Camping out

January 12th
Merrivale to Woodlaw Forest
Distance: 15km
Elevation: gain 413m
Steps: 23,000 

Continuing the theme of taking it slow, we've cut what is normally one longer day into two short days. We're doing this courtesy of sleeping out in our tent in the middle of conservation Forest, a special treat!
The first bit of the day was through pine plantation forest, mainly along a service road. Check out how tall the foxglove were! I'm 5'6", the pole is set at 115cm.


And when we dropped back down into "civilisation", we got to see more of our favourite type of sign:
After passing through another pine plantation, we got to a few km-wide strip of conservation land. This is where we were able to set up camp. Yes, right where Eliza is standing!
It was quite cold up at 500m elevation, but our trusty tent, sleeping mats and sleeping bags had us warm enough over night. It didn't get below freezing, but it mustn't have been far off. There was also quite a strong wind until about 7pm that was taking any bit of warmth we made with it. So basically from around 3pm when we pitched the tent, Eliza just huddled in the tent in her sleeping bag, while Vaughan alternated between doing the same, making dinner, and going out for a short bird walk.

Tomorrow: on to Birchwood Station


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