The Great Ocean Walk – April 2010

It is as if someone has left the water running and has no intention of ever turning it off. Admittedly, it has only been two days since we began, but you see how you enjoy walking over 20 kilometers a day in torrential rain and gail force wind. Everything we need, we carry on our backs and I must admit, although it is awkward and heavy, it is an incredibly liberating way to travel.

Arriving at Aire River campsite on day two of the Great Ocean Walk, our spirits are low and we wonder if we might indeed remain pruney until our last days. We stand momentarily looking for shelter from the rain, only to hear voices beckoning us from beneath a pitched blue tarp in the middle of a field. There is a second of hesitation before we bolt to the shelter, tearing off our bags and layers of wet clothing before we flop cross-legged to the grass and see the voices belong to several friendly young faces.

We bond over bowls of steaming hot tea brewed for us by Bear, so named due to the time he once spent living in a cave. We soon learn the group are outdoor recreation students from a Melbourne Tafe and they are shocked to learn that amongst the masses we carry, we have failed to pack a mat to sleep on, pillows to rest our heads and a burner to heat our meals. Now painfully self-conscious of our foolishness, we decide not to tell them that we’ve also left the third sleeping bag at home, leaving three people with only two sleeping bags in the weeks leading into winter.

After hours of talking, we retire to our tent – erected compliments of the Tafe crew. Just as we are dozing off there is a scratching sound at the door. Bear kneels before us with his burner in his hands. He looks down at it embarrassed and begins to talk while absently fingering his name that has been etched into the base. He begins, ‘when you are camping, there are two things which are paramount - shelter and warmth. You already have shelter so please take my burner to heat your meals,’ he insists, placing the burner in my hands.

That night, nothing much is said – we are too overwhelmed by such an unprecedented act of kindness. While the days which follow are tough, battling undulating hills and vast stretches of coast, each meal that we take from that moment, warms us from the soul out giving us all the strength that we need to keep going.