Hacking through the thick Tasmanian bush
Setting off this morning I'm quiet and motivated, the riverbank gives me nothing yet I continue to push through. Sweating as I put my large jacket on in the heat to protect my forearms which are scratched to buggery now, especially as I hack through the long spear grass. Here I even put my gloves on to protect my hands.
I head away from the river and always come back to it, playing a game with myself checking each time how clear the river is and if I could paddle each section, I counted 3 occasions in a row for about 500 meters. It’s soul-destroying hiking along and seeing no sign of improvement, but I persist as I’m committed to getting to this lake entrance where the river will hopefully rise with the new water source adding to it.
I eventually reach the lake around lunchtime and see no change once again. I decide I'll hike down a few more hours and a few more kilometres to see if it picks up any speed, yet after no signs of logs disappearing, I take pause and some time to assess my options which as it stands are this:
1 - Continue heading South hacking my way along the Gordon River banks.
2 - Hike out South East through the bush and mountains in search of a road.
Each option has its downsides and merits. If I decide to stay on the river I will have unlimited fresh water to drink, but it’s a case of if and when the river will open up enough for me to paddle in. I have 6 days of food left and even if I manage to get onto the river in say 3 or 4 days time my food supply wouldn’t last to get me down the rest of the river and through the Gordon Gorge and then paddling Lake Gordon and Lake Pedder as I have planned. I may still need to hike out in search of a road. Or I may have to hike the entire way down the river, which would take at this pace about 2 weeks.
Or
The hike out. Looking at where I am this means a 2-day hike up and over 3 or 4 mountains or at best large hills and through some gnarly forests with the possibility of no water supply. This would be heading towards Florentine Road, which has the river Florentine running alongside it as well.
It really is stick or twist time? I feel the weight of my expedition on this decision as it’s diverting from my dream North to South adventure. Ultimately, like life, nothing goes according to plan and after wrestling with the decision I decide to twist and make the choice to hike out.
Filling up my water bottles I head East in search of the road, some 12 kilometres away.
What ensued is 3 hills and to quote the film Deadpool “maximal effort”
In short, if I thought the few kilometres of hacking and hiking to find the source of the Gordon were tough, well this was on another planet. It felt as though the bush was throwing everything at me to slow and halt my progress. I had so many terrains and types of bush to get through or over. Lots of the forest changed quickly and instantly so sometimes it was just a matter of grin and bear it until it cleared up.
Types of bush:
Hills, straight up and straight down
2 or 3-year-old strong trees about 30 or 40cm’s apart that I had to bend to pass between
High spear grass
Collapsing bushes that I had to clamber up, over and through
High aged trees with many fallen logs I had to climb up and over, some meters high, that’s sideways meters high.
Ferns and Bracken, which were the best of the lot
Thick gnarly intertwining bushes and small trees, lucky I could smash these with my feet or just force my way through breaking branches as I did. For this I had a bag in my stomach to protect my vital organs from being punctured by any rouge sticks, a few got my limbs.
Clear moss, ahhhh this stuff was rare but wonderful
I ended up going and going until it became dark and I needed to find a spot to camp. I really tried pushing on until I found an open space but no luck for me tonight as I made camp halfway up the 3rd hill, finding a flattish section, I put the tent up by headlight and dragged a number of fallen branches to the upper side of my tent placing them so that if it rained any water flowing downhill would get diverted around my tent.
Phone battery / GPS left: 5%
Water remaining: 500 ml
Mood: Positive, motivated, calm (there is no other option)
Thanks for reading- This day alone on an adventure is one of the toughest I've experienced - TazMania
