Plan D ... or is it Plan E?

Terrigal beach this morning (courtesy Julie)

It seems likely Australians will be allowed to travel domestically by August, assuming there is not an unexpected surge in COVID-19 cases.  After thinking some more about what our adventure options are for the next six months, Julie and I have come up with yet another plan.

Sunrise this morning (courtesy Julie)

We will go ahead with hiking the 1200km Heysen Trail in South Australia, as planned if our round Australia cycling trip didn't work out, but go earlier.  Although August nights will be cold in the spectacular Flinders Ranges at the northern end of the Trail, the daytime weather will be ideal for hiking and and we would get to see the spring wildflowers as we travel south to the coast.  We will depart for Adelaide, driving a scenic route, about two weeks after borders are declared open, leave the car there somewhere there and then use public transport to travel to and from the Trail.

After the Heysen, finishing around the end of September, we will drive a scenic route to Western Australia, leave the car in Perth or Albany, and then hike the 1000km Bibbulmun Track between those two cities in October/November before driving back home.

Wamberal lagoon this morning (courtesy Julie)

This gives us the opportunity to hike two iconic Australian trails this year that are on our bucket list, and something to look forward to over the next couple of months.  Sure, it means scuppering my plans to run a marathon on 22 August, the 50th anniversary of my first, but I can live with that.  I would much rather do the hikes.

Marathon or hike, I need to get over my injury and get fit.  I'm now thinking I might take as long as six weeks off running and walking if it means I can walk and run without the hip pain.  That would then give me one to two months to get back into shape before hiking which seems doable.  If we can't leave before the end of August, I'll still have a go at the marathon.