The Hollyfood track is easy everyone says it's all flat you just follow the river along .They said its a doddle .You don't have to carry a tent they said . So I set off with my apparently light 9 kilo pack with a few nervous butterflies flying around my tummy wearing my long sleeve op shop shirt supposedly sand fly resistant shirt and 3 dollar pants and came to a hill I said to "h " what's that doing here ? it's nothing my "precious" you will fly over these to He prodded me with his half price walking stick and I was off. Our quest was to find the huts before dark under the 3 hour addition mark we had to add to the walking times displayed on the very infrequent signs .
We learnt never to believe any young German with long or short legs. They could do every track in half the time you could without even raising a sweat. When" H"started to hide behind trees and do his Gilliam impersonations I knew I was in for a long trip. Arriving at the last hut which faces Martin Bay on the Southern Ocean early enough to have a freezing cold swim and spy baby seals nuzzling into their mums on their majestic rock homes I decided that maybe those disgusting freeze dried meal ( nasi goreng looks like whale vomit) ;those endless rocky hills ; those alarming tight rope bridges and the creepy tree routes that tried to trip you up at every little twist in the track ; the nasty sand flies seeking out every bit of exposed skin ; were all possibly worth it .However when I realised we were going most of the way back on a 45 min jet boat ride I did start to wonder ( while doing the last "quick " 6 hour sprint to the bus ) whether legging is the best way to travel the Hollyford. "H" assures me that helicopter rides and jet boats wouldn't be nearly as much fun as lugging a 9 kilo pack by foot over 70ks in 4 days ..... Mmmmm. Maybe....
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