Bushwalk Australia

by **Minty** » Sun 08 Apr, 2012 8:26 pm

I'm not sure if this counts as bush walking but it was quite an interesting trip anyway. A friend with no walking experience but an over-optimistic sense of enthusiasm, thought it would be a good idea to walk from Sandy Bay to Port Arthur. In two days. I somewhat unethically took on this challenge and made it a bet to see who would give up first. So, with $30 and a lifetime of bragging rights at stake we set off with a tent and basic camping gear hoping to make 50km in the first day. We powered through Hobart and the Eastern shore in high spirits passing the airport and Midway point in a grim silence before collapsing in the Sorell Macca's after a respectable 5 hours. We filled our packs with chips from the servo to last the next couple of days, and struggled on for another 15km. We had covered about 42km that day and despite extreme boredom, the agony of walking on bitumen with a full pack and runners and numerous hit and run attempts by bogans in Nissan Skylines, neither of us was ready to give up. We camped in a creepy pine plantation where the our repeated jokes about murderous hillbillys came back to haunt us when we heard nearby gunshots during the night as we sat around a blazing, psychopath-attracting campfire. Thankfully in the morning we did not find ourselves chained in a blood stained basement so we decided to make a start on the 55km ahead of us. Unfortunately the day before had taken its toll and our legs were not properly functioning and I had a blister the size of a small European country developing on my foot. We limped on for another 12km before crawling into Copping in a spectacle reminiscent of the final scenes of Touching the Void. Luckily my companion was the first to make the call to give up. It was probably the stupidest thing I have done in my life, but if anyone asks about it, it was totally worth it!