Napier Trek - Dust Clouds

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Sun 16 Nov
Girl on the Marrawah-Dildey pathThrough the night I could hear the drumming and chanting from the church, they seem to start Sunday worship at midnight here. After breakfast we left the site as and when each of us was ready which meant that we soon each had our own entourage of 1m high well-wishers. At first this was flattering but it did tend to mean that we couldn’t move without walking in clouds of dust and we soon ran out of fingers and the "you you you" did become a bit tiresome. It seemed it might be like this for royalty; Michelle certainly had a convincing graceful regal manner.

We spent the whole of the day crossing undulating countryside. The land was almost completely cultivated, but today being Sunday was deserted. We crossed the Tsirari River late in the day. The good news was we could cool off, even wash our dusty bodies, the bad news was an hour uphill to the camp. We probably lingered longer at the river than we should as the light was just fading as we reached Dildey a pretty, though cramped, village clinging to a ridge line. Our camping ground was limited to the unfenced front yard of the Agriculture office. At night, when there was finally some privacy from the understandably curious villagers the wind got up and we sat around the mule men’s fire till our evening meal was ready.

Mon 17 Nov
Old man at DildeyThe theme today would be "up". We knew we had to gain 1000m to reach Wondatch. Any interim downhill would need to be recovered. In fact the air was fresh and the pace considerate. Local people walked with us and it wasn’t long before I gladly gave in to one of the many offers to carry my bag. This being our fourth full day’s trekking, at an altitude always over 2500m and in baking hot sunshine, I must admit I was beginning to feel it a bit. Eventually we met the motor road at Wondatch, but even then it was a very long walk (17km) downhill to Muja. The prospect of two days off just about got me through.


Napier Trek - Dust Clouds

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