After a night of torrential rain and wind, it was a relief when day 2 dawned clear, if a little on the cool side.
Day 2 turned out to be even more challenging than day 1. There was a steep descent into a valley to Deep Creek Waterfall and then some longish climbs up past the Tappanappa Campground and then down again to Boat Harbour Beach. Apart from a section along a dirt road, the trail here is very narrow and rocky in parts and I really had to watch my step.
After Boat Harbour Beach, there was another short cliff edge section and then a run along the sand on beautiful Tunkallilla Beach. Apart from the unnerving cliff scrambling to get down.
I had arranged to meet the pick up crew at a carpark about half way along the beach, but when I got there I couldn’t find out how to get to the carpark. As it turned out, neither could the pick up crew as it really needed a 4WD to access. A step too far for the trusty Nissan Pulsar. I also had no phone reception so no way to get in contact and reorganise the meeting point. Rookie mistake #2.
After a murderously steep climb off Tunkallilla Beach, it was on to the next closest road, which meant another climb over Sheoak Hill, where yet again I lost the trail markers heading across a paddock filled with anxious sheep, running madly about, bleating their outrage at my invasion.
By now, the weather had turned, it was freezing cold and I had been on the trail for about 4 and a half hours instead of the 3 hours I had planned. Needless to say, the pick up crew was more than a little worried. I could see telephone wires heralding a road at the other side of the paddock and when I finally got there, there was phone reception again so I was able to get in touch with my crew and rearrange the pick up point. I trudged slowly up Tunk Head Road and was delighted when the trusty red Pulsar came into sight. The tragedy of the day was that as I was so much later than expected, there was no time to get to Port Elliot Bakery for the donut of the month and even the Yankalilla Bakery was closed. Devastation.
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