Hallet to E E George Road Quarry

Another cold night, yet a brilliantly clear crisp morning.
The troops gathered at Paxton Square for the final car convoy of the weekend out to meet the bus at Booborowie, then a quick trip back to Hallett.

Russell leading the choir
 

The morning oration over, it was across the Barrier Highway, adroitly avoiding the grader, and past the Hallett Railway station, now one of the Trails huts, that overnight accommodated some of the E2E5 party.
The last sit down toilet fro the day proved too much of an attraction for some...

Toilet attraction

Then using one of probably the Trails most over-engineered stiles, courtesy of the SACBH, on the entire Trail and we were off.

What Style, what a stile?

A day of road walking, over gentle hill and dale, then ensued. The weather varying between sunny and overcast, but generally windy and cold.
Morning tea amongst a revegetation project, on the road verge, where some of the trees were in the process of being strangled by their tyre collars. Not one of our projects, but food for thought-don't use tyres!!.
We were relieved of the road, by some "follow the fence" walking, however this too soon gave way to them damn roads again where a decision was made to walk on to our cars for lunch.
The quarry, in spite of its dire warning signs, provided a suitably sheltered spot for lunch for some, whilst others headed off to Burra to gain sustenance from the Burra Bakery, where the last Cornish pasties were consumed with relish, prior to the trip home.
Total distance for the day 19.88km about the same as Saturday
 

Dare's Hill Summit Road to Hallet via Mount Bryan

The best laid plans of mice and men can go a little astray with just a few mm of rain

Road Closed

Rain during the week had managed to make the road to our meeting place "Closed" and a frantic recce on Friday, revealed that alternative routes were not an option.
So here we are on a cold and threatening Saturday, at the designated meeting point, with Plan B having been hatched.
E2E 5 will do next month's walk this month! That's life however it did not stop some grumbles.
A slow drive out to Hallett to meet the bus, with the Barrier Highway having 40 KPH limits due to road works, however our ever helpful bus driver, Leon, new a faster route to our start point, Dare's Hill Summit Road.
The oration from Russell detailing the weekend's changes was followed by Vicki awarding the Heysen Hotshots to Ian Small for his Charlie Chaplin effort the previous month.

Charlie Chaplin  

Then off due west with Mt Bryan in our sights, a 7 km flog along the Dare's Hill Summit Road with a morning tea break at the Mt Bryan East School, one of the Friend's' huts on the Trail.



The classrooms were opened for lessons and some poetry reading took place in the front room, home economics in the kitchen and goose bumps in the playground.

At last the stile off the road appeared, and the increasingly steep slog up to the summit began, albeit with most walkers deviating from the Trail by quite some distance.

With much sweat and not a little puffing, the summit was acquired, however with a wind gusting to 33 kmh creating a wind chill of just 3 degrees, there was some urgency to get off, however not before the view, in all directions, was appreciated. A new cairn with visitor's book was appreciated, as much for its wind protection, as for its information plaques, noting that the mountain was named after Henry Bryan, a member of John Sturt's party, who perished when he became lost.

The throne was duly sat in, and photos taken, then off to find a lunch spot out of the wind, a priority.

As with E2E's previously a rocky area proved to be suitable and the reward was a sunny lunch, appropriately looking back to the conquered peak.

Lunch was followed by the descent down over the Ulooloo Creek, past the seismograph station, the original Heysen Tunnels and finally to Hallett.

The evening for some started with drinks and nibbles at Pepper's Cottage, then off to the Burra Golf Club for Christmas in July and the obligatory Kris Kringle.

The theme was entered into with gusto by many of the group and the present giving was enjoyed by all, though not everyone had been good and not everyone got to sit on Santa's knee.

Judy must have been good!!