I was reading a journal entry of some people who took on the
famous Jatbula Trail previously they talked about the conditioning they partook
in prior to the event. They conditioned their bodies over time to accept 16kg
backpacks for hours on end. In true Amanda style I had little preparation. I
even brought my hiking shoes three days before and only wore them once in my
office to prepare. Turns out they were epically awesome boots, I did get those
two little blisters but I’m not sure how you could walk 62km over rough terrain
and not accumulate any unless your feet were virtually calluses. I mean pretty
much everyone but Ryan was worse off than me and most of them had worn their
shoes before! I have pretty tough feet I reckon I’d be permanently barefoot if
I could. Something about appropriate societal behaviour tends to stop me.
So the Jatbula Trail is quite a famous trail in the NT, it
follows the Jawoyn people as a traditional singing walk through incredible
scenery. It books out quickly, up to a year in advance they only allow 15
people per campsite per night. My friends Brian & Jasmine had organised the
walk eight months earlier inviting me and my friends along. I was as eager as a
bull in a field full of cows to join the group. Any excuse really to get
outdoors, I quite enjoy the odd bushwalk despite the fact I really don’t like
hiking.
let me talk about the crew.
Dan – One of my best friends for over 10 years we share a
love of the bush and reptiles.
Mick – My corrupt partner in crime much to the disgust of
his fiancé I have a habit of coercing mick into all sorts of weird and
wonderful shenanigans that we probably should have got out of our systems when
we turned 25 :D
Ryan – I only met Ryan three years ago on my return to
Darwin he is the youngest of the group at a baby 26yrs. Ryan is usually good
for an adventure of two as well. Some of us will never grow up.
Brian – The silent warrior. I met Brian when he was 17
through video games. I would have been 19 or 20 I guess. I was enamoured by his
counterstrike skills and we hung out for a short while. I re met him through
Dan & co later in life and he has become a stable member of my core
friendship group. He is one of the quietest but usually one of the last people
to leave a party.
Jasmine – Brian’s girlfriend of a year or two now. I haven’t
hung out a lot with her but she is easy to talk to & really nice.
Brock – Brian’s school friend. A paramedic who lives in
Katherine met him for the first time this trip. A little reserved but he was
thrown into a group of people who knew each other for years so makes sense.
Liana – Friends since we were…16? What can I say about
Liana. I know all the bad and all the good about her. She drives me nuts
sometimes and other times we are best friends. Its why we have been friends for
so long that we can deal with each others BS rage and then an hour later be
giggling like school girls.
Brett – Met him through Dan 10+ yrs ago he is now married to
Liana. Brett’s a big super nerd that just happens to be awesome at everything
he does and its kind of annoying.
Tuesday night we made the drive to Katherine where everyone
shacked up in Knott’s Crossing and I stayed with my friend Ashley. I went to
bed pretty early since I had a big day ahead of me. I think I was asleep by
9:30. The latest I would be sleeping for the next five days! So I was up at
6:30am and Ash was kind enough to give me a ride to the resort where I met
everyone for a hot breakfast consisting of all the foods I would do without for
the next five days. And then we were off.
The walk didn’t start off so well we were following a school
group who were doing a day hike to Northern Rockhole. So our plan of being in
total seclusion was ruined by 20+ 15yr olds. You know the age of emerging
puberty where its all flirting and teasing and maybe this is my age showing but
its really fucking annoying. Considering I was an asexual nerd till my late
teens I am content in the fact I was never one of those giggling teens who
irritated 30yr olds trying to get away from exactly that.
Ok enough raging at kids being kids (how senior citizen of
me) Northern Rockhole was verging on stagnant with the waterfall completely dry
and the pond covered in debris. But Jasmine & I feeling the heat braved the
water for a quick dip. Everyone else sat in the shade. We didn’t stick around
long wanting to get to the first campsite asap. I can’t really talk much about
the walk it was probably one of the most difficult. Temperature was probably
sitting at around 37C. Dan was having issues with his pack, Brock had just
finished an all-nighter paramedic shift and Micks new stripper shoes were
proving a little un-roadworthy. The path
had a lot of hills, walking uphill in scorching heat with a 16kg backpack on is
excruciating.
Needless to say as soon as we arrived the front of the pack
Ryan, Brian, Jasmine & I a good 10 minutes ahead of the others made a
beeline for the water and jumped in not even bothering to remove our sweat
stained clothes. Biddlecombe cascades was the first stop and it was a series of
rock pools cascading down into a massive gorge. Probably one of my favourite
swimming spots out of the whole trip. Liana and I did a little bit of exploring
up the top of the gorge but we found one spot for swimming at the base of a
huge waterfall with a couple of little spa spots. We had the entire spot to
ourselves it was awesome.
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| Biddlecombe Cascades |
As the sun started dropping and the colours forming I put
down my book and lit up one of my joints to watch. Sitting there by myself I
let the natural ambience take me over and my mind wandered. I contemplated my
existence and my feelings. My place in the world and how I felt about that
place. And I started thinking about all the different people who were a part of
my life and how I felt about their part. And I felt happy and content about
everything sitting on that cliff by myself watching the sun fall between the
walls of the gorge. I felt like everything was working out. All that was
missing was one particular person who I wanted nothing more but to share my
moment with, but that person was back in Darwin. But it didn’t matter because
everything was beautiful anyway. Liana and Brett joined me briefly for the last
five minutes of the sunset but they were soon gone and I was alone again. I
wandered back to the campsite eventually to re-join my friends and eat a
delicious meal of rehydrated beef stew.
Making a water/dishes run at night we came across a small
snake right in the path. In my out of mind state I was lucky to have passed on
leadership to Ryan only moments before pretty sure I wouldn’t have noticed it
and probably stepped right on it. Dan & I attempted to identify it but it
was so young it made it difficult, we had an inkling it was a baby version of a
brown snake. Regardless we detoured around it not wanting to take any chances.
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| watching the sunset |
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| Some Art we found on the path Day #2 |
Cascades was the next stop we reached it just before
lunchtime and once again jumped in fully dressed. I even brought my socks in
for a much needed soak. Cascades as a swimming spot was visually mediocre but
the campsite was beautiful so we spread out into the trees I put my tent as far
away as possible right on the river bank. I left everyone after lunch to
explore up the river and found some beautiful waterfalls about a km up. I could
have kept going but was getting tired and really following cascades could go on
for days and you would just keep seeing beautiful things. Nature is funny like
that. I had a nap after my exploring adventures and woke up to see the crew
sitting in a pool out in the rapids. From the distance I could make out the
pump bottles that indicated the scotch was flowing. I joined them for a while
until feeling like prunes we made our way back to camp where I boiled up some
green tea and the cards came out.
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| I went exploring up river |
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| cup to tea in the afternoon |
Once again about 6pm I set off with my ginger wine and green
to find my sunset point. It was a bit more of a hike this time and I headed
downstream having heard of a massive waterfall close by. I was on the wrong
side but I found a great view of the gorge with the edge of the huge waterfall
cascading down. I didn’t watch the whole sunset because I’d forgotten my head
torch and the climb was treacherous. But I once again had my spiritual
connection with the earth moment in my solitude. I think I’m turning a little
introverted. I spent a lot of the five days alone. I did have a lot more energy
than my crippled friends for exploring. I’m not about to give up on doing
something I want because I have to do it alone.
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| more exploring to watch the sunset. |
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| heading back early since I forgot my head torch |
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| Cascade Pools |
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| Ginger wine in the evening |
Day 3 was much the same. There was a half way spot to the Amphitheater which was an indigenous sanctuary. A stream nestled between large cliffs there was plenty of indigenous art. It was beautiful and relaxing. I don’t know who made the climb down for viewing except me but I’m glad I did. I think living in the territory you get a little bit jaded towards indigenous art. I mean you see it everywhere all the time when hiking 62km you probably don’t want to add that extra km onto your journey for the sake of something you’ve seen a million times before. Total hike that day was just over 10km and ended at 17 mile falls a beautiful waterfall falling into a sunny gorge. We camped right up the top. The campsite and swimming area was probably the most mediocre of all the sites. With little shade we sought refuge upstream my lily white friends hiding from the solar rays. Even when we found shade the swimming spot was full of rocks and moss but we made the best of it a game of Frisbee kept everyone entertained for a few hours. On return we were ambushed by another group of EIGHT people. We were not impressed since the trail only allows 15 people per night and we already had another couple in a separate group from us. This group had skipped the cascades and was doing the walk in 3 nights instead of four. So we rearranged our campsite to accommodate them then fled to the water for tea and conversation.
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| 17 Mile falls Day #3 |
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| not far to go |
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| Green tea by the water |
As 6pm rolled around I headed off for my usual find a good
vantage point to watch the sunset. Taking my ginger wine and natural products
picked my way along the rocks to find the most stunning view of 17 mile falls
and the rock pools above. So I took about one hundred pictures and seeing a
flat ledge made my way down where I sat for 45 minutes just staring at the
falls and surrounds. I got really really stoned on this ledge perched maybe 30
metres high. I was centimetres from falling, probably one of the dumbest places
I’ve ever gotten stoned before…and I’ve gotten stoned in some pretty dumb
places J In
fact it was so dumb and I was so stoned I didn’t last very long before leaving
my ledge and making my way back to my crew. The sun was still setting in fact.
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| my precarious position overlooking the falls |
But that’s cool I joined my friends down on the rocks, drank
the last of my ginger wine and we lay back and watched the stars. One thing I
have discovered about my friends is that they really love satellites. I
couldn’t specifically say why but they just got really excited every time they
saw one. Dan was pretty drunk declaring he now liked Scotch. It was a nice
change from the beer talk that was monopolizing our conversation day in day
out. Its difficult to carry enough beer to get you through five days four
nights so liquor was the easier choice. I’m not much for liquor so that’s why I
stuck to my Wine. A glass of wine and a joint to finish the day was perfect for
me.
We decided to leave at first light to ensure we beat the
other big group and snagged the first campsite so it was early to bed once
again.
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| funny drunks Mick, Dan, Brian |
5:30 rocks up and there are torches shining in my tent. Ugh.
So we woke up and got our shit together quickly. Mick was first up and last to
get ready, he pulled out a toothbrush an hour later as we all stood there our
packs on ready to go and a bunch of us said Fuck it and just left him. I don’t
know why he takes so long to do anything. I wouldn’t last five minutes I’m the
QUEEN of impatience. They caught up with us pretty quickly though at the first
rest stop. This particular day was a long walk of 16.8km. It was also the
coolest of the days perfect dry season weather and since we had started at
6amish we were walking in the coolest hours.
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| early early start day #4 |
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| short rest Mick, Ryan, Jasmine |
As usual the groups slowly separated to different speeds. I
was in the middle of the slow and fast group walking by myself by the end just
focusing on one foot in front of the other. When you are by yourself its easy
to let your mind wander so I had a lot of moments of thinking and
contemplation. I tried to think about everything but walking. I came to a swamp
and was ready to sit down and rest when I stumbled across the fast group who
were only about five minutes ahead of me. We rested a little than rose again, I
stuck near them this time keeping my speed up but it was easy since we ended up
at the campsite Sandy Camp Pool only five minutes after the rest stop. We
arrived about 11am, not a bad effort.
Beautiful campsite with sandy floor and shady trees everywhere.
A huge billabong virtually at our doorstep. We snagged the top spot and set up
tents quickly. I picked a beautiful spot smack bang in the middle of shade.
Well it was beautiful until everyone else decided to smother my tent in their
own, I ended up picking it up and moving it to a new more secluded location.
The slower group was about 15 minutes behind us. It was to be our last night
camping.
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| our beautiful campsite |
The rest of the day was pretty chilled out. We relaxed, we
swam. We played some Frisbee. I bet everyone that they couldn’t throw the
Frisbee across the pond. They couldn’t. We found a rope swing that entertained.
I even tried it although I just fell really awkwardly in the water while
everyone laughed at me. A few of us played 500 (card game) That night Ryan got really drunk and I got
really stoned again and Dan and I lay next to each other on the sand staring at
the sky. The sand was super comfortable. It was really cold this time about 10C
so I piled on the thermals. Lucky I carried them 55km!! Ryan was really
hilarious he makes no sense when he is drunk its like English is his second
language. Was in bed by about 9pm once again.
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| Sandy creek pool Ryan getting in touch with his inner child |
We slept in a bit this morning until 6amish. Ready to go at
730ish. This was the last stretch about 15km. Sweetwater pool was about 10km
in. It was here we started running into other people and suddenly that feeling
that your near civilisation is closer. I had mixed feelings about that, I was
happy to be heading back but I was also sad to be leaving behind the beautiful
peaceful sounds of nature. We had a nice swim at sweet water and then geared up
for the last 5km back to Edith Falls. Liana was feeling her blisters and was
lagging so I stayed back with her and we spent the last 4km just talking about
all sorts of things. It was really fucking hot but the conversation helped to
pass the time quickly.
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| fuck I'm awesome ;) |
We made it back to Edith the other guys had already left to
pick up the cars from Katherine. As we were chilling on the grass talking and
moaning along comes a friend of Dan’s with an esky of beer. I’ve never been so
happy to see beer in my life. It was a welcome end to a long and difficult five
days.
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| A welcome end to five days! |
Every time I do a bush walk I learn a little more about what
works and what doesn’t. For instance green tea is the best in the afternoons
when you’re recovering from a long day of walking. Just sitting by the water
drinking a cup of tea is strangely therapeutic.
If you have a lot or downtime between hikes like we did a
hammock is awesome. Brian and Jasmine had one and it’s cool. I want to find a
good light hiking hammock for my next trip.
I need more salt in my diet choices. I did take a block of
salami but I found my body craving salt most of the five days and the salami
wasn’t enough. Plus it’s nice to vary lunch choices tuna and crackers can get a
bit repetitive.
So would I do the Jatbula again? Yes definitely in fact I’m
already considering applying for a permit for next year. My overall experience
was awesome. There was some really rough moments where I wondered if I was
capable, if my fitness level could handle it but if we went back and read
through every hiking journey I’ve had those moments are pretty common. I always
make it to the end and the beauty of those bad moments is that they make the
good parts so much sweeter.
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