K'gari Great Walk Day 4

 Thursday 25 June

K'gari Great Walk

We woke about 6:15am and I felt much better. The tent was very wet and there was a lot of fine sand that had stuck to us as we came into the tent wet last night. After packing up, we left camp just before 8am.

This morning it was very humid hiking - no surprise after the rain. The terrain was more up and down on this hike in general than we had expected- I thought the island was flatter than it is. 

There was a large tree across the path at about 5.5km from the walkers' camp. We needed to take our packs off to climb over it.

Lake Benaroon

We arrived at Lake Benaroon walkers' camp about 10:15am. Lake Benaroon is very tannin coloured. There was no water tank at this camp.  Lake Benaroon Walkers' Camp

It was a nice up and down walk through various forest types to Lake Boomanjin. We needed to do a water crossing that required a pack ferry. We removed our boots and socks but didn’t bother removing our pants as they were already drenched from the rain.

Lake Boomanjin

We arrived at Lake Boomanjin walker’s camp at 1:15pm. I could not reach the gate to get in or out. While I am short I am not the only adult at 5 foot/152cm, and I should be able to enter the dingo fenced camping area. 

Lake Boomanjin

We had lunch then headed to Wongi Sandblow - the sun came out while we walked there and explored. We left a fraction before we were ready to because we could see rain coming and it was very much rain rather than showers. 

Wongi Sandblow

We set up camp in the rain and opted for dried food for dinner. Unfortunately, Queensland National Parks do not provide any kind of roofed area for hikers to prepare food in during bad weather (unlike Tasmania, Victoria, Northern Territory and Western Australia hiking spots I have used). The only place we could have sheltered from the rain to light the stove was in the toilets and we did not do that - so nut bars and lollies for dinner. There was very heavy rain from sunset, with brief lighter periods. The heavy rain revealed that our tent fly seams would benefit from being re-sealed to cope better with heavy rain.