Breakfast at 0700. We said goodbye to Frank the chef and Evy the dog. Bags were collected at 0830 and we made our way to the start of today's walk at Castle Cove. Cold start to the day with the blowing quite strongly. After the group photo we set off at about 0910.
The walk started on an uphill section following the cliff tops and it went through various types of vegetation including a great section of grass trees. There were a couple foot cleaning stations to prevent the spread of a fungas that destroys the native vegetation. We stopped at a lookout above Dinosaur Cove where Lee, the guide, told us about the fossils that have been doing there. From here we started a downhill walk to the Johanna Bay.
5Km into the walk we came to Johanna Beach and started the 2.5Km walk along the beach. A few people took their boots off to walk on the sand but Lib and I kept ours on. The going wasn't too bad as the sand was fairly firm, although it was still hard work on the legs. There was a little penguin on the beach that had been washed up after the storm, I reckon it was waiting for the tide to come in and help it out to get back out to sea. A creek crossing towards the end of the beach posed no problems; most of the others took their boots off but Lib and I noticed it wasn't very deep so crossed where we thought it was at it's shallowest. No water in the boots but it was a close call as the creek was flowing quickly.
We met the second guide, Katie, at the exit from the beach to the camping ground and we made our way to the bus for lunch. At about 1230 we were met by Richard, an indigenous elder, who took us on a guided tour along the track for about an hour. He was very informative about the area, the history and the environment. He is passionate about his heritage and educating people about how best to manage the land.
The track continued inland and we met up with the bus again. The next section was 5Km of predominantly up hill so a few walkers opted to B.O.B (Back On Bus), Lib and I continued to walk. We walked with Katie and the going was hard but we were able to do it at our own pace. We met the bus at the top of the hill and decided to keep walking to the end of the days walk, another 2Km. On the way we passed Bert, a stature of a sea captain in a 'toll booth'. The booth provided hikers with water and for a gold coin you could buy some home made jam (yep Lib bought some).
We finished at the bus at about 1540. Lib and I were the last ones in but we were not far behind the others. There were beers and cider on hand before we all got on the bus and headed to Port Campbell where we checked into the motel at about 1700.
Dinner was at the local pub which was really busy for a Tuesday night. The meal was huge (I didn't finish it) and we all had a great time.
Tomorrow is going to be the most challenging day, it'll be interesting to see how it goes.
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