Day 78 - 17th June - Skyline @92.4 to Ivy Creek - 17.3 miles

We have an early start and reach Blackrock Hut for morning tea which is filled with a young group of hikers smoking dope. It is easy wandering along the graded trails and we make good time.

We have lunch at a 'picnic area' and them move on to the Loft Mt Campground Store where we stuff ourselves with junk food and Digby drinks beer.

Eating and drinking junk - Paradise and Digby

 While I am drinking a can of lemonade, a bottle of chocolate milk, and eating potato chips, and a honeybun, all at the same time, a strange man comes up and sits next to me - very close and inside my personal space. He stares at me and I think that I have a loony on my hands. Then he speaks and I recognise him. It is Worn Heel - he has shaved off his beard and was not wearing his glasses and he was clean - how was I expected to recognise this new look.

Worn Heel had come looking for us, in the car with his wife Meg, before he drove back to Wisconsin to resume his real life. We spend half an hour chatting and then arrange to meet them further down the road at the hamburger restaurant for dinner, so that we can complete the miles we need to achieve that day. We get his details and are really pleased that we have made contact to say goodbye, as we really enjoyed his company. We ate a burger with chips, an ice-cream sundae and then climbed back up to the trail to find Ivy Creek campsite.

Enjoying a bit of luxury - adding extra calories