Section 2: Becoming Wilderpeople

This has been an incredible section to walk. More water means more of everything; animals, birds, insects and plant variety. Through the rolling mountains and jagged creek beds I imagine I am traversing the remains of a great serpent of a different age, winding through the land.

It's been tough and exhausting, the terrain is unforgiving at times and pace extremely slow. This has led to some long days, late camp setups and very early nights.

It was a little challenging to sync up with Dave again. Fresh from 3 days rest and fighting his own battles of uncertainty, we were in a very different head and body space. He unceremoniously learnt of his father's death moments before we were to start the section, another tough break. It has been great to see his resolve harden as the trail passes.

I've been reflecting a lot on modern existence, enjoying the many contrasts on and off trail and want to share some thoughts.

Space is different out here. The landscape is vast, often empty and I don't think I've ever been able to see so far in every direction as from the peaks here. Looking up at the stars at night I'm filled with fresh wonder at the magnitude of what is out there.

Conversely my tent is little more than a coffin, with the peak in the middle sitting under a metre high. I know where everything is, and even with a few gymnastics during setup and pack down I have come to really love the space.

At home, I and most Australian readers I suspect have an excess of space. So many square metres to manage and maintain, and for what existential purpose? Despite having a car and a bike, I probably see less of the world on a typical day than I am out here on foot, much less anything unfamiliar.

Time is another. At home, the typical response I have given in recent years to 'how are you?' is 'busy'. I wonder if it's a sign of having many things to do, none of which are particularly fulfilling.

Out here there are so many jobs to do that I have almost no leisure time each day. I'm yet to power up my Kindle despite the 230 grams weight and carefully curating dozens of interesting books for the trip. I suspect that because each job is clearly connected to my ongoing survival and success, they feel more joyous.

Life and death are regularly in mind too. We're constantly walking past sun bleached bones, and there have been numerous half or mostly eaten remains. The memory of the stump of a goats leg, hoof intact, still stands out.

It feels natural, part of the cycle of what seems a genuine and tough life. The plant here don't get it any easier. Everything is bristled and for every massive thriving ghost gum, there is another husk bigger again, with anyone's guess how many years it lived and since became part of the landscape.

Its a simple and honest existence out here.

Day 7

We left Hawker feeling solid. I had a great sleep, my clothes were clean and food restocked for the next leg.

The day before I had organised a lift with one of the staff back to the trailhead to save us 6kms of road walking. The time saving would prove critical later!

Shay was at her tiny Barina right on time and I rode in the back with her excited dog Carl. She lived in the desert another hour and a half north, it's hard to imagine what life would be like in such a remote place.

Our walk began following a fence, an increasingly common theme. We saw many animals on the plain, mostly kangaroos. We could see the mornings mountain climb and ridge line looming ahead.

Other walkers had spoken very highly of the part and boy did it deliver. Great views in all directions and lovely flowing rock to climb.

When I was planning the section, I meant to go back and validate the distance on trail. Hawker is a detour and I wasn't certain which side included the ridge distance. Well, it wasn't in favour of today, by the time we got off the mountain we still had a massive distance to cover and far less daylight than I'd like for it.

We settled into a hard pace. Lunch was nice at the Mt Elm campsite. The afternoon was a slog. Dave named the land the Stonefields which felt right. It was mostly barren, rain in the distance. A standout moment was a group of emu crossing a fence by aggressively running at it. Some were tangled and somersaulting, making weird noises ping down the wires. They all got through in the end.

We arrived at last light exhausted and quietly pitched. We met our first end to end walker Daniel, who seemed eager for conversation after 9 days on trail, but I didn't have the energy and being social would have to wait until morning.

I washed and cooked in my tent and crashed out immediately, having walked almost 32kms over 9 hours.

Day 8

I woke refreshed but sore. The previous day had taken it's toll, I had an injury going across my ankle and up my shin. The pain is mid level and I can still move on it which is good, we're 4 days from a town in the planned direction. Dr Finch prescribes active recovery to manage this.

We started very slowly today. It's the first time having so much condensation inside the tent, a strange thing when it's so cold. The outside of my sleeping bag was wet to touch in the night and I was nervous about the down being compromised.

The first 10km or so had us on an easy dirt road. Once I'd settled into movement my niggles were ok. We caught up to Daniel and started to get to know him in the slow way you can with people on trail.

He's from Sydney and caught a mystery virus which led to several years of deep, bedridden fatigue. As he recovered it awoke a desire to experience the world, and you can see the wanderlust in him.

We met a HUGE group of walkers headed north. They had been walking sections for a number of years and were approaching the end. I was reminded of Dr Seuss The Zax, and their leader was a near perfect doppelganger of Dave. After some friendly competitive banter and trail notes we set off on our respective north and south journeys with good wishes.

We stopped at a pair of benches installed by the FotH for lunch. They picked a great spot, it overlooked a waterway carved through sandstone with stunning colours. A gnarly descent had us cross an out of place body of water with deep mineral blues contrasting the white sandstone backdrop.

The afternoon rolled by slowly. We climbed a hill that was harder than it looked from the map, the hilltops littered with large stones making for slow going. The ridge of the hill was a long granite wall, so continuous and well formed it looked artificial.

We hit camp early, giving plenty of time for a good pitch, a wash, and even sunning our sleeping bags on a fence. We ate with Dan, shared stories and enjoyed the stars.

Day 9

My ankle/shin was still giving me grief but mostly stable. We broke camp and set off knowing we had a lot of climbing to do today.

It turned into my favourite whole day scenery on trail so far. The terrain had 3 sections, a dirt road along a plain, Buckaringa Gorge and the long climb up to Mt Adern.

The plain was fast and it was great to put some decent KMs in the bag early. We saw many different kinds of kangaroos and the section followed a huge ridge line that looked excellent for rock climbing, take note Guy.

Morning tea in the shade of some huge ghost gums and we were off into the gorge. It started easy and I saw what looked like some creative attempts to capture water filtered by the rocks. The views were gorge-ous!

Next came another creek bed. It started similar to others, technical and stony, picking our way through fallen and bent trees, then it really turned up the heat. Some sections had us doing some light rock climbing, and the half remains of a large kangaroo provided a reminder to take care.

Coming out of the gorge we were greeted by a chorus of birds, I joked they were celebrating our successful passage. We ate lunch knowing we faced our biggest climb yet. I watched Dave casually eat a block of cheese as if it were an apple and we had a good laugh at the cheese goblin. I'm glad I'm not the only one leaving propriety behind.

Mt Adern was a crafty temptress. A glimpse of a summit here, a flash of a peak there, yet somehow many times over the end was always another climb away. The ridge line provided views for kilometres in every direction and was worth the fight.

We arrived at the campsite late and exhausted. 22kms took over 8 hours for perspective on the terrain difficulty.

Day 10

Double digit days on trail! It was literally freezing when I woke, swathes of ground covered in frost. I survived my coldest trip to the bush in the early hours yet. Today we knew we had a huge day, we packed up in the tent to stay warm as long as possible and we're on trail by 8.

It was a pleasant start, walking an easy creek with gentle hills to the sound of kookaburras and galahs. The sun slowly thawed the landscape and us with it. The trail gradually evolved in to another intense and technical gorge walk. A notable point had us shimmy down a dry waterfall, very exciting.

We had morning tea at a spot I named the Eyrie. It was a huge inverted dome shaped mountain, we watched hawks shoot about in the currents and had some fun with the incredible acoustics. We made it out to Eyre Depot taking 4 hours to cover 12kms.

There was a beautiful cast plinth describing different expeditions and establishing a base camp in the 1800s. It's hard to imagine the difficulties that those explorers faced.

We followed a fence along the western side of the ranges, it was nice to be back on a straightforward and fast trail.

At lunch I discovered a fly had gotten under my buff and drowned in my nose, gross! The constant change between freezing cold, hot, dry and dusty has already significantly reduced my sensitivity.

The afternoon had us climb through Dutchman's Stern conservation park. I missed a marker and ended up climbing a mountain with probably the hardest gradient I've ever come across. I don't know what the plan is for this access road but I think most vehicles will struggle. I was at least rewarded with some amazing views for my trouble.

The night ended at Dutchman's hut. It was restored by an Adelaide men's homeless shelter and boasted electricity, a kettle, a fireplace and a flushing toilet. So many luxuries! You really do learn to appreciate the small things on trail.

Day 11

Waking up in a hut is a fine thing when the mice haven't beaten your defences. It was raining outside, and we were able to take our time with coffee, breakfast and packing. I loved the smoky and dusty smells and we did our best to leave the place cleaner than we found it.

It was a very short day, so I headed along the Pichi Richi track towards Quorn at a casual pace.

I saw many kangaroos and flocks of sheep. The path had me follow several fences with some nasty inclines but nothing was getting me down after yesterday's mountain.

The famous Pichi Richi train rolled past as I approached Quorn, and I saw an amazing old car with well dressed passengers. I reconnected data and started the process of peering back into the matrix. It was a strange and disconcerting feeling being in the wonderful Elizabeth House Hostel - my bed is at least four time the size of my tent. I was very nice to have a warm shower and get a chance to clean everything.

Full day of rest tomorrow! I plan to make the most of the recharge with a couple of heavy days coming up which includes our highest peak yet - Mt Remarkable.

Next entry - Section 3: Every Day Is Leg Day