Day 17: 17km, The Last Day

It has been so difficult to write about this last day; it feels like The Big Hike needs an appropriately exciting ending. But alas, that last day was a strange mishmash of emotions, and was pathetically anticlimactic. So in the interests of moving this damn blog along to catch up with my life (so much has happened since July!!), I'm forcing myself to get this all out as best I can.

Upon waking up on The Last Day, we packed as quick as we could and set off, hoping hoping hoping that Englishman was okay and that we'd find him soon. THREE KILOMETERS (an hour of walking) and a train track crossing down the track we found him, in the actual river bed (not our crappy dry-creek road). He had, as suspected, charged right past the place we'd stopped, as he figured (correctly) it was too small to be the river bed. I was both relieved he was safe and vaguely annoyed with him (and myself) for having worried all night long.

The last bit of walking was arduous for me. My feet hurt. I was exhausted. I was soooo close to a shower and a lie-down, but not there yet. Still not there yet. WHY ARE WE NOT THERE YET. Poor D did a wonderful job of getting me through those weirdly difficult last hours by doing things like leaving candies and nuts on posts next to the trail, so that every few meters I'd get a little treat to keep me going. He was still stupidly energetic and also sad that the hike was almost over. I felt crappier for being so crotchety while he was having the time of his life, and kept saying that he didn't want it to end. Sigh. Maybe next time I'll be less of a wet blanket.

At the official end of the trial, everyone wanted to take lots of congratulatory pictures. I think they really speak for themselves.

HOWEVER, I managed to perk up a bit for the last ~kms into town. We stopped and rested at the Telegraph Station, where a nice nap on the grass did a lot for me. I showered whilst D went out (still dirty) to pick up some snacks, and we both really enjoyed those activities. I felt like a new (still tender-footed) person, and our evening reunion with our hiking mates was wonderful.

First, we went to GrownUpFriend's room to discover that The Colonel and SuperAussie had left us a present - a bottle of bubbly, and fancy lotion and soap for us girls!! SO AWESOME.

The champagne paired very well with the watermelon D got everyone as a post-hike treat.

And then we went out to the pub and ate steaks and burgers and drank several delicious beers or ciders until we were buzzing, went back and watch the world cup in our hotel room,  to finally sleep fitfully on mattresses (but we enjoyed the clean sheets).

THE END

p.s. We flew back to Sydney the next day, sharing a flight with Englishman. The Sydney airport was pretty overwhelming; D and I just kept staring and saying "so many people..." We actually ended up just standing still until the rush died down, when it was easier to think. Then I avoided walking for the next few weeks, as my ankles and knees STILL freaking hurt, and I felt like an old lady taking the stairs sideways. But eventually it all healed up and probably I'm stronger now? Hopefully.

Day 16: 15kms, The Danger of Not Paying Attention

As usual, my feet hurt, so when all five of us left camp together in the morning, Englishman, GUF, and Rugby left D and I in their dust. There were a few waterholes 500 m or so off the track, but D and I decided to bypass them in the vain hope of not keeping the others waiting too long (also, I didn't really have an "extra" 1km in my energy supply). It turns out this was unnecessary, because we actually managed to outpace our crew because they stopped for a dip in one of the waterholes. After a nice long lunch at Wallaby Gap (which was a misnomer, unfortunately), we all had a look at the maps and decided to walk a bit farther to make our next (and last!!!) day on the trail a bit shorter. There weren't any official campsites between Wallaby Gap and Alice, but we'd heard there was a nice sandy creek bed in between, so we found the spot we though that was on the map and said we'd meet up there.

We set off again, this time with Englishman at the front (as always), then me, then D (because if he walked in front of me, he'd accidentally leave me behind), then Rugby and GUF, who were lagging behind due to repacking and taking heaps of pictures of these point hills we were walking on.

Pointy rocks. We can see Alice Springs and the caterpillar hills in the distance.

Still not done walking, but at this point, I'm really starting to wish I was.

Englishman, of course, disappeared in the distance pretty quickly. The light was starting to fade, as was my ability to walk any farther, when D and I found what we reckoned was the creek bed. Although it looked rather more dirt-road-like then we'd expected, it was at the correct kilometer mark according to our map, and anyway, the light was going fast.

However, Englishman was nowhere to be seen. Additionally, GUF and Rugby were behind us somewhere, and also nowhere to be seen. We could only guess that Englishman hadn't been paying attention and was farther along the track. Cue me fretting. We dropped our packs, and did the only thing we could think to do: I waited for GUF and Rugby, and D tried to hurry forward along the track to see if he could catch up to Englishman. I waited nervously in the half-twilight, freaking the fuck out, until GUF and Rugby finally caught up. We decided to make camp, which I did whilst constantly looking up the track like a forlorn dog looks at the front door until the people come back home. When D did finally come stomping down the track, I could've wagged my tail off if I'd had one.

D had make it a whole kilometer and hadn't found any sign of Englishman. We supposed that the damn pom must've blown right past this spot without paying attention, and hopefully was camped somewhere farther down the track. Our last night on the track, and here we were, split up!

The rest of the night felt spooky to me. I jumped a lot at little noises; because we could finally hear cars on the highway in the distance, I kept thinking a car was about to come barreling down the road/creek and run over our tent. Rugby tried using her dang iPhone multiple times to call Englishman, to no avail. Was he okay? The stars were out, but the light of Alice Springs had erased some of the magic of the Milky Way. Civilization had descended upon us a little earlier than I had anticipated.

To be continued...