Did we really walk a half marathon?

Wednesday 11th

I thought my Fitbit watch had gone wrong. It showed I had done over 29000 steps and walked 13.3 miles. Crikey that's half a marathon! That though, must have been because I took smaller steps rather than stride out 'cos the actual distance walked was nearer to 14km a mere 8.6 miles. Anyway, once again I'm getting ahead of myself. So let's go back for 7 hours,

9am and Ali met us at her place of work at Swansea. We left the motorhome in the staff car park, climbed into her car and set off for Freycinet. This time we remembered the sunscreen and so glad we did because with temperatures up in the mid 20's we needed it. The plan was to walk the Wine Glass Bay to Hazards Beach circuit roughly 13k. Sounded lovely until Ali casually mentioned the first 30 minutes climb to Wine Glass Bay lookout and the 900 steps leading down to it!

That's Ali n the front.

Wine Glass Bay

 That climb wasn't as bad as I had thought, maybe all those waterfall viewings with the fast amount of steps have made me fitter. Anyway from the viewpoint, we set off to do those 900 steps down. The action of stepping down usually causes no end problems. It's the knees you see, they really give me some jip. Thankfully those steps were quite shallow and plenty of short walks in between so once at the bottom I was pleasantly surprised to find I had survived the descent with hardly any pain.

Loved this tree art

The next part was to walk to Hazard Beach. This was kind to me and a very enjoyable walk, hardly any up or down bits and a pleasure to stride out. Once at the beach Ali and Ian went for a swim. No, Ian didn't have his cozzie nor did I but for a man, it seems it is quite okay to swim in the undies. Trying to dry him off was fun. No towel just a hanky! What it did mean was he and Ali was now nicely refreshed and cool, I, on the other hand, was still very hot and bothered!

 Then came the final 5.5km

This last part was a killer. Following the coastline, I had hoped it would be more of a level walk than it really was. Up rocky paths, down steps, up sandy bits, more steps and at one point the trip hazards came thick and fast. Tree roots and plenty of them. I came a right cropper on one of those roots. Having looked up and groaned that more steps had to be climbed, I failed to see the root and went down heavily on all fours. The camera around my kneck went with a loud thud and I was more concerned about that than if I had done any damage to myself. All good though, the shins will probably be black and blue in the morning but the camera came out of it unscathed.

So near to the finish now. The car park was just 15 minutes away. I must say I do look rather red.

The last couple of kilometres nearly proved too much. Every muscle in the legs was screaming no more...no more. When we finally reached that last marker post...well I could have jumped up and down with glee, if only I had had the energy. 5 hours it took to complete the circuit but what an achievement. Never have I walked that far in one go. Ian and Ali took it in their stride being so much fitter but for me, it will be something I will always remember a truly great accomplishment.

Back at the car and Ali took us to one more Bay. Honeymoon Bay, another wonderful part of the coastline, before heading for the nearest pub for well-earned beer and wine.

Not wanting to drive back to Triabunna, a 30-minute drive in the twilight with the possibility of the wildlife jumping out at you, we found a lovely remote spot at Kelvedon Beach. Just perfect, we were all alone and the sun setting over the beach...well how good was that.

And wildlife,

A huge Bull Ant. You don't mess with them!