The CrossingBoorabbin toward Bullabulling
Less Than A Thousand parkruns To Go
The first powerless night left us cold, but there were another 49.9 kilometres to walk towards Bullabulling. Changing colours, heavy trucks and the first offer of a lift kept the day from feeling ordinary.
The first night without power was okay until morning.
Dinner could be cooked on gas. Baby wipes could replace a shower. The bigger problem arrived with the sun: it was bloody cold and we couldn’t flick the heater on. The battery packs hadn’t been recharged properly either, so phones, watches and everything else had to make do.
It was a small rehearsal for later. The Nullarbor would ask for multiple nights like that in a row. Day 12 was still in the safer first leg to Kalgoorlie, but we were already learning what needed tweaking before the country got bigger.
Once we got moving, the national park area slipped behind us and the colours changed again. Blue sky. Green bush. Orange-red dirt. The kind of palette that makes the word outback feel less like a cliche and more like an actual set of colours burned into your head.
The day had its little roadside videos too: trucks, an oversize load, and the moving machinery of the Goldfields doing its thing around me.
The crew had their own day as well. There were support-crew shenanigans, a Road Runner rhyme, and the first episode of Cooking with Ols. HAA was never just me walking while two blokes waited. They were living the trip as well, filling time, making food, keeping things moving, and occasionally making something ridiculous enough that it had to be shared.
There was no media send-off, campervan crisis or big town welcome. We kept the devices alive, bodies fed, spirits up and van where it needed to be while the bitumen and bush threatened to blur together.
My feet were the other thing I couldn’t afford to get wrong.
Before HAA I had met David Baird at my local parkrun. David had crossed Australia on foot while pushing a wheelbarrow, and he had impressed on me how critical foot care would be. A tiny blister could become a show-stopper. The Bunbury test walk had already taught me that lesson the painful way, and I had also been pointed toward Rebecca Rushton’s Blister Prevention advice.
So I was proactive. Creams, anti-inflammatory ointments, Nurofen gel, dry socks, foot massage, duct tape over socks to protect tender spots: it was all part of the routine. The boys laughed, and they were probably entitled to complain about the smell of some of the ointments, but the routine worked. My feet were painful and sore from the daily pounding, but blisters never became the thing that stopped us.
That night I had my first offer of a lift.
“No thanks anyway, but I’m actually walking to Brisbane.”
“You’re walking to where?????”
It took twelve days for that to happen, which is funny in itself. The offer was kind, but it also showed how absurd the whole thing sounded to someone who hadn’t been following along.
By the end of the day another 50 kilometres had been chipped away. We had finished the walking at or near Bullabulling, about 66 kilometres from the outskirts of Kalgoorlie, then drove forward to the campsite at Coolgardie for the night. There was a radio interview lined up in the morning, then we would resume from the previous finish point and keep heading toward Rivendell.
Only three more sleeps to Kalgoorlie parkrunday.
Videos From The Day
Road Runner Rhyme
Support crew downtime on Day 12: frisbee, sightseeing, shopping, and a bit of Road Runner rhyme shenanigans.
Open on YouTubeCooking with Ols episode 1
Cooking with Ols episode 1, perhaps of 1: butter, cheese, mash, and apparently a very decent result.
Open on YouTubeRandom truck video
A Day 12 truck clip, with the best night trucks apparently lit up like carnival floats.
Open on YouTubeOversize load and traffic escort
An oversize load with a traffic escort and two trucks pulling the trailer through the Day 12 stretch.
Open on YouTubeImages From The Day
