I thought there might be some interest in a variation on the GOW. Of course you take your chances with this sort of plan.
Parked at "Castles" (Castle Cove) with the intention of busing/hitching back here on Wed. Had a fallback in that the bus would stop at Princetown on Wed.10.40 and hoped to convince the driver to chuck me out at Castles even tho' it is not a scheduled stop.-
Left Castle Cove Monday at 8 and set off for Ryans Den -arrived 3pm.
Left RD next morning at 10.40 am -arrived Devils Kitchen 2.45pm.
Left DK at 8.10am and arrived at Princetown for the bus 9.55am. I did not wait for the bus but..
Left Princetown 9.55am, arrived 11.55am Wednesday Twelve Apostles Visitor Park -end of walk.
52ks all up I think
Some things I gleaned
-There are some profoundly boring stretches of road
-There are some utterly stupendous views
-coming up and around the corner and seeing the rock formations around the Apostles made me gasp-they weren't there, then they just were
-I surfed at Castles in the early 80's and at Gibson Steps in 85 and I didn't recognise them at all
-There are f_____n' tissues dumped everywhere, right on the track in many places, after urination and defecation, and yes, as you know, you can tell
-Some sections are a wee bit harder than I anticipated which was nice
-Found two European (teutonic accents?) 30 somethings "travelling free"-bloke going wrong direction, lass hiding in tent arrived in the dark, got a few words
next morning
-Utter drivel scrawled on the walls in the 2 shelters needs a drill with a wire brush and 10 minutes to fix
-people are great when you need a lift, within 10 minutes a young French lass offered- but not going far enough, bloke offered -but going wrong way and then
two champion Kiwis let me sit in the back of their van all the way (45 mins) back to Castle Cove.
-I can eat two (Timboon bakery) pies in succession-did it at the 12 Apostles!
-It is possible to take a chance and rely on the kindness of strangers- thought it was too early to wait for the bus so off I went to the 12 to hitch.
-If I started walking at about 6 am I could have got to the bus at the 12 Apostles 10.30am.
-Car was as I left it just outside the accommodation there
-scorpions can move b____y quick
-leeches can not
-mice galore at the DK site.
-toilet paper from use (and some faecal matter) strewn around the toilet on the ground at DK site.
-I would perhaps try this again mid week and set off for the 10.40 bus at the Apostle centre if I had the chance
EDIT forgot to add
-I wore INOV8 Trail Talons "from the box "-weigh about 320gms and they were perfect (my second pair) again with no pre-walking/breaking in
-carried max of 9.5 kgs maximum- food, 2 litres water plus all other gear in total when setting off at Castle Cove-and this weight was just so easy
-the light "shirt I reviewed for keeping your cool" did not smell after 3 days (52ks in mild to warmish weather) use-there was dirt and dust all around the collar and cuffs but NO smell of sweat! I kid you not.
All in all, recommended but I really only did this as I knew the bookings were very light. I had Ryans Den to myself!