So... another big day today. Pushed from Four Mile Hut (just south of Kiandra) to Mackays Hut. Despite my upbeat blogging to date, there have been some issues, mostly mechanical and gear related. The worst and most continually frustrating has been that my pannier racks have loosened themselves (along with many bolts, my cam-strapping for dry bags etc etc) as a result of the substantial vibrations of riding downhill. As I stopped once more to re-tie my dry bag for the umpteenth time, I cranked firmly on the strap and the plastic top of my pannier rack snapped and I fair and square punched myself in the face!!!
During this leg I entered the Jagungal Wilderness Area. The management of this area is therefore quite different to most of the areas I've traversed to date. There are no signs or track marking and no new structures are put in place, so no bridges, but plenty of mud. However it is a strikingly beautiful region, undulating and rolling buttongrass plains, interlaced with stunning wildflowers: alpine buttercups, daisies, everlastings to name a few. Surrounding each plain and hugging the spurlines are snowgums. They don't grow in the gullies as every night as the air cools it drains down the gullies and they are therefore too cold.
As I moved through the area I realised I was properly tired, but I was determined to get to Mackays Hut. I arrived to see two 4x4s and a fully fledged construction zone! I saw this not as a disappointment (the hut is off limits to the public) but as an opportunity. I needed a 4mm Allen key to fix my rack, and thought they might have one. I approached and asked, they did not, but Garry, a Jindabyne based ranger, was extraordinarily handy! He took my bike tool, which had an Allen key but was the wrong shape to get into the bolts in question, and pulled it apart. I then borrowed his pliers and used my newly functioning 3cm long Allen key! This was tedious work as I could only turn the tool a 1/4 turn at a time. 2 hours! later I was done. During this time I struck up a conversation with Sue, a retiree and member of the Kosciusko Huts Assoc. We immediately found common ground as she was the god-daughter of Paddy Pallin (I worked at Paddys for several years) and had met her son. Her husband Pat and another local and KHA member Margot were also at the hut assisting Garry. Sue eventually asked me to stay at the hut, which I took her up on. To thank then I cooked for them, then to thank me they gave me four leftover sausages! These went down well after many days of dehy food. So a great day in the end. Many thanks to Garry, Pat, Sue and Margot!