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DOC Land
Altitude: 8m to 25m. Gain: 51m. Loss: 56m . Gradient: 0 deg (Flat)
Skills: - Occasional rivers (3/6)
From Olivine Hut follow the sporadic markers southwards down the Pyke riverbank. Markers are often gone due to river erosion, and much like further north large parts are overgrown with best travel in the river bed. The Black Swamp is a waist deep stretch of foul smelling black mud south east of the airstrip shown on the map. if you are nimble you can avoid the worst of the mud by hopping on clumps of flax. Open patches north of Lake Alabaster are old farmland from when Davy Gunn used to run his cattle up here, there are still remains of old fences visible. Alabaster Creek is forded on a gravel bar where it flows into the lake. This is impassible after rain. The map shows a track with bridges going down the eastern side of lake Alabaster. This is a complete and utter fantasy. There is no track and certainly no bridges. Like Lake Wilmot, you get down the lake by wading in it, again up to waist deep under normal conditions. The high tide mark is way up at the bush edge, again adding about a metre. The bush on the side of the lake is dense, steeply sloping and lousy with bush lawyer... trying to avoid the deeper parts of the lake shore are a last resort. It takes 3 to 4 hours to get down the lake. Follow the shore all the way to Alabaster Hut.