A few river crossings were made along the way and about a third of the way around we rested by a crossing to refresh our tired feet in the lovely cool water. We only met one other person on the track today - a lone cyclist with calves made of granite and muscles on his muscles. He rode up the hills as if they weren't a bother at all and told us he was planning to ride some ridiculous distance over a hundred kilometres. |
Click on photos to enlarge. Today was by far our most gruelling walk to date - 18 kilometres of track, up and down steep hills around Lake Manchester. Lake Manchester is built on Cabbage Tree Creek not far above its confluence with the Brisbane River, and was constructed between 1912-1916. Its 26,000 megalitre capacity provided a reliable water supply to Brisbane until 1988, but now acts as an emergency supply in times of drought. We set off with our usual enthusiasm, expecting a gentle, scenic walk around the lake, blissfully unaware of the terrain that lay ahead. Little did we know that many hills lay in wait to sap our strength and challenge our stamina. The route uses forest/fire roads which are well graded, but a covering of loose gravel means caution must be taken on descents. The start was quite pretty, but soon got very hilly. We walked the circuit in a clockwise direction, which turned out to be a wise decision as the most strenuous part of the journey was through the first half while we were relatively fresh. Most of the walk was through open eucalypt and ironbark forests with plenty of birdlife. Bellbirds abounded and cut the air with their clear calls. The lake was not visible for most of the time, but was lovely when it could be seen. We passed an empty hut and an empty camp ground along the way. Camping is allowed at the Blue Gum Flat camp site which is about half way around the circuit. This is a large flat grassy area surrounded by forest, but has no facilities. The final leg of the walk ran close to Lake Manchester Road where we were very happy to spy signs of life at last with some houses and farms coming into sight. Our tired legs took us back to the car which we had left at the picnic sight below the damn. We ate a very late lunch before heading home. The whole walk took us 5 1/2 hours. It was exhausting, but still a circuit well worth doing. The distance today makes a total of 142 kilometres of Wednesday walking this year, which would get us from Brisbane to Byron Bay if we tackled it in one go. At this rate we should travel the distance around Australia in about 25 years.
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