Another hike along a different bit of coast

Somehow I ended up with a large number of Scouty things scheduled in rapid succession in April and May, including some hikes. I think part of the rationale was that we hadn’t had a hike for a while, we had some kids who needed them … and we had two leaders who wanted them as well! There are probably some people — myself included — who would question the wisdom of having so much on at this time of year, especially since work has been just crazy this semester, and late autumn may not seem like a sensible time to be going hiking … but the program seemed like a good idea at the time.

So, last weekend (22-23 May) we had an overnight hike for five of our middling to older kids, three of whom had never done an overnight hike before (unfortunately my assistant leader wasn’t able to make it despite looking forward to it). The plan was to head down to Anglesea, walking along some of the famous Surf Coast. The kids started at Bell’s Beach and walked along the top of the cliffs overlooking the surfers below. The track then goes into the bush, and passes the remains of an old jarosite mine … not that there’s a lot to see. The old dam, which used to be full of rusty orange water, is bone dry as a consequence of our drought. The track then continues to meander through the bush, before heading back out to the cliffs and on to Point Addis.

I didn’t walk with the kids, instead taking my car and meeting them at various points along the way just to make sure they were on course. I met up with them for lunch, where we were joined by a couple of friendly dogs, who were quite interested in what we were eating!

While the kids were on route to Point Addis I had time to find a geocache on one of the tracks and I got some nice photos of the sun on the cliffs. There are beaches on both sides of the point, and when the kids arrived out at the end they dropped down onto the western side (off to the right of the photo), and mucked around for a while jumping off the dunes, and burying each other in the sand. They then set off along the beach while I drove off to find another couple of geocaches and then made my way to the Scout campsite where I promptly fell asleep in the car (I’d had a week … and I was verrrrry tired).

The kids arrived about an hour before sunset which gave them time to cook dinner including the now-traditional cheesecake* which is often my job, but one of the kids did it this time. They even had time to clean up before it was totally dark. We were going to play some night games but decided to go and find a geocache instead (don’t look at me: I only offered it as a possibility and they went for it!). It was actually a bit of a walk, but they found it, and then we returned to camp and got a fire going for a while, with some more silly stories. One of the kids hadn’t heard the “Viper” joke, so that was told yet again, only it was under challenging circumstances because one of the older kids decided to jazz up the sound effects which just cracked me up when I was trying to create an atmosphere of trepidation and impending terror.

Next morning it was 0°C and there was ice on the car, but it was a glorious day and it warmed up as the morning progressed. The kids walked down to the river in Anglesea, and I met them there and joined them for the last section up the river and then up into the hills above Anglesea to Mt Ingoldsby. I hadn’t been this way before, and there were still plenty of wildflowers out, including the little carnivorous sundews in the top photo.

The kids were pretty proud of themselves when they reached the end … but there was no rest for me because I had a 3km walk to go and get the car (it was downhill, and so it only took me half an hour). As is so often the case, these sorts of things add chaos to my schedule, but are enjoyable and fun and worthwhile when I’m there.

*Yes, we have cheesecake on hikes. It’s a patented technique using the frypan part of a Trangia hiking stove and a secret recipe**.

** OK, it’s a packet mix.