The eight of us wandered into the room,
meeting each other for the first time.

We knew Nic and Ross, but who were these other guys, and who will we share a tent with?
We didn't really have time to decide, so just picked someone most like us, and started packing our packs.
There was stacks of food, the tents looked enormous. and where was it all going anyway? - my pack was full of clothes and water bottles. some stuff had to be left behind - the water bottles, my video games, or all my woollen jumpers?

"I've got 4L of water, and 8L of coke - that's why my bags so heavy," said Aaron, as we loaded the trailer.

Finally, it was all jammed in, or hung off the sides and tossed into the trailer. We crammed into the vehicle and set off for the Blue Mountains. Ricky and Jake were pretty excited, bouncing around the vehicle and hassling for attention.
Soon Ricky had the attention of a passing Mercedes driver after throwing some food at him. We stopped, and Ross took him over to get better acquainted. They even swapped names. The car was much quieter after that. We spent the rest of the trip getting to know each other better, swapping unlikely stories, and figuring out who was the baddest of us all.

Hours later, we fell out of the truck at the locked gate on the Narrow Neck Road. After Kym and Ricky had kindly finished washing spit from the side of the car, Mr Dixan turned the car around and left us to start our journey.
A final photo with everyone smiling because none of us realized yet how hard it was going to be, then, with armloads of gear and packs swollen with sleeping bags and little else, we stumbled down the beginning of the track. Wouldn't have thrown my oranges away if I'd known how good they would taste later.

We soon spread out, with Ricky, Mark, and Michael somewhere up front, and Aaron and jake far behind, already considering setting up camp for the night. It was only 3 pm.

Nathan, one of the first to the fire tower where we were stopping for dinner, woofed down a pack of noodles, then raced back along the track to see where the rest of the group were.
this was our first chance to try out the Trangia stoves. "you know this metho(lated spirits) even makes the ground burn." You don't get much fuel and need to use it sparingly, so we just pinched Someone Else's. A few of us tried to get the pit toilet alight, but only managed to waste more of Someone Else's fuel. in fact, Ricky and Jake really enjoyed stealing fuel and water and food from others, until Jake stole a fist full of muesli bars from a pack, and then realized it was his own. "Dolt!"

The fog rolled in and the light faded as we trudged the last 3km to this ladder thing Ross calls "Taro's Ladders". Aaron and Jake were still walking with armloads of gear, and at one rest Aaron just left his bag of clothes sitting on the track. everyone walked around it. By the time he remembered, it was a hard hike back - 1km up the steep hill, with no torch.

"Somethings up ahead. it was BIG!" whimpered a breathless Ricky and Scott, as they came scurrying back along the track. they figured there was more safety in numbers.

It was really late when we finally reached Taros'. Ricky was freezing, as he had left all his jumpers back at the school (too bulky!) and Aaron was soaking after 'falling' in a puddle, so Jake offered him a jumper. Scott, exhausted after the long hike, fell asleep behind a rock. Torches were already blowing globes, fading, or buried deep in packs. The bag of food fell out of Ricky's pack again, so he hurled it off a cliff - his food for the next 5 days. Scott thought this was hilarious.

The rain drizzled as one by one, we climbed down. This was Taro's ladder! Most of us just climbed down the greasy spikes hammered into the cliff face, and sheltered under the cliff, while Ricky and Michael worked hard, lowering the packs down on a rope.
A knot undid, and one pack crashed to the ground.

Taros Ladders source
It was late, it was wet, but we still weren't at Meadows Gap, where we planned to camp. Instead, we were lost in the fog on a ridge.
"Why can't we camp here, and leave early for breakfast in the Gap?" Its now 1am, and all of us were stuffed.
Up went the tents, down came the rain. it would do until morning, as long as the rain doesn't get too heavy. Jake had an argument with his partner, and abandoned him to a half erected tent, adopting mark for the night. For Aaron and Michael,even getting the tent out was a chore, so they began the night buried in their sleeping bags, in the rain.