The South Coast Track runs south from Melaleuca to the Southern Ocean at Cox’s Bight before heading east to Cockle Creek. The total distance is 85 km. Most people take around 7 days to walk it though there are those who can do it super-fast, like a couple of guys who wrote in the log book that they took 2 ½ days, or a trail runner we met later who was planning to do it in 1 ½ days. Then everyone needs to be aware of the possibility of flooded rivers holding up the journey. We read of groups in the last few days who had had to return to Melaleuca and fly out after camping two nights at Faraway Creek hoping in vain that it would become passable.
I had a profound respect for the SCT over decades and always thought it would be beyond my capacity. Yet here we were in Melaleuca on the threshold of walking it. We had managed to get through multiple challenges on the PDT and felt as fit and ready as ever we could be. We felt some excitement and anticipation on many levels. We were in the Tasmanian wilderness, we felt God’s care in the smallest details of every day, and after the medical issues that Tim had faced it was incredible that we were on the verge of completing our pilgrimage. Justin’s rescheduled flight was due in the afternoon and we planned to leave in the morning and have him join us later in the day. We were ready to go.