A really hot day is forecast again - 95 deg F, so we leave camp and start walking at 7.00am. We stop at Rod Hollow Shelter at 2.00pm and have a couple of hours sleeping and then cook dinner, waiting for the day to cool down so we can keep walking into the evening.
Then in the late afternoon we start the 'Rollercoaster', an infamous part of the AT, for 10 ascents and descents of about 500', one after the other. We power into the first two hills, and then decide to camp by a stream at about 8.00pm. The temperature has not dropped very much. Even at 1.00am I am awake sweltering, and see torches go by on the trail, as other hikers walk in the night to stay cool and cover the distance.
I ring Mum from the top of the hill as there is great mobile reception, and she tells me that Julia Gillard is about to become Australia's next Prime Minister, the first woman PM. As I walk I wonder about the politics behind the removal of an elected PM - Kevin Rudd - while he is still in office. I have been out of Australia for over 3 months and missed all the political manoevres leading up to this coup.
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