Sweet.
Anyway, I guess I should have you know that today was also the longest of them all and actually included a brief canoeing section. It was tough getting through the first day, but it was much worse getting through the second. The winds were stronger, the rain was harder, the shoes were wet from the beginning, the entire body was sore, and there were 25 km to hike. We woke up with the sun, had an oatmeal breakfast, as we did every morning, and set off at about 8 00. Today was exceptionally difficult to walk straight as we were walking along the tops of ridges with wind swiping across our bodies. If it weren't for the pack, I'm pretty sure Mary would have had a little trouble staying grounded... seriously. For the brief moments that the wind was at our backs, it was actually awesome because it was like an extra little boost. There's not much to say, we walked for a long time, did a little more beach hiking and then ate lunch in the middle of the bush after about 18 km. Oh, and we saw some more snakes, bringing the number of times I have cheated death up to 4. There were some kangaroos too. And the cliff picture is actually from the previous day.
After lunch we hiked for about 2 or 3 km before coming across the Canoe crossing. Thankfully, our canoe shed was up wind from the other. Unfortunately, there were only two canoes, and proper etiquette is to leave at least one at each. So Jeff and I set out in one of the canoes with our packs for the other side. The wind was brutal and the waves were ginormous... in comparison to the canoe anyway. We made it across successfully, but then we had to turn right back around with each of us in one canoe. Not surprisingly, the other boat shed actually had 6 canoes. Anyway, this time we were down wind and had to fight back up. The wind won. With all the weight in the back of the canoe, the wind just turned us right around when we tried to paddle up stream. So the best I could do was paddle across as quickly as I could and see where I ended up. We both ended up about 200 m away from the shed. So I proceeded to get out of the canoe and I towed the two canoes and Jeff up to the shed in waist deep water. It was, and please excuse me for this, refreshing... Then we paddled back across to the other side without a hitch and continued on. As it turned out, we actually only left a single paddle and a single canoe to go with a single life jacket for the next people that come by. The other side, however, was just stocked with stuff. Also, the lowest picture in this coming series shows the inlet right at the beginning. We could have just walked across... kind of... if the track went there.
So we continued on and everything was going oh so well, until we came upon a bunch of bogs with only about 1 km to Peaceful Bay, our next stop. We tried to get around it or build a bridge for about 30 minutes before we surrendered our finally dry shoes to the bog.
In Peaceful Bay, there wasn't a hut for backpackers, which was kind of lame. So we found our way to a backpacker's place where Tom hooked us up with a room for $55. It was marvelous. It had a heater, beds, stove, tv, and showers. That was a good night. In this room, though, I found a gigundous spider. Probably poisonous, because everything here is... and it just makes for a better story. I squashed it with a pan, as you can see in the picture below. I believe the cheating death count is up to 5, maybe even 6.
We showered, ate dinner, watched a little of the boob tube and went to bed for a good night's sleep.Also, I'm working on just putting up an album online with more pictures from the trip. Keep an eye out for that. I'll post a link or something. More scenery and other shenanigans will be there.
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