Building a bridge and getting over it…

For the last full day around Murwillimbah we planned a longish, flattish circuit. One hill, rather steep at the beginning turned in to about four and luckily all at the start while we were quite fresh

The circuit took us through swampy tropical rain forest then gave way to typical scrub. Still feeling good after two hours we decided to continue further and turn into the loop a little bit later on.

All good till we noticed reeds, lots of them to the right… where we were meant to be going! Not to worry, we were still on the path and the turn was just ahead!

And if course, as is the story of our lives… an impasse ! Boggy, black, muddy water impeding our progress. Too far to go back to find a better crossing point… what to do? Build a bridge! So we collect as much dead wood as we can, and like otters we created a mesh of branches and logs so we could cross.

But alas, the mud being so soft and most of the wood rooten, Bill takes a tumble… more branches for a firmer foothold and we were soon over the other side. Both of us hoping we were still on track!

It took a while to find the track… most of it overgrown, but eventually we were following the return track to the car and much needed coffee! The images tell the story… 4 hours of walking, 20, 275 steps, 15 kms. Well on target for our Camino training!

An innoccuos path, full of promise.

Australian bush… gives way to

the challenge of crossing a very boggy swamp!

full of stinky mud… hope it washes off

We finally emerge from the scrub to…

the sea, Golden Beach South near Brunswick Heads.

Training continues.

It seemed a good idea at the time… early start, new and challenging track… what could go wrong?

Let’s start with a series of roadworks, a missed turn which required a turnaround, not one but two locked gates with “private property access, keep out” signs! Looking at our map we decide to climb over the fence and start climbing up the path. A path very like ones we are expecting on Camino.

Not too far into our walk, after a few photo opportunities we encounter another gate! This time we decide that trespassing and being under surveillance was not a good look! We consult our map again and find we are on the wrong path… we turn back and spy an overgrown track and decide to follow it.

The path was hardly visible, we had to navigate through waist high grasses and fallen tree trunks and when we could see the path no longer, we turned back! The fear of snakes and falls in an area with no phone connection seemed the most sensible!

We regrouped, rehydrated and set off looking for another track!

Old saw mill

The next stage was less challenging and much more populated. We spent about two hours walking … not far but challenging enough. Sometimes the best laid plans lead us to very different destinations.