An early morning rain shower made it a struggle to get out of my warm cozy hammock this morning. Eventually I got up around 6.30am and set about morning pre-walk tasks. Usually I leave the hammock and tarp till last but today while the rain had subsided I got started on them after changing from camp/sleep clothes into dirty hiking clothes.
It was quite a short 12-13km walk to Pattersons camp today as the the pleasant river views continued.
The walking was quite easy on a mixture of walking tracks and vehicle tracks.
Paul, Judy and I arrived within a short time of each other around midday. After setting up, it was quite a leisurely and peaceful afternoon relaxing at camp for the afternoon.
There was a canoe camp nearby with some basic huts that could be used for shelter if the weather got really bad. And some amazing eucalypts with horizontal trunks along the ground.
A new hiker arrived just after 4pm. He had walked from Moleside, about 30km. He started from Portland on Tuesday so has caught up a day on me and two days on the others. After chatting with him briefly he went to set up his tent. The campsite had a lot of room to pitch a tent – there was only four of us there but for some reason he pitched his tent right next to my tarp. So close that when he was pushing in one of his pegs he actually tripped on one of my tie-outs! Dude, why so close?! After he finished setting up he asked me while gesturing at the tarp “Is someone sleeping there?” When I said yes he asked “Oh what is it? I’ve never seen one before.” When I told him it was a tarp with a hammock underneath he was quite surprised. He thought maybe someone was hanging clothes underneath. We had a laugh and he moved his tent.
A kangaroo came to check out the hammock and tarp as well…
Apparently it was quite windy and stormy in Melbourne. Mum was worried about the weather and had rung Helen at work and told her I needed to come home! It was a little bit blowy in the afternoon but ended up being quite a pleasant night. Glad I stayed!
Nugget Walks 
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