Last Big Trek, part 3

The walk over to Waterfall Bay Hut is fairly short, but on this particular day it definitely wasn't uneventful. The winds were up, the drizzle was soaking through and I had a mid morning date with hunter Nancye. Well, not really. I was being a bit of a pack horse and taking meat into the field for the hunters who had been off station for two weeks. I met up with Nancye at Pyramid Peak for some tea and a nice chat, then wandered the rest of the way to the hut. Later in the day wildlife ranger Bree and hunter Ben H arrived to a warm hut and some freshly made bread. I made gnocchi for dinner, something that Ben hadn't had before.

Bree and Ben H resting after a wet and windy day

Next day I bade farewell to Bree and Ben as they went off for their respective jobs and trotted of towards Hurd Point. First stop was the lookout over the top of Lusitania Bay and the weather was about as good as could be asked for: a little clearing drizzle, low winds and mostly useful light. After that was a little pit stop at Windy Ridge before heading down the scree slope to Hurd Pt where I was joined by Dana and Adrian.

Look at all those penguins!

The top of the Lusitania Bay catchment area

The boilers that once rendered those penguins down to oil

As you can see, I was having a bit of fun with black and white photos.

Imagine, if you will, you have a 15kg thing that you must always carry no matter where you go (the hunters are generally carrying around 30kg). Now cover yourself in a thin, but warm fabric from neck to ankle and all the way to the wrist. Put on a pair of lining socks (if you're that way inclined), thicker socks, a pair of shorts and some sort of thin fleece top. Wrap yourself in plastic wrap to keep the wind and rain out, pull on your boots, then pick up your thing and start walking. There's no to worry about traffic, or intersections or anything like that, you are simply walking and only stopping if you need a rest or have some sort of work to do. While walking the wind is blowing strongly enough to help prop you up and you most likely can only see for around 60m. Do this for as little as 2hrs or as many as 10hrs and you'll have a vague idea as to what it is like walking around here.