Larapinta Trail: Section 6 - Ellery Creek Big Hole day of rest
Day 11 of 18 Thursday
Ellery creek big hole, quiet moments and basking in its glory
Late yesterday we arrived at Ellery Creek Big Hole and went for a brief chilly swim, had a good old belly laugh and some much needed down time. Today was going to be more of that but on more of a chilled level. Today was to be officially known in hiking lingo as a Zero Day, or at least called that by our American friends who always like to be a little different. Basically, as it sounds, that is the code for doing nothing all day and not crushing out any trail miles or kilometres to the rest of the world. Like I said our American friends are a little different. But to us Aussies and probably the rest of the world I’d like to call it a Rest Day or in bogan Australia a ‘fuck all day’. When you’re on the trail a ‘fuck all day’ (I’m a little bogan at heart) is anything but doing sweet fuck all. But it’s pretty bloody close as can be. Today was for gorging on yummy snacks, bathing, soaking up some rays and resupply our packs, mending broken things and catching up on all those little jobs you put off until you have time, that includes a mandatory sleep in.
chilly water but not a NT croc in sight
Mandatory sleep in was just what we did, well Irish did anyway. She is well renowned for her lengthy ‘lie ins’ as she fondly refers to them as, in fact I’m pretty sure she’s the only woman I know that can sleep in a plastic bag (her tent’s nickname on account of it looks like one) until midday in the wilds of NT. Myself, I got a more sedate sleep in which only lasted until 7am on account of the slow leak in my air mattress. It was one of my repair jobs for the day so I had no excuse not to rise and shine.
So I headed to the waterside to relax and fix my air mattress. There I spent the morning watching the tourists come and go by the bus full, diving into the freezing water only to do a Big J, squeal and fly out of the water much to everyone’s amusement. I finally located a miniscule stream of air bubbles floating to the surface. Hole located, all it took was a quick patch, twenty minutes in the sun to dry and then I blew it up and tested my handy work by turning my air mattress into a lie low, swam to the middle of the waterhole, and chilled out some more. It was about midday that Irish arose from her slumber and joined me at the water’s edge. We lounged around for a couple of hours before becoming hungry and strolled back to the campsite for a lazy late lunch. I tell you what, I could get use to these ‘fuck all days’. I found myself briefly wondering what my health colleagues would be doing about now at the coal face, probably dealing with runny noses coughs and colds. Perhaps a few overdue reports and certainly a barrage of emails. Ha, that is a mugs game I thought, and I was so glad to be here without a care in the world.
repair job complete and reward at play
Speaking of work, Poor Big J. had to leave the trail yesterday under under protest. The powers to be at his workplace had deemed them to be too short staffed to warrant giving him seven continuous days leave. So in their infinite wisdom he had two days off, then two days work then five days off. Talk about a shit roster. Big J being the legend he is, saw it fit not to moan (too loudly anyway) sucked up the inevitable and bless his cotton socks even found a silver lining to the shit cloud. He was going to return to the fray after his two days’ work and join us on the trail bearing gifts. Now his gifts were to be the talk of the trail in days to come and would go down in history as a legendary undertaking spoken only of in hushed tones of the pubs around central Australia. Big J was soon to be known as the man who brought Uber Eats to the Larapinta Trail. Not just any old Uber Eats mind you, but the finger licking kind of eats that any trail participant would kill for. In fact I’m probably going to go out on a ledge here and willing to bet my first born child into slave labour (sorry Tom) that no other Larapinta hiker in recent history or ever for that matter has been delivered KFC to them in the wilds of NT. Uber Eats, eat your heart out, Big J Eats is coming to town and certainly something to look forward to in the coming days.
Larapinta trail’s infamous plastic bag and stick tent in all its splendour
The rest of the day passed as it should have, planning, chilling, repacking and more chilling, a perfect end to our first Rest day. I can’t say I was ready to hit the trail again tomorrow, but I can say this. Plan a Rest Day at Ellery creek big you will not regret the simplicity of a day doing fuck all and living the dream. Oh and for the hikers that like mobile coverage and internet well this place isn’t for you so keep walking. The next mobile coverage is two days away at the meanderthal pace
Ellery Creek Big Hole siesta beach
