spent most of the last 2 days walking with a cloud of black midges swarming around my face. Whilst they don’t bite, it was super frustrating that they wouldn’t leave me alone. I don’t think insect repellent would’ve helped as they rarely landed on me. That’s just something I need to get used to, especially with the sandfiles I’ll be dealing with over the ditch.

– The constant ups and downs in The Pain Zone on day 4 was probably the most annoying part of the track, but there isn’t much I can do about it. That’s just what the terrain around that part of the coast is like, so the track has got to follow it.

Although the track quality was better than Carnarvon’s, it was still a physically demanding hike. Three days walking over 20 km averaging close to 4 km/h really takes it out of you. But I did it, giving me a tonne of confidence in my physical capabilities leading into Te Araroa considering how many long days I plan to be having. They’re not always the most fun, but knowing I can do them is a nice feeling. I can also confidently say that my mood and attitude across the Great Ocean Walk was way better than it had been on the Carnarvon Great Walk, greatly helping how I experienced the trail. It still needs more work, mostly around me just accepting and eventually embracing being out on trail for 8+ hours before reaching that night’s rest point. I can see that being a huge barrier to my enjoyment and potential completion of Te Araroa, and I don’t really have a good strategy to overcome it other than to just suck it up and get used to it.

So anyway, what did I do once I got back to Melbourne? Well, I tried to get to sleep in my hostel room, but for some unexplained reason the temperature inside the room was set to presumably the “Brisbane in summer” setting. In other words, stupid hot. Eventually the cold Melbourne air wafting through the open window cooled it down enough to where I could get comfortable, granted this was around 3:30… and I wanted to get up around 8…

Long story short, I pushed my alarm back a bit, waking up at 8:30 and heading over to the Melbourne Central area to get brekkie at Operator Diner. I started getting pancake cravings on the train from Warrnambool and this place looked like it could satisfy them. It did, notwithstanding the fact that I always run into the issue of pancakes filling me up extremely fast so I can only eat a couple in a sitting. I returned to my hostel and packed my bag, being very self-conscious of all the noise I was making; plastic pack liners might just be one of the loudest things in the world.

Once that was done and I had checked out, I made my way over to Southern Cross, dumped my pack in a locker and did what any normal Melbourne tourist would do…

…I tried to go on as many trams as possible.

Look, I never claimed to not be weird, I like trams. I hope that was plainly clear by some of my previous posts. I had a great opportunity to explore this city’s tram network, so I took it, with the secondary goal of trying to get on at least one of every class of tram. That bit I sadly couldn’t do, but I still had a great time, even adding in a couple trains during that time. At 1pm, I popped over to a laneway near Melbourne Central to grab a final overpriced coffee, took a final train around the city circle to Southern Cross, grabbed my bag and said a sad farewell to a pretty cool city.

Granted I don’t think I’d want to live down here, everything seems a lot more expensive than up in Brisbane. To be fair, that’s the nice thing about being a tourist, never leaving the honeymoon phase when visiting someplace new and therefore being able to ignore the issues that living here long-term would reveal.

The rest of my trip was rather uneventful, with a nice flight back to the Sunshine State on Rex, with mum picking me up from the airport (thank goodness I didn’t have to park or take the train).

Would I do the Great Ocean Walk again? For sure, but not in 5 days and not in the near future. I’ve got a feeling that Te Araroa will exhaust my hiking batteries for quite a while, but yes, someday I hope to be back.