Holy shit!!!
Set off and found the river easily enough, spending the morning paddling Lake King William and Butlers Gorge. Very peaceful and enjoyable had a few crosswinds which made getting to First Bay a bit more difficult.
Stopped for lunch at the edge of First Bay and felt incredibly isolated, just me and hundreds of flies buzzing around me. I cooked up some noodles out of the searing heat and lay down with my hat over my face to keep the flies away, managed to close my eyes for a few minutes and take some rest.
After an hour I made for the edge of the lakes and the beginning of the Gordon River. Made sure to drink loads, as I knew I'd be walking to find the source.
Hiking out the first few km’s were good following animal tracks whilst making noises and banging my walking pole on the ground to scare off snakes. As I got closer the open fields disappeared and forests that got thicker and thicker took its place. Took me about 2 hours to get 2 kms. I was sweating and fucking tired once I reached open space again.
I had to just force my body into trees to break their branches and find a way through. My whole body is cut and scratched, imagine the thickest forest and then double it, found a new motivation, there is no trying, if I can't get through I'm screwed. No help, nothing and on a few occasions I was on my hands and knees just crawling trying to make distance.
Had a massive fuck off black Tiger Snake right in front of me just as I was about to step it slithered off, frightened the Jeebus out of me.
Eventually, I found the clearings and sat down for a moment, my entire body drenched in sweat.
Pushing on I found the beginning of the Gordon River, well the GPS location, the river itself is dry. I followed the river until it hit another damn forest, had a look around the other side yet the terrain and thickness of the forest were the same. So pulled up for camp tonight on the edge of the forest.
Possibly 6km tomorrow til the Gordon River has enough of a stream to follow. That's a big possible, I look around and have to go through 6km of forest, I just did 2 and I was exhausted... shit.
Checked my body and found a load of blood coming from my right heel, must have got cut or scratched. I didn't even notice as I think I was just focusing on getting through the trees.
Nowhere to camp so I had to spend about half an hour pulling out plants and roots and cutting at the roots using 4 pegs then ripping them out. I placed 4 pegs in my hand and hacked into the ground at the roots of a few small shrubs all the way around before pulling the plants out and creating a flat spot to sleep.
Tent up and I'm absolutely shattered, have some 700ml of water after dinner. Lips are dry as a bone but I must save the water for tomorrow.
The plan is to get up earlyish to avoid the heat of the day and try to find my way to the actual old formation of the river, it might give me a better chance if there is newer growth it'll be slightly easier to push through and I may be able to find little pockets of water. That's my best guess and that's all I have so I'm going with it.
Wish me luck and strength of mind and body.
Push push Tarran, get to the start of this damn river!!
Cheers for reading - TazMania
