Hume and Hovell were clearly mad

Hume and Hovell were clearly mad. This is my summary of their exploits having just spent the long weekend walking a 35km section of the "Hume and Hovell" walking track. In actual fact, the walk was not too difficult, but when you consider the fact that we only had to walk for two days, with a nice beaten out track to follow (with mostly unambiguous sign posts), good maps, and only the occasional fallen tree to contend with, you start to appreciate the efforts of those who walked through this country without such comforts. Having said that, my whole body hurts, and after some staring in the mirror this morning, I suspect some beer gut shrinkage has occurred as a result of the weekends efforts (despite the scales telling me otherwise). I find that one can only stare at ones gut for so long, before objectivity is lost (and also because at some point, you need to release the air from your lungs and breathe again).

The full Hume and Hovell track spans about 440km, starting from Yass (80km North of Canberra), and ending on the banks of the Murray in Albury. We did what is typically regarded as the second section of this walk, which goes from Wee Jasper (about 90km West of Canberra) to a campsite just North of Brindabella rd, a mostly unsealed road that connects Canberra with Tumut. If this road were sealed, it would make an excellent alternative escape route out of Canberra to Melbourne (as opposed to driving 80 km North in order to get onto the Hume). In its current form, Brindabella rd is best appreciated in a four wheel drive (not a Lancer, as I have now come to accept).

Of course, I did not do the walk alone. I was joined by three other intrepid adventurers, each seeking to push the boundaries of human endurance, and conquer all that nature could possibly dish out. Thankfully, nature chose to serve up three of the most perfect hiking days one could hope for. Joining me for this trip was my eternally keen bushwalking partner, Affrica, and our friends Lee-Fay and Tim (who you may remember from previous posts, were recently married). Tim, like Aff, is a mad keen bush walker, and as I now realise, clearly not human, but rather a purpose built, hill climbing machine. In contrast, Lee-Fay is a self confessed "hater of hills", and as a result of Tim's influence, is a relatively recent inductee into the hikers guild. To put some background to this, last year Tim took Lee-Fay on a rather arduous overnight hike in the Brindabellas, forcing Lee-Fay to climb one of the larger mountains in the National Park. Despite Lee-Fay expressing on numerous occasions, her disapproval during the ascent (from all reports, the phrase "I am going to die", was most often used to express this), upon reaching the top of the mountain, she was rewarded with the sight of Tim going down on one knee, and asking her to marry him. So now Lee-Fay loves hiking :)

After speaking on the phone with my new best friend Warwick at the Wagga Wagga branch of the NSW Department of Lands, I suggested to my fellow adventurers that we consider walking in the opposite direction to the usual way (i.e. North instead of South). According to Wazza, walking north reduces the amount of uphill to do contend with, particularly on the last day. I have to say that apart from the last 5km of the walk, which was very much down hill, the rest of the walk was pretty up and down regardless of which direction you went. Wazza also asked me to count how many people we passed on our journey, and to keep a count of how many trees had fallen over the track (we passed 1 group of 8, and clambered over 14 fallen trees). I have to ring Wazza today to let him know the stats.

Overall, the walk was not too bad. We walked about 21km on the first day, which regardless of terrain, is a long day's walking. The second day was less, but much more uphill. The camp sites we stayed at were all excellent. Each one was beside a fast flowing creek, so there was plenty of water. And of course, each site had the obligatory pit toilet, complete with resident spider, serving to quietly remind you where you are as you sit down, and cautiously bare yourself to the squalor below. As you can probably gather, I am no fan of the pit toilet, but I must admit, there is something quite liberating about using one - perhaps its being in the bush, getting back to basics, becoming one with nature ... or maybe its just leaving a toilet without flushing.

Our crowning glory of the walk was climbing Mount Wee Jasper (1121 metres) on the last day, before descending into the valley below. There were no truly spectacular views from the top, but it was satisfying none the less. In general, the scenery was a real mix of beautifully forested valleys, and butt ugly pine plantations. For some reason, I find the sight of pine forest plantations a little eerie and disturbing. Its something to do with the look of the trees themselves, but also the precision in which they are harvested. You have sections of heavily forested areas, and then suddenly, it stops, and you are left with a barron, Martian like terrain. Of course, this eerie feeling was somewhat compounded by the sight of a sign reading: "Caution - Wild Dog Poison sprayed in this area".

At the end of the walk, we celebrated our triumphant arrival in Wee Jasper by going to the local pub to watch the NRL grand final. Being an AFL man, this was unfamiliar territory, but Lee-Fay, as it turns out, is a mad keen Rugby League fan - who am I to let footy code pride get in the way of a trip to the local, and I have to say, I enjoyed the grand final immensely (Tim and Lee-Fay's excellent tutorage on the finer aspects of the game was most helpful). The locals, of which all except one were Tigers supporters, provided a great atmosphere, and some insightful comments on the game such as "bloody legends", and "its good for League". Things got a little tense when I accidentally showed a little enthusiasm for a Cowboys try (I wanted a close game), but I seemed to get away with this by declaring my AFL roots, and therefore being clearly too ignorant and stupid to know what I was doing. We left and went back to camp soon after.

So, it was a great weekend. Of course, the problem with long weekends like this is that you typically come back feeling like you need another long weekend. However, I find that simply making the decision to spend the first day back at work being as unproductive as possible, and generally keeping a low profile, can alleviate this problem. Or alternatively, just take a sicky.

Rather than describe the walk in pain staking detail, I have put photos from the hike on my web page.