Well, after much deliberation we decided to bite the bullet and head in to Lees Paddocks on the weekend despite what the weather had been doing/was meant to do during that time. The party consisted of myself, my wife (who hasn't bushwalked with me for a few years), and my 6 year old son Zac; this was to be his first extended walk; his only other walks were things like Liffey Falls, Trevallyn Reserve, Hollybank Forest, Tamar Island - those type of walks.
As we headed along Mersey Forest Rd, the rain was still pouring down
Fortunately though, as we pulled up and got out of the car it had subsided to a slight drizzle. We did cop some decent rain for about 20minutes as we walked through Pine Hut Plain, but that was to be the last of the 'rain' for the two days. Thankfully the weather was quite mild, and it did drizzle slightly from time to time over the next 36 hours but only very lightly to the point where you didn't actually 'feel' wet from it.The walk in took us around 5 hours; there was heaps of mud and plenty of creeks to cross; the track at times was an ankle deep creek as the water from the previous 12 hours was coming down off the hills and running into the Mersey River. Lunch was at Oxley Falls which was pretty spectacular!! The young fella did really well and insisted on 'leading the way' for the mostpart until the final 1km or so where he needed some encouragement as his legs started to tire!!
There was also plenty of water coming down across Lees Paddocks down to the Mersey which made for a few final creek crossings before reaching the hut. With the water charging through the last creek I carried Zac over the 'bridge' (if you could call it that) which made for a nervous few seconds!!
To my wife's delight, we didn't have to pitch the tent and had the hut to ourselves. We got the fire cranking which quickly dried out some of our gear that had gotten damp on the way in, enjoyed a hot milo with dinner and had a good nights sleep.
We headed off at around 9am the following morning; even after 18 hours a lot of the water had passed down off the hills and into the Mersey and the walk back was somewhat easier for us all. Got back to the car at around 2pm, I then drove home while the wife and son slept
In hindsight, the walk was more challenging than what I was expecting (which was compounded by the water and mud), it certainly stretched the young fella but he didn't complain once and just kept going and going. Overall we had a wonderful experience and it was a really special time bonding with Zac.
Here's a few pics from the iPhone........
Cheers
Phil
