So today the extraordinarily trusty mountain bike was temporarily ditched in favour of my equally trusty, but much slower moving hiking boots. I also had a companion for the first time in my wife Sally. It must be said that this was extremely good!! Although I would never have counted myself as lonely at any stage so far, I have felt the enormity of the lands crossed and the fact that this highlights how alone you are. I had travelled from Dead Horse Gap to Benambra without seeing a single person. I think this certainly made Christmas that much more special. It was a great time, relaxing, eating, enjoying each others company, eating, listening to the cricket and eating!! In all seriousness, it turned out to be a refreshingly different Christmas and one we all needed after the year thar was.

To the walk we finally pulled ourselves. It was (and as any hiker will agree) seriously hard in the first hour or two. Climbing directly from the car with packs as full as they would be for the trip was hard on riding conditioned legs. Bizarrely it is an entirely different set of muscles in use. In time we finally made it to our campsite and collapsed, knowing full well the next two days held far more challenging walking.

After setting up I set about making dinner. I thought at this point and in light of the photo attached to this blog I might share my menu:

Dinners rotate around (all dehydrated):
Spaghetti Bolognese
Chilli Con Carne w Rice (pictured)
Homemade Pesto Penne
Rissotto of Honey-Roast Pumpkin and Pistachios
Pasta w Caccitore Sausage in Tomato Sauce
Thai Red Curry w Rice

and on food drop days

Creamy Gnocchi w Smoked Salmon, Capers and Peppercorns (thanks Marc)

Lunch is simple and fast:
Dry biscuits (cheds, vita-wheats etc)
Cheese
Salmon
Cacciatore
Vegemite

Breakfast
My "if money was no object" homemade toasted muesli

Snacks
Mums dried fruits and fruit leather
Assorted allegedly 'fun' size chocolates

So just enough variety to keep me (and hopefully Sal) interested.