200 Years Later

... to the very day.

We were expecting the re-enactment of the mountain explorers party to reach Blackheath today and sure enough they did - at about 10 am. Bureaucratic red tape had prevented them from following the highway - which was pretty much the EXACT route taken by the original party. An ingeniously worked out alternative route is being used, however, consisting of railway maintenance roads, forest fire trails and minor back roads. The advantage of this is that the party, more often than not, is trudging through bushland - just like they did in 1813.

The make up of the re-enactment reflects the size of the original party, including as it does, servants, horses and dogs. Accompanying each stage of the journey are actual descendants of the original explorers. That's them, wearing the bright sashes.

The walkers stopped for a while to mingle with us Blackheathens, posed for pictures, watered the animals and attended a morning tea prepared for them. They seemed to be a very happy crew. Good on them. Tomorrow they officially arrive at the big "do", set up to greet them at Mt York.