MY eyes landed on another of the now-dreaded signs, ‘Walkers Follow Creek’, as my legs trembled with exhaustion. At this point, on day 11 of my journey along the Heysen Trail in South Australia, it was late afternoon and it had taken most of the day to navigate the remote, rocky gorges leading to Dutchmans Stern Conservation Park. I’d had enough. As I leaned onto my trekking poles, my tears dropped onto the dry riverbed, and I didn’t know how I was going to get through the next 5km.
However, the beauty (and the challenge) of a long-distance walk means that you really have no other choice. You have to keep walking, and somehow, I did. In a zombie-like state, I stumbled into Dutchman Hut outside of Quorn in the Flinders Ranges near-dark, my body as exhausted as it had ever been before.
I’d always wanted to know what it was like to walk a really long way. I had plenty of multi-day hikes under my belt, but I wanted to see how my body and mind would deal
