5th September 2017

Mountain Trout Camp = 45.6km
Gillies Lake

Thankfully the rain abated over night and we were able to pack up in the dry and get on our way without too much drama.

We thought the bit from Little cove to Stormhaven was tough, little did we know how hard the bit from Stormhaven to High Dump was going to be, this has to be the toughest 9km I have ever undertaken. It took us 6 hours to cover the 9km. It was up and over rocky gully after rocky gully then interspersed with highly eroded limestone headland track if you could call it that. Ankle breakers whichever way you turned. This section of track is certainly not for the fainted hearted. The remaining 14.5km of track was mostly good track and road with an occasional challenge thrown in. 

Sadly the terrain took its toll on Lari and she has ended up with a bit of a bung knee that we will have to manage somehow. I have not pulled up too smart either and have muscle aches where I did not know I had muscles. When we got to Mountain Trout Camp we decided to take the offer of a 300 year old log cabin instead of putting up a wet tent in the rain again, we were both just too buggered. They said this was the toughest section on the whole Bruce and hope they are right because I don’t think either us could handle much more like it. It was not just the terrain itself but the relentless non stop hammering with little or no let up at all. 

Our billet for night is heated and has a stove and is dry, absolute heaven. We both had long luxurious hot showers trying to ease our aching bodies. Now feeling a bit better it was time to get the laundry done and dry out clothes. The cabin looks like a Chinese Laundry with our rudimentary washing line strung across the room and all our trial clothing hanging out to dry.

I for one will collapse into bed and die.