"Can I have some of your chocolate. Please, please, please?" they bleated, begged, and grovelled "Have you no pride?" asked Nic. "It's chocolate!" was the answer.
While the group sat around waiting, Aaron, Jake, and Michael walked back and forth on the track looking for their lost tent poles. No one else bothered to help "Its not my problem" was Kym’s answer. Aaron finally stumbled on them after recognizing the spot where he had lost the track in the dark last night.
Even though Dex is only 2km away, the track is faint and everyone lethargic in the humid air. The group split up at a fork for a while but finally we all found our way to the water. Not much to look at, but the water was cool, clear and flowing. "I'd never believe I’d want water so much. Now I know what those kids in Somalia feel like. They don‘t get water for days," reflected Nathan with a new respect for water.
Everyone chose to be sensible with the water this time - no pollution. It was a long but late breakfast. Ricky scored some food again. Scott entertained himself by tormenting Ricky, dribbling unwanted chocolate pudding into the dirt and watching him grovel for the falling drips.
We were aiming to camp in the caves at Crafts Wall tonight, 7km away, along the Gangerang Range. Kym organized everyone for a map reading. Maybe it was his inspirational leadership style, but Nathan ripped into him, "We don‘t need to jump when you tell us!!"
The weather changed suddenly. Dark clouds and strong gusts of wind, a distant clap of thunder and lightning then the first drops of rain. By the time we topped Mt. Cloudmaker it was a full-on storm. A huge blast of wind threw us over, Time to get off this mountain and find shelter.
We zipped along the ridge over Rip, Rack, Roar and Rumble, barely stopping and onwards to Mt. Stormbreaker. Obviously we were late according to the weather that was hitting us, but we had found our GO button.
“Time to snap out of it. Had my fun time, now its time to work” another resolution made by Jake. Over Mt. High-and-Mighty. then up Mt. Berry It looked as big as Strongleg, but we were up it fast. Aaron was desperate for water but not willing to carry the water bag his partner offered him. "lts too heavy", he bleated "Fine" says Jake angrily, "you don't get anymore then."
It was a fantastic view of Kanangra Walls hour the top and Crafts Wall looked close. We paused for a group photo then pushed on. There were some excellent caves, sheltered from the wind and rain AND we were there in the light. “We are legends!”
Nic had some marshmallows and shared them with the group. Some of the guys were happy to bark like dogs for one Not Michael "I've got my pride". Jake and Ricky were milling around for the chance of seconds. "Hey faggot, you stood on my foot", "Who cares. You called me faggot" was the cutting reply.
Mark came back grinning.
"I cooked mine on the stove".
'Did it taste like metho?' Nic enquired
"Just a little bit. I dropped it in the metho"
'Spirit of the bush eh!'
"Spirits alright"
