18. Jones river to ?? (A field)

3 Feb 2025

 Well i didn't get away early - I just don't think I'm made to get out of bed before 7 unfortunately. 

It was a bloody hot one today, there was a bit a cloud cover which made the steep exposed climb up Mt Bethune far from a walk in the park. Great views from the top and then down the otherside I went. Getting up mt Bethune really ate away at my time today and before I knew it it was 1 pm and I hadn't even hit ?Ellendale Rd. I was also running low on water and was not looking forward to the prospect of having to fill up from a stagnant cow poo filled dam. 

After a spell in the shade at the original site of the Clarks homestead, I continued on into the heat. It's a 31km slog from Jones river to bushy park and I was definitely not going to be able to get it all done in one very hot day. 3pm rolled around and I found a small creek at xx, I drank my weight in water made some oats and tried not to smell myself. I eventually got up the motivation to continue on, through some nice bushland and then into open pasture. 

At 4:30 I threw in the towel - it was around 38°c and the next bit of trail went up a hill, so instead I found some shade and had a nap. By 5:30 the temp was still way too high so I set about finding somewhere to camp for the night - battery and water rations tonight and I left my pen at Jones river so back to electronic diary keeping. It was still above 30°c at 7:30pm, hopefully it cools off some tomorrow. A thunderstorm was also forecast for today, there were some darker clouds around but no rain for me.

Cheese pasta in a bag with peas corn and taco seasoning.


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