Early start with breakfast at 0730 and then on the bus by 0830. We arrived at the lighthouse and were introduced to the walk mascot, Gus. He has done the walk many times and will be joining us every day of the walk. We started walking at about 0850.
Today started on the top of limestone cliffs. The path was well marked and a little stony underfoot but it was good going. The view of sea swell smashing in on the cliffs was amazing and we could have stayed there and watched for ages but we had to keep going.
The track went inland for a short distance and we ended up going through thickets of Moona and Soap Mallee trees. Beautiful areas with numerous echidna scratchings. The guide gave us some good info on the trees in the areas (not a lot of MSU*)
The track then followed around the start of a bay and we dropped down a short distance to the car park at Murrells Beach where we met the bus at 1030 and had morning tea. Darren (bus driver) had set up a table and chairs for us. Morning tea had heaps, tea and coffee, fruit, fruit juice, cakes and biscuits - amazing spread. We met a bloke who had been walking his two dogs on the beach, the dogs loved the morning tea spread.
We collected our lunches before moving off again at about 1115. Walked through low shrubs, full of wallabies, and then dropped down onto the beach (at the 8km mark). I took off with another bloke, Mark, at a good pace to knock over the beach part as quickly as I could. The sand was not too soft and the tide had just gone low tide so the walking was not too difficult although it took a fair bit of effort. After about 2 km we stopped at a stack of 4 sea containers that had been washed up in 2013/2014. They were refridgerated containers lying on their sides, still connected and naturally enough empty.
The guide gave me a2 easy radio and myself and Matk took off to find the beach exit point, marked by a treated pine pole. We found one false indicator and then at the 3km mark from the containers we found the exit point where we waited for the other pilgrims, they were not to far behind us.
The exit was a scramble up a steep, 10m high, sand path. Lots of slipping backwards but we all made it moved on the lunch area. We arrived at the Yrewelka Camp site at 1415 where we had lunch. The area had seats, toilet and rain water tank. It was a pleasant place to stop for about an hour; my feet were a tad sore by now and we all had to clean some sand out of our boots.
Heading off after lunch we met the bus again about 1km later. A couple of pilgrims decided to end their day here and the rest of us dropped out packs into the bus and headed off for the last section. It started to rain lightly and of course we had left rain jackets on our packs on the bus, it wasn't too bad. THE LAST 2km were on the beach again and this time the tide was in with the sand being softer, a bigger effort. We got to the bus at about 1650; all a bit sore but ok.
Back to the hotel by 1715 to shower and get ready for dinner. We all met in the hotel foyer at 1830 and walked to dinner at Edwards on the Waterfront restaurant. Great meal and a great fun. Got back to hotel at about 2050 and got ready for tomorrow's walk. Big day but all ok for now.
*MSU = Making Stuff Up
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