Exactly a year ago, Jon and I braved the heat and flies to put up a night camping at Sealer's Cove, Wilson's Prom. This time I decided to go further to another campsite called Refuge Cove, put in an extra night - totally three days from November 20-22, and dragging nine others along.
I must apologies to the ones I've invited along.. I had no idea the load will turn up to be this much, which made the hike to the campsite a living hell. The walk to Refuge was more than 16km from the carpark (that's 32km back and forth). The weather on the first and last day was horrible as it rained pretty much all the time. Some of us became less enthused, probably because we expected it all to be only challenging but fun - not difficult and solem. But since we were already here, onward we go!
Right before be began our 7 hour march. Note the amount of stuff we had to carry.
The gang crossing the river at Sealer's Cove
Wilson's Promotory is as beautiful as I remembered it. Despite the rain, it held a different theme and feel to the surrondings.. still natural and serene. The walk there made it less obvious. But whenever we stopped to rest, especially where it's scenic.. man.. it's so worth it.
Our loads were heavy because of two things - the tent and the food. Otherwise the hike would've still reasonable. Good thing we had some Singaporeans from the army, one of them even a commando which really helped our transfer of equipment. We brought along my 3 man tent and Joshua's goliath size 8 man tent which easily fix all of us in, including our stuff.
On the first day, we took approximately 7 hours to walk to Refuge and managed to set up our campsite before it reach pitch darkness (or rather, night fell when we pitched the tents up halfway). We cooked something up before hitting the sack. It was too cold for us to have a bath and most of us were too tired to bother anyway, even for the girls.
The first day was pretty much just walking and getting ourselves exhausted. The second day was when the fun begun.
The highlight of the trip was fishing. Previously all my beach and pier side fishing trips, totalling 7, have been fruitless. Here in Refuge, it's as though I stuck a gold mine. We used pipis, silver bait and synthetic bait. I gotta say, every of bait had a nibble. That's how fun it was!
My first catch came in my first throw. Initially, it was stuck on seaweed for some time. Once unhooked.. yess.. the sensational feel of a fish struggling on the end of the line! We fished on top of a tall rock overlooking, I believe, some corals. We caught alot of this fish you see above. I got a total of 4 of these, one or two release cause it was too small.. and a salmon, which also was too small to keep.
Melvin and Jared went through a baptism of fishing, becoming instant fans after catching their first fish. I think it's a natural guy thing to fish - that is only if you catch something after a long, anticipated wait.
Melvin landed the biggest catch of the day - flathead, the biggest I've been so far. Yasmeen did pretty well, landing some coral fish, which was quite reasonable in size.
Left: Melvin's big flathead. Right: Yasmeen lands a fish!
Left: Some coral fish Yasmeen landed. Right: My third catch - Salmon!
Haha.. sorry Joel.. it's seaweed again..
Unfortunately, the fish only bit before lunch. After we filled our tummy's and came back with a bigger group, the was not even a nibble. I'm sorry to those who caught nothing. Perhaps better luck next time!
Dinner was quite a feast with the additional fish. We also wanted to finish off all the food so that we didn't need to carry it back with us, lessening the load. In the end, Yasmeen's catch, which we thought would poison all of us turned out to be the tastiest fish to eat.
The night came quick and we found ourselves "fat catting" prior to our sleep. We played a round of games before some of them suddenly remembered it was my birthday. Yes, I went camping during my birthday. Anyways, filled tummy's after lunch, some beers and we were off to bed.. once again without a shower after two days. At least Sue Ann and Yasmeen took a dip in the cold chilly water.
We woke up relatively early to next day, fixed up breakfast, discarded the things we could leave behind, packed up and began our crazy walk back to the car. Jinghui's leg had some difficulties, which made me worried if she'll survive the walk. But thank God we all made it back before sun down.
All in all, despite the hardship and pure exhaustion, I was glad this trip happened. Unlike the others, I'd do this again anytime.. but probably with a bigger backpack and pair of free hands. Thank you all for coming - Sue Ann, Yasmeen, Joel, Marc, Kang Wei, Jinghui, Jared and Melvin. You made it worthwhile for me. Perhaps I'll leave the next trip to you guys - another bunch of newbies to con into a 32km hike. Heh.
