I caught a bus yesterday to Speers Point, a town on the shores of Lake Maquarie.
I was there since I wanted to do the portion of The Great North Walk that connected the lake to Newcastle. The entire walk runs all the way to (or from) Sydney but I’d never done any of it.
The lake was beautiful and I briefly considered abandoning my plan and walking to Belmont. However I was looking forward to a bush walk and followed the markers guiding hikers along the trail:
After a bit of walking through the suburbs, I reached the bush and this sign:
I was a little surprised at this point since I thought Newcastle was only 8 km away and Charlestown 3. Apparently this leg of the walk was a bit longer than I expected. I didn’t know too much about the route except that until Charlestown almost all of it would be in the bush. Here’s the path vanishing into the trees:
The first half hour or so was fun, if a little hot. The bush was thin, the path wide and dry, and the songs of birds were everywhere. I watched carefully for snakes but only saw lizards. I’m sure snakes had their eyes on me though from hideaways like this one:
The sun rose higher and it got hotter. Getting close to an hour into the bush the path had started breaking up and patches of mud and even puddles (remnants of the recent storms) were to be seen.
As I pushed on through spiderwebs and knee-high grasses it became increasingly humid and wet. It was clear that the path – now much smaller and slightly overgrown – had been a creek only days prior. My shoes sunk into mud.
The puddles became larger; the mud deeper. Along with the birdsong I started hearing frogs. I was drenched in sweat; my bottle of water long since empty. I’d been walking for almost 2 hours. Where was I?
Around this time I saw the only other person I would see on the track, an elderly lady heading from Dudley to Toronto (a considerable distance). We had a chat for a while and she was very afraid of snakes, telling me this section of the track was known for them. I told her I’d seen none and that puddles and mud would be her biggest problem. She told me Charlestown was only 20 minutes away. Hallelujah!
That’s how the track went under the freeway. The tunnel was long and very dark, and I can only imagine what sort of evil creatures dwelled at to bottom of the sickly creek that passed through the tunnel as well. This was only 10 minutes or so from Charlestown, but even at the very end the trail had surprises, including sharp rises and drops under a near-rainforest canopy.
I shuffled along at double my usual speed, eager to put this hell behind me.
When Charlestown Square finally loomed into sight I was overcome with joy. Although only a little over two hours it had been one of the most unpleasant bush walks I’d ever done and although I’m glad I did it I know I’ll never tread those paths again!
I had initially planned to walk the entire (15 km?!) trail to Newcastle. That plan was quickly abandoned, although as fate would have it I ended up walking back another way anyway.
It was a very tiring day. I think I need a vacation 😉