Despite our late night, we're ready early in the morning and within an hour, reach Coolong Swamp for breakfast. The track faded away at the swamp and while we are hunting around, noticed a hut through the trees. More hillbillies!
We crept away, ducking from tree to tree and found the track and water.
Out of sight of the hut, we had breakfast
Our food still needed to last another 3 days but a few of the guys were in a bad way.
Ricky has no food left again except 1 bag of milk.
He spent the next 10 minutes trying to barter it for a packet of noodles and offered to carry the rubbish bag for a slice of bread. “How far will you carry it?" asked one of the bush lawyers.
“A kilometre”, Ricky answered hopefully.
“Make it 20 (all the way to Bindook Ck) and you’ve got a deal” and the transaction was settled.
'Not as easy to score as it used to be‘
Kym, his partner, was much better off. He had food and fuel and wasn‘t keen to share with him at all.
He reckoned Ricky would just throw it away.
Jake meanwhile was worried about his partner, Aaron, and wouldn’t let him carry any of the food.
Wouldn’t let him eat any either!
All Aaron had was the Peanut Butter so each meal he sat down like Pooh Bear with a pot of honey and ate it with his fingers
We planned to spread out for the rest of the day with the fastest trying to get to Bindook Ck and catch the vehicle. So this time when Nic suggested we have a look at the map all of us crowded around counting the hills and creeks, remembering the wrong turns and measuring the kilometres left. Not getting lost today.
We soon spread out. Michael and Nathan led the way, while Aaron and Nic plodded along at the back.
Peanut Butter wasn‘t enough to keep him going. Aaron spent the day falling on his face and collapsing at the bottom of each hill. A couple of kilometres short of the end, Scott and Nathan walked back to meet us
We’d made it! 95 km of hiking across The Blue Mountains and Kanangra-Boyd National Park to Bindook Creek but there was no truck and no note.
Either Jeff has had an accident or he's lost and there's nothing we can do but wait, rest our feet and sort our gear.
Late in the day, still no sign of him so we set up the tents and go to bed early. Maybe he’ll arrive in the night.
