.png)
Jacob, Wen, Miranda, Ruth, Matt, Yimin and Tom were keen on doing the Cooloola Great Walk (The walk from Noosa beach to Rainbow beach) despite knowing the weather would be less than accommodating. No one likes cancelled trips, perhaps even more so than wet shoes. So they decided that a chance of rain everyday with a maximum of 40 ml on day two, was a risk well worth taking, and so they went.
After a brainstorming session at KP, Tom proposed the genius idea of dumping the non-drivers at Noosa (the starting location), while the others park their cars at the end of the trail, and only drive one car back to Noosa. Well, it was a good plan in theory. Also pretty good in practice, at least good for Jacob, who could practice driving with a car filled to the brim.
It would be only a short drive. And the further back you are seated, the more thankful you would be, given that adequate blood circulation in the legs is quite the big bloody deal to start a 5 day hike. We would not want to start on the wrong foot (ha-ha).
After all the faffing around, we finally got started. We managed to not get our shoes wet despite having to walk past a few puddles, this fact even extended to Wen, who decided to wear crossfit shoes.
“The weather’s not so bad”. Ah such beautiful final words, before we arrived at the beach. While we marvelled at the endless strip of sand and gulped at the speed limit sign of 80, we felt the splash back of the waves and the droplets of water teasing our gore-tex, except it was not sea water - **It was a bloody storm. **
We had minutes to switch to rain protective gear and a few of us got wet through the chinks of our gore-tex armour plating. Wen and Ruth decided to tape their feet amidst the storm and created puddles with their ass-prints on the sand.
We had partially dried upon arriving at the campsite and there was also still enough light to set up comfortably. The group would have looked less loomy, had they not seen the BOM graph with patches of red coloured severe storms approaching.
We did not even bother finding a separate camping ground and just set up right next to each other, privacy was the least of our concerns. While pondering who was going to take one for the team and act as the lightning rod while accidentally holding their tent pole up high, we managed to set up before the rain hit.
And you know what, it did not even rain that bad that night. While we could not appreciate the mountainous view of the campground while frantically setting up, a few boys were able to take an adventurous stroll in the middle of the night to take care of business. The harsh sounds of the ocean waves contrasted by the gently moonlit mushroom-like clouds proved to be more soothing and luxurious than any 5-star hotel’s bathroom stalls. It was a good night, but a rather violent early morning, as many were woken up by the harsh winds about to transform our tents into Aladdin’s carpet and take us flying among the clouds. It then started to literally rain buckets - it almost felt like the park ranger was pulling a prank on us by dumping water on our tents. It also felt like mother nature was blowing her 40 ml forecasted load, and that we would perhaps have faced the worst already, and have an easier time for the rest of day 2.
Day 2 was not so bad, but we had to cross some knee deep water. Wen and Matt decided to march on in their shoes while the others demonstrated signs of intelligence by going bare feet. We also crossed the Cooloola sand patch. Amidst the rain and clouds, it gave the sand this asteroid-like polish, coupled with the spherical jacket hoodies around our face, which partially covered our peripheral vision, some of us experienced something akin to walking on a foreign planet in an astronaut suit. For Wen at least, this was quite the highlight of the entire trip. Upon camp arrival, we were feeling the exhaustion kick in, the group got some 12 hours sleep that night.
Day 3 was short and fast. We had ran into a rather interesting bloke the night before going in the opposite direction, who had given us light of what was to come, and it would seem that knee deep water is a thing of the past. Just as we started to have wet dreams about dry feet (ironically enough), we got hit by another storm that persisted even after our arrival at campsite 3. We had to duck under the toilet roof for shelter. All 7 of us squeezed in and it was rather cosy (see photo below). Jacob crowned himself the king and sat on the toilet seat. Having taken his second layer of rain proof pants halfway off, the sight looked rather suspicious and reminiscent of something shitty. We were also graced with the presence of another two hikers one named Lucas and the other Lucinda, among which Lucas had the pleasure of witnessing our impromptu toilet moment. And we had the pleasure of Lucas not requiring the restroom at that exact moment.
Luckily, since we got there so early, we waited the rain out, and set up something quite impressive using some hiking poles and Jacob his yellow poncho (see photo above).
Day 4 was kinda boring and tiring. This was not a good combo, but the fact it was day 4 already motivated the group onwards. However, there was a slight miscalculation regarding the total distance, which made the last supposed 500m drag on and on. Almost like it was totally not 500 meters, but actually another 2k. The group soon realised that the hope of campsite 4 appearing right around the corner was a crushing blow to the morale and the knees. It was another reminder of why a stoic hiker would make a better hiker. Wen at times even saw the mirage of a campsite toilet appearing in the woods, turns out it was just another fallen tree - the 1000th fallen tree he had encountered that day. Day 4 was by far the hardest day, Mirada’s calves, Jacob’s knee and ankle, Wen’s totally not infected blister, and Ruth’s massive heel blisters were just some of the casualties.
Occasionally, some group members grew tired of Yimin his enthusiasm - his mimicry of animal noises and screams of joy and terror at every minor inconvenience. How this simple man - while not under the influence - seemed to have unending crackhead energy, was perplexing for some. But in retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise how talkative and noisy Yimin was, as he kept the energy level high, the laughter going, and ultimately the group awake. The night on day 4, should not be remembered for its leech infested communal area, but rather the growing bond of the group, the well needed potluck for Wen - who had amazingly thought his heavy bodyweight was sustainable by two packets of beef jerky and some noodles; the generous spirit of Tom, who had not only always kept the pace high, but also the blood glucose levels of the team - he was always there for the highs and lows.
It was day 5, and we were ready. Matt slept outside of his tent, with his ipad and phone out in the cold. It would seem he had figured out this whole rain thing, what he did was a risk most of us just would not take - even on the last day. We still had 15k left to go. Wen had previously thought of this totally hilarious idea of creating a video even though we had a shortage of photos due to the rain. His solution was to simply film everything on the last day and pretend it was all the other days. Some members were not at the time on board with this Oscar baiting moment, however tantalising the idea may have seemed. At last, we have finished the entire hike and finally, after having a dip in lake Poonah and the ocean at Rainbow beach, the group's scent became more bearable (not really), and we were allowed inside a pub in town (how progressive the town folks were to allow 7 homeless people in for a warm meal).
This marks the end of our journey. Together, we shared a moment of euphoria - a moment of disbelief that, although seemingly exaggerated the degree of accomplishment we actually achieved, it was the accomplishment in our hearts of overcoming our desensitisation to nature, and stripping ourselves of years of social evolution and experiencing what it would be like as simple cavemen - basking in only each other's company and the existence of food and shelter.
Written by Wen Sun See the infamous video here.
