Day 8: Wooli - Station Creek Campground.Where do I begin. This was crazy, full of worries and waiting.
The day began with a 6am discussion about whether we actually wanted to do this next section, and if we did it, who would do it. It was rainy and we knew very little about this section of the walk. Lots of people told us we were crazy for taking a kid, and the other family that was coming got extremely concerned about this section. I was getting conflicting advice, and really wanted my own first-hand experience in order to make a decision.
There was a long drive to the next campground and no way for the walkers to turn around (due to the river crossing).
We spotted some blue sky and decided that we would regret not doing this section, as it was the most exciting for us. We had already decided that we would be skipping the 6km of beach between Station Creek and Red Rock that finished the walk. Next thing was for me to step aside and let my husband do the walk with our eldest daughter, while I drove the car. I didn't want to, but as I said earlier, we need to take what we can get, and my husband had very graciously driven all week (because driving involved a longer walk, plus because the kids always just wanted to go with me).
I waved goodbye to my husband and eldest daughter (5) at 9am, I heard the boat owner tell us we were mad (more encouraging advice
) and my youngest and I drove to Station Creek. Google Maps told be it was a 1.5hour drive, and the National Parks website told me it was 2WD access. The road from the highway to Station Creek was pretty hairy, lots of potholes, the rain made it all a bit rough in places, and then I encountered a huge water crossing. It was sloped on the sides, I got out and had a look and it looked deep. I was towing a trailer. I completely freaked out. We were too far to walk, I turned around and sent my husband a text message asking if he thought they could make it to Red Rock, as I couldn't get through. I didn't know if he would have phone service. I started driving out and ran into some guy who advised me to have another go (and I suspect he stopped himself from calling me a 'women driver' the most heinous of insults
). I did have another go and got through, much to my relief. On the way home my husband drove and he was shocked that I attempted it, he told me that he wouldn't have driven through either... which was some consolation.
Having made it to Station Creek Campground (11am), I was now trying to find the track to Pebbly Beach Campground, our plan being for myself and our youngest to walk back as far as we could to meet them.
I didn't realise that the Station Creek crossing would be so deep (waist deep at 11.30am, with low-tide at 12.30am), I was expecting my husband to only be another half-hour so I decided not to cross. The last thing I wanted was to pass him without realising (as there was both a 4wd crossing, and the place that walkers tend to cross, same for the campground, he could have either walked through it, or bypassed it and went along the beach). If we did pass each other it would have taken us hours to figure it out. So I opted to have a rest.
We wandered around crossing at Station Creek for a while. Then we walked along the beach to the track. I realised then how badly it was marked. The beach was wide, and the signpost was so small and barely visible from the shoreline. I was incredibly concerned that they would walk straight past it. I had made a mistake buying the maps and didn't have the topo map for south of Wooli, and my husband had not even taken the brochure that had the campsite maps in it... in short, he really had no idea where he was going (and possibly had spent too much time watching football and not enough time looking at the maps the night before, in his defense he was expecting me to walk and himself to drive).
There was about 80m between the water and the signpost. I sat with my daughter at the signpost for about 40minutes. The campsite was another 20minute walk, and she was getting sick of sitting (though much better than I expected). I decided to draw some markings in the sand. A huge line down to the beach, with arrows and the letter 'E' everywhere (we had been making tracks like this all week with the girls for fun). I was sure he would recognise it... as long as the wind and 4WDs didn't destroy it. We walked back to Station Creek crossing again.
I happened to run into a guy from NPWS while I was there (the same guy that my friend from the other family had been speaking to all week). He told me that there had been a bigger sign but it had disappeared sometime in the past few months, and the beach had gotten wider. He later ran into my husband and daughter at Pebbly Beach, and his advice was very unhelpful... he told my husband to just follow the 4WD tracks and it was just there.... If my husband had followed that advice he would have added an extra 8km to the walk, as the 4WD tracks go way past the track.
We went back to the campground and waited... and waited. Around the 5hour mark I was a bit concerned. Finally I got a call from him. He had seen my scratchings and noticed the track. He had been walking on it for "half an hour" and was just about to turn around because he thought he must have been on the wrong track. I assured him it wasn't, and he found the campsite 2minutes later.
Everything turned out alright, but I had been running through a lot of 'what ifs" in my head. What if he missed the turn and walked all the way to Red Rock. I had a spare tent, I wondered about setting one up in the campground for them (in case they did make it), and then taking the car to try to find them (in case they had gone elsewhere).
I can't give much information about the walking, it was hard going, and they managed about 1.3km per hour. My husband was confused when he got back, he told me that they had been walking fast and he couldn't understand why it had taken them so long. However we watched some of his videos when we got home and it became obvious. Some sections they would spend 3 or 4 minutes just moving 40metres. But it looked brilliant and I am very envious!!
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