Blue Waterholes Loop - Kosciuszko National Park
Walgalu and Ngarigo Country
In mid October, Sal and I set out to 'bike pack' a loop in Kosciuszko National Park. Bike pack is in inverted commas here because there's often an association that bike packing is a hard core speedy and ambitious pursuit. That's not us. We like comfortable riding at an easy to steady pace with lots of breaks for a 'sip and snack', no crazy long days or distances. We call this the sweet spot. It's like the perfect peach; not too firm and lacking sweetness, but not super soft where you can't eat the peach in public because the juice runs everywhere, or, that’s starting the organic process of decomposition and better off bound for the compost.
This trip is pretty close to the sweet spot even if you haven't ridden a bike for years (although we'd say you need to be of average fitness with strength in the legs). You've got 17 kms of nice gravel road to remember where your front and back brakes are, and which gear lever makes it harder or easier to ride. For the record, a good chunk of this ride we were in 'granny gear' - a term Sal's dad introduced her to being the easiest gear on the bike - I'm still not sure how I feel about the term.
After reminding yourself how to ride a bike, a little sip and snack at the Bluewater Holes Road turn off, you begin some pretty fun downhill to Bluewater Holes Campground. This section was fun, a tad scary at times and maybe my brake pads will need replacing. We were fortunate in our ignorance and blessings from the safety gods that we didn't encounter any cars on this road whilst in motion. But we did see some parks 4WDs fang up the hill leaving nothing but dust when we stopped for a loo break at Coolamine Homestead.
A non-negotiable for this trip, is leaving your bike at Bluewater Holes Campground and taking a walk into Clarke Gorge. We didn't walk the whole 2.2km to the falls at the end because we were undertaking the river crossings barefoot. We passed two other people who were incredibly snake conscious (we had left our snake bandage on the bike - rookie error - but we did have a PLB), and were barefoot with slightly numb feet from the icy mountains water. We both agreed that we would come back to this glorious spot another time so after 3 out of 9 crossings we retraced our steps. Note, this spot was an absolute highlight and Cave Creek was the perfect location to grab some water for day 2 on the trail.
From here you continue on Bluewater Holes Track (there's some pinchy sections here by our standards) before turning right onto Mosquito Creek trail and onto Bill Jones Hut for the night.
In the morning, we jumped back on Mosquito Creek trail for a pretty decent 11.4kms. The first section of the trail was brownie batter country. By that I mean we gained an extra couple of kilograms in soil/clay on our tires. It's here the trail starts to challenge whether you can stay in the present moment with the up and down (mostly up) on repeat. We had some moments of hike-a-bike with the lactic acid build up throwing us out of our saddles.
When we reached Hainsworth Hut for breakfast part II, we'd cycled the brunt of it. Finally we're out of granny gear and riding with resistance that isn't a hill or your own inner workings, and just 11kms to go.
This is trip is a total delight. For the most part. You might find yourself like me calling out ‘Babe, can we ride together just for vibe’ with 11kms to go. Why hustle if we don’t have to right?
Things we were reminded of on this trip.
Rooftop's maps are our best friend in outdoor adventure. They reduce the need for an electronic device and help connect you to the place, you're not just getting prompts on a device.
Tech/photos - we're not chasing the perfect shot for a social media post, we're only seeking a little snap to capture the vibe to share with family and friends, and something for us to look back on.
Things we learnt on this trip:
It's time for Sal to upgrade from an air mat sleeping pad and transition to the world of self-inflating comfort.
April is officially ready to move on from drop bars, hello Velo Orange Crazy Bars. Bring on greater comfort for the neck, chest and hands, and more stability and control (especially when the body is fatigued on tricky sections).
Even with thick woolen socks, 2 thermal bottoms, a pair of pants, a thermal top, two fleece jumpers, a sleeping bag and a puffer jacket wrapped around your thighs whilst under a sleeping bag in a tent, you can still feel cold.