BURKO
- Start date: 13 November 2019
- Age When Completed: 34
- Direction Walked: North to South
General Comments
Apart from a little blip of disaster on day 2 (hot day, heavy pack, high hills) running out of water and being a little bit heat affected, a treasured collection of memories.
Food/Supplies Comments
Organised all before so to allow uninterrupted time in towns. thanks mum for helping out. ensuring to eat some fresh fruit and vegetables in towns… as much as could be found.
Favourite Section
Northcliffe to Walpole, due to the diversity of landscapes and flora. the transitions for karri to scrub, to peppermints, to grassland, then after about 800km on the track in bush, to be presented with the beautiful vista of mandalay beach.
Highlights
Walking into Jessica and Alex’s wedding at Donnelly River Village on day 17-19. What a beautiful wedding, congratulations. Then walking out at the end, although seeing all my loved ones and friends for one blissful night made going back on the track alone was a little tough.
Personal Reactions
I woke up every day feeling on top of the world. I didn’t have a day that I wanted to leave to track was a dream to walk the track, and so happy to walk every day. seeing the change and transitions of country. a lot to be said spending 5 weeks in the bush, empathy and compassion with the little things.
Wildlife
Sitting in silence at Chadoora when dad emu and 13 little chicks came by and hung around for quite a while feeding. Echidna at Murry. Watching a wasp become very excited at something under a pebble buzzing and dancing. watching an ant carry a small twig for about 20 minutes over wood chips, only for the wind to blow it away. oh, and my foot coming down 10cm away from a dugite for the dugite and I to slowly back away and go in opposite directions. oops!
Your Best Equipment
After wanting to throw my tent in the nearest bin for weighing too much and carrying too much weight, my tent became my beloved daily treat. A way to maintain warmth at night, while making a welcome force field against march flies, mossies and ticks.
Your Worst Equipment
My lighter on my 4th last night, deciding to go on strike, luckily Matt was there to rescue me. lighter ceased strike within 24 hours.
Advice for Others
I wanted to do this walk since I was 17, not finding a good time to do it. My advice is to do it, an incredible and affirming experience. Remember the 3 H’s, how HIGH are you going (elevation)? how HEAVY is your pack? how HOT is it going to be? those things can really change your days hike. if you are going to do an end to end, do it your way, its your hike.