Across the Territory

Photos
After meeting up with Gavin, Andrew and Tony in Darwin, we sorted out the car (a fairly new, but basic 4WD) and supplies (including the cheapest esky we could find).
Our trip began with a side trip to Litchfield NP, to view the north/south aligned termite mounds (as seen on David Attenborough), and a dip in the rapids (plus a short walk). It was the first swim of many.
Our first night camping was at Nitimuk (Katherine Gorge) NP, amongst the Agile wallabies, in a fairly popular campsite (it was peak Grey Nomad season). The following night felt much more remote, camped on the sand beside the water far from any proper campsites. We had walked about 15km to this spot, via Butterfly Gorge for lunch (and a swim), before heading back up to the top of the gorge, then down again to our campsite (and more swims). This was a spectacular campsite, and it was all ours.

One of many swimming holes

We returned to the visitor centre the next day, then headed out for a kayak with the masses. Fortunately, not many of the masses saw the Fresh Water Crocodile that Tony initially eyed (including a disbelieving Andrew and Gavin). I thought it may have been a plastic model, until it opened its mouth and hissed at us. At least it stayed there when when went swimming, just a little way upstream.
After Katherine, we headed towards Kununurra, stopping for a short walk in Gregory NP, before deciding to stop in Keep River NP, just shy of the WA border.
Keep River was a gem of a park - it had old sandstone mountains, which glowed vividly in the sunset. A short talk from the ranger filled us in on much of the management of the park (which is done in conjuction with the local Aboriginals), and the next day we visited a fantastic rock art gallery, and went for a short walk along the river, before continuing westward.

Relaxing at Keep River NP

Kakadu Ya?

Photos
Wilderness Adventures
After traipsing around the Red Centre, I headed north for a 4 day tour of Kakadu. I joined a small 4wd tour with 6 other passengers (and 2 guides) for an exciting trip around the Top End.
The first 3 days consisted of us visiting absolutely gorgeous swimming holes via 4wd and foot (anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours walking), swimming and eating lunch, relaxing for another hour or so before heading back to camp under the stars in a remote camping site.
Day 1 saw us go on a Corroboree Billabong tour, then had us visiting Maguk, which has a series of duck unders in the rapids above the waterfall, before we camped at Gunlom.
Day 2 involved a long, slow, 4wd jaunt (over 2 hours, and a bit of car sickness thrown in), before a 2 hour bush bash to Graveside, a wonderfully remote waterfall and plunge pool.
Day 3 saw us visit Twin Falls (no swimming there, due to the possible presence of crocs), and then over to Jim Jim Falls for a well earned swim.
Day 4 involved a visit to an Aboriginal Cultural Centre, where we were taught how to use a Woomera (although they call it something else in Kakadu), and then Ubirr, home of the most amazing rock art and views.
All up, a fantastic trip with great people. If you enjoy getting off the beaten track, driving on rough roads, and chilling out in amazing water holes, this trip is for you.

A happy camper floating to Twin Falls

Larapinta Walk

Photos
After returning to Alice, I joined the start of a half day trip to various West Macdonnell Range sites, piking at Standley Chasm so that I could walk back to Alice over 3 days and 67km. The rest of the gumbies bussed it back via Simpsons Gap.
Standley Chasm
Standley Chasm is one of the surprising number of permanent water sources on the Range. It was named after Ida Standley, who taught the children of mixed descent originally in Alice, then at Standley Chasm once they were booted out of town. It was then one of the first missions to return the land back to Aboriginal people, although not the original inhabitants. It has since been successfully managed as a tourist destination and kiosk.
My first night began with a cool drink from the kiosk, and then a cool drink from the heavens. Being a desert, rain is pretty rare in these parts, and winter rain is even more uncommon. So I spent my first night listening to the rain pitter and/or patter on my tent.
Next day I arose to cool temps, and began my march to a more populated destination. The chasm was rocky and narrow, and the surrounding terrain was rocky and steep. Spinifex grew in the flatter areas, and there were a number of trees around the chasm. Due to the overnight rain, I came across a bit of water in the creek. At my first major stop (Millers Flat), I came across two fellow walkers, and we exchanged rants on the cold weather. From there the track split - I took the high road via a 1000+ masl ridge, which offer fine views - chilled. This ridge soon descended to another, quite large water hole ("Fish Hole"). This was big enough to due a few laps in - except it was too cold. Soon after, I arrived at the Jay Creek campsite, where despite being the lone walker, three other guys were busy building a new shelter for the campsite. Once they finished their work, I enjoyed a few beers with them, along with a raging fire and a few shots of Jaegermeister. Slept well that night.

Fish Hole

The next day was a bit longer, but much flatter. It was very easy and enjoyable desert walking, cool but sunny. I met no one until the final campsite.
Simpsons Gap
The final night was spent at a popular tourist spot, where gumbies appear late afternoon and early morning to try and spot the elusive, but non-gumbified black footed wallaby. These wallabies are quite shy, but come down to dry if everyone is quiet. Once the brats left, I managed to see a few hoppers. That night, a dingo stole my baby water supply. It chewed right through the nozzle on my Chateau Cardboard water holder. Took me a while to find the damn thing.

Camping at Simpsons Gap

The final day involved a nice jaunt along some beautiful ridge lines, providing great views of the surrounding plains, and over towards Alice Springs. I came across a huge party of Australian Geographic invalids at one stage. Those guides must have patience...
Finish
The official walk ended at the Telegraph station, where there is permanent water in the Todd River (but is definitely not a "Spring"). Large numbers of people were enjoying the sunny winter's afternoon, ignoring the new territory liquor laws (although, there may be official blindness to drinking at this sight). I followed the river all the way back to town, where I returned to the same room and the same bed, next to the same fuckwit who snored like a freight train.

Central Australia Rocks

Photos
After the Rogaine it was time to chill out, and head to Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta with Dunk, Grace, and Dunk's parents. We were travelling in peak season, amongst a menagerie of Grey Nomads driving Pradas and Landcruisers towing boxy living devices. This generally means comfortable camping in expensive caravan parks for the occupants of each vehicle. We spent a night in Alice, before heading out to Yulara, the Ayers Rock campsite.

Hooray! The rock!

Despite sticking to the mainstream tourist route, the sights are fantastic:

• The scariest moment was overtaking a 4 carriage road train
• Mt Conner pretends to be Ayers Rock, but Grace forewarned us (it's still cool looking, though)
• Roadhouses provide some of the world's most expensive ice cream
• Ayers rock looks much better at sunset or sunrise
• The nights are way cold
• Walking around the rock wasn't as good as expected, as various sacred sites prevented us from getting too close to the rock
• But it's still pretty cool
• Kata Tjuta offers a way better walk than the rock
• Zebra Finches look really cool in the wild
• But Rainbow Bee-eaters look much funkier
• Reptiles don't seem to come out in winter
• You need a permission slip to drink at the pub

After the others continued on to Kings Canyon, I returned to Alice to go a 3 day walk along the Larapinta Trail (why isn't it a track). After the walk, I spent half a day at the Desert Park, which I found fascinating as you could see heaps of fascinating birds in aviaries build over the spinifex. You can also see some of those types of birds in the wild at the park (they hang around because the place is watered). Someone recommended the film to me, especially the ending. The film wasn't all that special, until you get to the very end. Quite unique. See it.

Yeperenye Yaw

Australian Rogaining Championships 2007
Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 July 2007

Photos
Official Website

Arrival
Once again, it was time for Dunk, Grace and me to set off on a mad 24 hour dash in the wilds of Australia, only this time, it was central Australia, a place none of us had really walked before. Despite being unsure of what the weather or terrain would hold, we were confident that our recent 3 Peaks weekend (completed in 47 hours) and Turon River Rogaine (5th overall, 3rd mixed) would help us in our quest.
After arriving at the Hash House (start/finish) on the Friday, we found a slightly crowded but peaceful campsite, filled with brightly coloured desert birds and crusty rogainers eager for a good night's rest.

The Morning
Three hours prior to the start, we received our maps, which showed an ancient, dry river bed dissecting a series of rough looking mountain ranges. Using the most expensive contact Dunk found, we covered our maps and directions, and set about planning our route.
There were 7 water drops (no natural water on course, apart from a manky pool near checkpoint 120), and no huge climbs, although there were plenty of hills for us to traverse. We came up with a basic plan, submitted our intentions (for safety reasons), finalised our packs and clothes (I elected to wear long pants, to avoid spinifex spikes, the other guys had shorts), fuelled up, and waited for the start.

Planning our route

The Event
There were 130 teams waiting to start, and as soon as the gun we all headed out in a variety of directions. I'm always amazed how little time it takes for the teams to separate. Before you know it, the only people you can see are your team mates.
Conversely, it's often a surprise to come across other teams, especially when they come at you from the opposite direction. You start to wonder why they are walking in a totally different direction, and would you have been better off doing the same.
The day was unseasonally warm, and it wasn't long before we were walking across the centre section of the course, flat as a pancake, feeling the heat of the afternoon sun dehydrating us. I suddenly felt like I was in the middle of the desert. Well I was.
The navigation was fairly easy during the day, owing to the lack of ground cover (apart from the spinifex, which was usually easily avoided). But the best thing were the mountains. A couple of times they could be avoided, simply be walking around them, instead of over them. And there were no 300+ metre climbs (like most other rogaines). Woo Hoo.

Where to next?

We managed to get the highest scoring checkpoint, way up a gorge (which had a tiny bit of manky water in it).
We missed one checkpoint amongst a maze of small gorges and ridges, just after sunset. It was only worth 50 points, and fortunately we got out of it fairly easily (stumbling across a water drop with the tastiest oranges I have ever had (chilled, too)).
A couple of times throughout the night we came across cool patches of air, usually above creek beds. The temperature would drop about 5 degrees in these sections. But the oddest thing of all was a smelly patch, that lasted for about 100m (and no, it wasn't a fart). It smelt a bit sulphuric, and was quite odd.
We missed another checkpoint in the middle of the night, but this time it cost us 90 points. Once we decided to skip it, we were slightly demoralised, but we perked up a bit once we got the next checkpoint (over an hour later).
Just before dawn, a 30 minute nap was required. Grace was starting to feel like she was about to fall over (due to tiredness), but she was back to normal after the nap. I was feeling OK at this time, so I had a bit to eat, and took a few photos. I think I was still on LA time (I had just arrived back from LA a few days before).
The morning proved fruitful, but as we plotted our course back to the Hash House, we realised that we would not get to any more water drops. The day was heating up again, so we started to ration our water. About 45 minutes before the noon finish time, we ran out of water completely. By now it was in the mid 20s, but the sun was beaming down strongly, so it felt much warmer. We rushed back to the start/finish by the road, Grace leading the way. We arrived back with over 10 minutes to spare, and immediatley got something to drink. Then lay down.

We Finished!
It's a fantastic feeling to take off your shoes after a rogaine, and walk around bare footed. Likewise, a shower, where all the dirt, grime and sweat from the previous 24 hours disappears down the drain, always feels fantastic. And the food always tastes great - usually a BBQ, some soup, cheap cakes and cordial (although a coke would have been fantastic).
This time, I couldn't quite quench my thirst. I had been without water for too long, in hot dry conditions, whilst walking fast. My dehydration headache lasted for 2 days.

Three happy campers, after 24 hours

Final Results
We finished in 22nd, gaining 1880 points.
We were 7th in the mixed category, and finished in 23:49:03 hours.
Full results.

I'm not sure when the next one will be.

Turon Gold Rush Rogaine

Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 April

Official Website

So, on the 28th and 29th of April, I set off on a 24 hour rogaine with Dunk and Grace, in Turon Nation Park, which is just west of Wollemi Nation Park.
Our aim was to be competitive - we wanted to walk throughout the whole night, and walk fairly fast. I had competed in one 24 hour rogine previously, but it was Dunk and Grace's first.

The day started off wet, and most teams began walking with rain jackets on. Fortuantely, the light rain soon subsided, and we were left with a dry but windy (well, up on the ridges) day. The terrain was fairly hilly, from a minimum elevation of around 760masl, to about 1060masl. About a quarter of the rogine was over grazing land, and the rest was wooded. The totally amazing thing about the wooded area was that it was completely free of scrub. None whatsoever. Yet just 50km to the east, in Wollemi NP, I have encountered some of the worst scrub I have ever been through.
We hit our checkpoints fairly consistently, although we did managed to descend the wrong ridge around sundown.

Our first big break was at a lovely abondoned homestead, and we took about 40 minutes to eat our dinner. Just after we resumed, we had to climb one of the steepest (and most open) ridge we have climbed. It was straight forward to climb, just very steep.
We continued to hit the checkpoints at night, and enjoyed our next big break at the All Night Cafe (a fire with free coffee and cakes). Some people were sleeping by the fire, but head off again after about half an hour.

The morning got progressively harder as fatigue set in. At one point I had to convince Grace that we really had to climb this ridge, and not head down the unmarked road. Her body wanted to go downhill, and her head almost believed the body.
We struggled up the last few hills, but finished with about 20 minutes to spare. Finally.
When the results came through, we found we had come 5th overall, and 3rd in the Mixed Division, with 2590 points, only 270 behind 3rd place. Fantastic! We were pretty stoked, and we completed our aims.

5th Overall; 3rd in Mixed
2590 points
23:40

The Walk!!!

Heading Down

Wednesday night I headed down to Melbourne and met up with the rest of my team. Fortunately, their flight from Perth arrived just before mine, and our support guy, Kevin, was there to pick us up. He had even practised driving to the airport, having arrived exactly 12 hours before after confusing a "p" with an "a". Oh well.

After settling in for the night in a miscellaneous hotel, in a miscellaneous suburb of outer Melbourne (only after the Perthites failed to fully ajust to Eastern Standard Time), we got some sleep. Being without transport, we could only wait for Kevin to arrive the next morning for a course reccy (not that we had anywhere in particular to go).

We were able to see the start, as well as the first couple of checkpoints. All good and well, particularily as Kevin already planned a few of our breaks slightly away from the checkpoints, where he knew there would plenty of space for him to set up our resucitation table. Now we knew where to meet him.

That night, we ate heartily and packed like a pack mule, whatever that is like. I was taking 2 pairs of shoes - a pair of trail runners and a pair of sturdy joggers. I was also taking 3 lots of 2 pairs of socks - 6 in total. Two t-shirts, plus a long sleeved one. A vest for warmth, as well as some wet weather gear, not that any rain was predicted (warm and dry was the forecast). A spare pair of shorts, and some spare reggies to boot. More than I'd need, but because I had the opportunity to take them, I would.

The Start

As predicted, the day dawned dry and sunny. Our lift arrived on time, and soon we had signed in, and were ready for the walk. We were starting at 8am, but only after we changed our predicted time to under 30 hours. About half of the 400 teams of 4 were starting at 8, the rest at 10. Teams who planned to start out running (such as the Gurkahs) were underneath the startline. We were about halfway down the snake, wearing our GRD Minproc t-shirts.

Eight am and we were off. The girls (Tanya and Kimbra) started at a brisk pace, a bit too brisk for Ian and myself. Still, we never got too far apart, although it may have reached a few hundred metres at times. There were no support teams allowed at the first checkpoint, but there was plenty of food and drink made available. We stopped for about 15 minutes before heading off.

The day was as predicted - warm and dry. Although the official temperature reached 30 in Melbourne, I never felt too hot at any stage. Thirsty, yes, but never too hot.
The walked continued towards Sassafrass, a genteel suburb in the Dandenongs. We had been walking at slighlty over 5km/hr - much faster than I expected - and I (well, Ian and I) were the slow ones! We negotiated our first big obstacle easily enough - the Kokoda Track Memorial (unfortunately, the evil influences are still present on the older signs, incorrectly labelled the Kokoda Trail. MESSAGE TO ALL: it is a track - a TRACK! It was even known by the diggers as "the track". It was only later evil (re American) influences that crept in which led to it be known incorrectly as a trail. When I go bushwalking, I walk on tracks - TRACKS! Or I bush-bash. Sometimes I walk on fire trails, but these are wide, designed for firetrucks to gain access to remote areas to fight bushfires - not what was in Kokoda).

So, after wandering up the Memorial Track - which was a fairly steep hill over a couple of kilometres, we had a break we guru support crew Kevin.

Checkpoints and Ressucitation

Overall, there were 8 stages with 7 checkpoints. Apart from the first CP (when there was no supporter access allowed), Kevin did a fantastic job, using his abundant experience of 5 trailwalkers (and 2 previous support crew badges) to make our walk as easy as possible. Each checkpoint, after carefully selecting an ideal spot (not always at the CP, but usually not far from one), we found a table filled with a smorgasbord of sports nutrition. Gels, bars, gatorade, protein shakes, plus boiled potatos (with extra salt), fried rice (with no peas), chicken, sandwiches and more! We would find 4 chairs around the table, enabling us to pig out without standing up. I believe this refuelling process allowed us to continue at a reasonable pace throughout the event. Well, it sure worked for me.

Darkness

I was surprised to reach CP 4 (or just after, where Kevin stopped) before dark. We had covered almost half the distance in under 12 hours - a very brisk pace. After another pig out, a change of clothes (although, by now I had already changed shoes and socks) we were ready to hit the dark tracks. Walking in night was much easier than I expected. For one, we were walking on well maintained firetrails. They had also placed glow sticks every hundred metres or so, meaning it was easy to work out if we were on the correct path (not that we ever got off track).
For me, the real part of the walk had just begun, I was looking forward to the darkness; I was curious to see how I would perform without much sleep; I wanted to feel what it was like to go non stop throughout the night. It was time.

No long into the night, I needed to change the batteries on my Pretzyl (the name I give to head torches). Being slightly rushed (we were still moving at a swift pace), I didn't quite read how one should put the batteries in. I thought I had lost a part of my torch, and it was never going to walk again. Luckily, we had a spare torch - a mini mag light, so I was not to be without photons.

By now, I had hit the Nurofen. My knees had started to ache a bit, along with my feet. I had already popped 2 blisters, and there were a few hot spots elsewhere on my feet. I was paranoid about getting massive blisters, so had changed either my shoes or socks at each checkpoint. I had also taped up a known hot spot (still got a blister there, though), and always double socked. Unfortunately, my orthotics (the old ones, not the new ones) managed to place extra pressure on one of the hot spots (the taped blistered one). Fortunately, by using normal soles, the pressure point went away.

As the night continued, the walking only got easier. We were now on the Warbuton Track, which used to be a railway line. Hence, it was wide, flat, and, well, easy. And it was long - about 30km long. There was a checkpoint about half way along, where we had a 45 minute break (which seemed much shorter to me). Here, we had to decide if we were to rest (ie sleep), or continue on. The consensus to to keep going - who wants to try to get going after some sleep? It was even hard to get going after 45 minutes...

By now our pace had slowed. I tried to keep up my spirits but relating random incidents from my primary school days to Kimbra, like when I got put in the black book in kindy for throwing a stick at David Stone (hit 'im just above the eye, too), or when Mrs Jenkins brought in her husband's skeleton (he was a doctor), and I wore the cranium like a skull cap...

I even started bursting out into song just before CP7. It was around 5am, and I was surprised at my enthusiasm. I had been taking a lot of Nurofen and caffeine, though...

Mt Donna Buang

We made sure to stay rugged up at our final checkpoint. It wasn't even in single figures, but fatigue always make you feel a bit colder. I felt a bit stiff as we started wandering towards our goal - the 1231m Mt Donna Buang. We were gradually climbing towards the base of the mountain, and the fact that we were almost home, and that it was at last starting to get light, made things a bit more bearable. I was carrying a bottle of coke and some glucose lollies, after hitting the sugar at the last checkpoint. Normally, you don't want to consume too many simple sugars in a long distance event, as you can experience energy lows following those sugars highs. Generally, once you start on the sugars, you should stay on them - hence the bottle of coke. And I was definitely on a sugar high. By the time we hit the start of the final climb, I was ready to start motoring along. First, after completing the lyrics to my new song "Donna Buang Rhapsody"*, I decided to really put the foot down. I started to catch a few of the teams ahead of us, and one guy told us there were some SES guys ahead, who had just walked down a little bit (maybe 4km) to drop off some water. I decided I wanted to catch them, and I was off.

There must have been a heap of teams just ahead of us, as I caught a lot of people. I caught the SES guy easily, and started making boisterous "Good Mornings" to everyone I passed. Not everyone appreciated it. Soon, I had reached the end of he climb, which was not the summit (which was the finish). I was still 3.6km from the finish, and I was also without my team mates.
Fortunately, this was the perfect (and pre-arranged) place to wait. There were a whole lot of SES personel, a few chairs, blankets, and warm drinks. I immediately sat down, grabbed a blanket, and ordered a warm milo. And another. The people I overtook started to appear, and Kimbra soon popped up. W started to doze a bit, until Ian and Tanya materialised, adn we set off for the summit finish line. By now, 24 hours had just ticked over. We marched the last section together, and crossed the line side by side at 9:03, 25 hours and 3 minutes after starting. And about 10 hours ahead of our original schedule. Woo Hoo.

Finished

After posing for a few photos, we grabbed a small bite to eat. I think I had some soup, but by now i was sick of eating - I had been eating regularily for the past 24 hours. i should have eaten a bit more, to aid my recover, but we had finished, and I couldn't be bothered. The whole finish line was a bit anti-climatic, but most competitiors would have exited no long after they arrived, and with people finishing over a 36 hour period, you're never going to have too many supporters there.
The drive back took a lot longer than expected - I guess we had walked 100km. Eventually we were back - after Kevin stopped for a break (he too, had spent the whole night awake). I got first dibs on the shower, which meant I could hit the sack first. I rested well.

Final Daywalk

I finished my training with a walk from Cherrybrook to North Ryde. This
was approximately 20km, (OK, maybe a little less). I ran a bit of the
way (maybe 5km) as I was a bit late. Overall, it took 3.5 hours.

Everything was OK gear wise - shoes with old orthotics, shorts and
t-shirt. Now for the real thing. I'll have to watch the following during
the walk:

* any hot spots on my feet should be tended to immediately
* likewise for any chaffing hot spots
* make sure I consume enough salt to avoid cramping
* enough carbs and protein to get me through the day, night, and day
again
* sore knees may require Ibuprofen, or knee braces
* wet and/or cold weather may present other challenges
* we should swap the lead, so no one is leading the whole time
* we need to stick together, which I may find hard to do

Fingers crossed!

Berowra Daywalk

This day's training was planned to mimic the Trailwalker, in terms of pace (actually, I expect our Trailwalker pace to be a bit slower), clothing (or at least foorwear) and backpack (spot on with this one), so what better place to do it than the Sydney trailwalker course.

I set off from Cherrybrook, and headed for Berowra waters, which is also the Benowie section of the Great North Walk, a walk from Sydney to Newcastle. I got dropped off at about 8:40, and settled into a brisk but manageable pace. I was planning to do the 25km walk in about 5 hours, so there were to be no bludge stops.

The day was already quite warm, and I was very surprised by the pleasant scenery, which followed the creek (the one that goes through Galstone Gorge) all the way, with only a few ups and downs, to get around the incumbant sydney sandstone cliffs that frequetly line creeks like this.

Most of the route follows a well worn track, but there were a few sections of fire trail. Harry the happy hiker always cropped up at major intersections to point me in the right direction, so there were no navigation dilemas (I didn't have a map - just a nose for the right direction).

A burnoff had taken place the day before, so I got to walk through a smokey section, for about 2km. There were still a few burning bushes about, and the haze seemed to trap in more heat. This section was closed by the Bush fire brigade, but I saw no sight of them that day, and ignored there warnings. But I could easily see it could have been unsafe - a few trees had collapsed across the track, and a few more were propped up by nothing more than a few twigs.

I crossed a creek, whcih was signposted as "The Fishponds", which ended up being some large, naturally occurring wells or holes (moulins?) gouged into the rocks by the water. Easy to see where its name came from.
I ran into a bunch of girl guides, out for some adventure. I hope they had a nice day.

Towards the end of the walk, a ran for a few minutes, to try and make up time so I wouldn't be late for my ride home. Unfortunately, he too was late, but fortuantely, a bunch of scouts were selling drinks at the Bewrora Punt (the walk ends on the west side, away from the shops), so I could refresh myself before we had a lazy afternoon.

Overall
* fantastic views along the creek, which is surprising for somewhere so close to sydney
* not much evidence of development, which is surprising for somewhere so close to sydney (a few roads to cross, but not much more)
* I should really treat the Trailwalker a bit like an Ironman in terms of nutrition, instead of waiting to get hungry before eating (I was starting to get a bit weaker towards the end of the walk)
* drinking from my Camelbak was just fine
* I won't wear my new orthotics, as they gave me a slight blister
* if I get sore spots in the trailwalker, they must be tended to immediately
* I need to do another long walk, using my old orthotics (the new shoes were OK)

Berowra creek widens near the Punt.