13th September

Day 35 - Gardiner to Maringup Campsite

The majority of the day's walk was along the Gardiner river with several tiger snake sightings as the morning got warmer. As I walked deeper and deeper into D'Entrecasteaux national park, the vegetation became more coastal and the wildflower displays became more and more vivid.

Today also marked the first of the wading sections. On several occasions after leaving the river the track ended up ankle deep in water that was nigh impossible to avoid. My feet were damp when I made it to Maringup hut at 11:45 am. Maringup hut is situated on the edge of a very large freshwater lake. 

I noticed a sidetrack about 500m before the hut heading off towards the coast. I decided to take the side trip of 4 hours return or about 18km return to Coodumurrup hut to build towards achieving 1000km and also to explore and hopefully see the coast for the first time. Half an hour was all that was needed to get great views from the other side of lake Maringup. When I eventually reached  Coodumurrup hut I encountered 3 big bearded intimidating looking blokes who turned out to be very friendly sharing their beer and giving me inside information on the local area and the fishing. 

They were staying at the hut which featured press tinned walls and had a water tank and about 8 to 10 single beds without mattresses that 4WD's could get to. A further 2km walk could have got me to the beach but after spending an hour with these blokes and the long walk back I didn't quite get to the coast.

To keep the mozzies at bay I needed to put up my tent in the hut. For the first time on the walk I could hear the ocean as I drifted off to sleep. Below is a picture of lake Maringup before the sun was up.

Day 36 - Maringup to Dog Pool