Day 13: Hitchhikers guide to the Upper Murray

We set off very early, trying to avoid the heat. Much to my dismay, my time of the month decided to arrive ten days early! Late bloomer? Try late menopausal prodigy and we were on loo paper rations!

The hike threw us into the path of Tom, an elderly farmer with a knack for telling yarns. We recognised  him as the guy who helped Chris with his kayak ten years ago. He came up in Chris’s stories last night!

As luck would have it, Tom’s wife had tipped him off about two hikers - us! He chased us down with his tractor. After some chat on his tractor, Tom agreed to a photo.

After 7 kilometers in 35-degree heat, I was practically melting and desperately in need of supplies.

To make matters worse, a decent township was a daunting 30 kilometers away - in opposite direction to our planned route.

We decided to hitch hike to Corryong. This was totally against my principles.

But, out came our thumbs, radiating pitiful desperation. The first car pulled over, driven by Taylor, a bubbly woman who was on her way buying a rodeo mare for her son.

At the pharmacy, it wasn’t long before the kind pharmacy staff caught wind of my "situation," and swooped in like heroes. I emerged equipped with the usual but was now also sporting a state-of-the-art granny looking period underwear that promised long haul female sanity! Murray here we come!!

Restocked and revitalised, the next challenge loomed: reaching Tintaldra at now 37 degree Celsius.

Our thumbs were now officially pros, flagging down Alan—an antenna wizard from the broadcasting world. Alan shared tales of globetrotting as he chauffeured us to Towong, setting the hitchhiking bar sky-high.

Towong presented Kelly, our last ride, a coder-slash-handyman with a past full of stories and retired. He rearranged his whole Kelly transported us to the final stretch: campsite and cabin bliss.

After 13 days in the wild, our humble cabin felt like luxury. I had a hot shower and washed our clothes in a washing machine!

For dinner, we hit "The Tinpot," the locals'  name for Tintaldra Hotel. There, pizza met schnitzel parmi, and we were greeted by the town’s charm.

Back at the cabin, I crashed into bed while Cy chatted away on Telstra’s dream network. Optus? I’ll let the locals' verdict stand: sh*t-house.

I felt we cheated a little on our hike as we “hitched hike” a section of about 20km but given the heat and forecast of another 4 days of soaring temperature, and given that we still had over 2300 km to complete, it was time to be kind to ourselves.

As Cy said, we stilled hiked… with a little hitch!

Soaring heat!

Farmer Tom