The last post from down under.
Yep, this is it, my plane sadly leaves tomorrow night. These two months went blazingly fast. It's amazing. Two months sounds like heaps of time when you are planning a trip or asking your boss for the time off, but when it comes to pass it's no time at all. Merely a short moment in your life. So here it is, my two months in Australia with Greta is already over. Sure it'll be nice to come back to Vancouver and see you all again, but it many ways I wish I could stay here longer. I even asked my boss for a few extra weeks and he agreed to it! But then I couldn't postpone my flight because they all were full for the month:( Oh well, there'll be another trip sometime in the future I'm sure! See you all very soon, Evan.
Posted by Evan at 1:56 AM
Pictures from Hobart
Ok so I'm waaay behind in my photos, but anyway, here's photos from Hobart after our hike along the South Coast track back at the beginning of February!
Right after coming out of the bush we hit up the Salamanca Market to gorge ourselves on cheap food and Tasmanian fudge while listening to hippie music all afternoon. It was the prefect thing to do after a week of hiking.
The next day we all took a ride on the Lady Nelson - a replica of one of the first boats to come over from England full of convicts.
The crew tying up the sails.
They even let me help by pulling on some of these ropes. I had no idea what I was doing but it was still fun.
We also all went to the botanic gardens. My favourite part was the 'subantartic plant room' seen here. It was 10 degrees and 99% humidity - just like being back at home!
After the weekend Greta, Sam and Alastair had to fly home to "work" so Janie, Tom and I did a day tour of Port Arthur, a very old and famous convict camp/jail where they sent the reoffenders and super bad. Here is our guide surfing on a bronzed dog of the dog fence they had around the jail. What respect for history they have.
We also did a nice little walk around the penninsula where the penitentiary is located. It would be pretty hard to escape with all these cliffs.
Here's the main "lodge" where they kept the bad guys.
And this is the church for the even badder guys who were kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. They would be put into these boxes so they can only see the pastor.
Janie left the next day, leaving just Tom and I, so we went for a tour of the main Cadbury Chocolate factory!!:) It was pretty fun, but they wouldn't let us taste during the tour due to supposed health laws. Due to our pathetic amounts of stubble after not shaving for a week we had to also wear these 'snoob' nets!
Top of Mount Wellington - the mountain that 'towers' above the city. It was cloudy so no nice pano shots.
Hobart's historic harbour.
And lastly, our hostel, the pickled frog - home of the cheapest beer in hobart!
Posted by Evan at 1:41 AM
In Brissy
The picture posting will have to wait for now...after only 1.5 days in Melbourne a split decision landed me in Brisbane. I'm here visiting Kim and touring around Queensland and Byron Bay hopefully. Hold them horses...
Posted by Evan at 11:22 PM
South Coast Track, Tasmania
After 2 weeks in Tasmania there is a lot to write about, but since photos do a better job of portraying what it was like I'll use them instead. We spent 8 days in the bush, of which it rained for 7, sometimes heavily. So sadly not enough pictures were taken, mostly because the beautiful landscape was shrouded in clouds most of the time, and the odd glimses we did get didn't make for nice pictures. Anyway, here's the photo diary of the trip!...
We took an hour long bush plane flight in from Hobart to an airstrip named Melaleuca. It's in the middle of nowhere. Nobody lives within hundreds of miles. But there is a Ranger station and a parrot watching station there. And you can also fill up your fuel bottes there since you're not allowed to take in on the plane. The flight was quite a ride though. It started off fun, but after about 20 minutes we all started to feel sick. At around half an hour Greta and I both had our puke bags open and ready. Only I had to use mine though. Twice. It's the worst feeling just before you puke, but feels sooo much better after! Alastair also puked right after getting off the plane. Lucky for me the pilot saved me the trouble of carrying my puke sachet on the hike!
Besides the puking, the flight in was very scenic.
Our flight followed the coast so we got to see our route. We hiked to this beach the first day and camped on the headland in the middle. It poured rain during the night.
Up a valley and towards the coast from Melaleuca to Cox Bight on the first day.
Whilst cooking dinner a Wombat trotted past our camp on the beach. We followed it for 100 meters before it found a bush it decided to chew on. It didn't mind us coming close at all.
Day 2 started with a beach walk beneath threatening clouds.
The weather changed every 10 minutes. One minute it was raining, the next we'd be sweltering in the sun. Then it would start to hail.
Soon we had our first of many creek crossings. Our boots stayed wet for the rest of the hike.
In addition to the rain and numerous creek crossings there was heaps of mud to contend with. This is by far the muddiest hike I've ever done. Some pits were waist deep. If you were lucky it would only be knee deep.
Greta at yet another creek crossing.
The group scrambles to put on rain gear as the hail pounds us.
Louisa River: This was the largest river crossing. It was thigh deep in parts and flowing swiftly. We were worried about being swept down so we almost camped at the other side to wait for it to drop. Luckily we hadn't as the river rose 8 inches during the night and probably continued to do so with all the rain we got. Don't be fooled by the sunshine in the pic.
The Ironbounds: The highest of the mountains we had to cross at 1000m. It was a wet and slippery slog.
Day 4/5? We finally had one night without rain so could dry stuff a little before it started raining again before lunch.
Greta enjoying yet another creek/swamp crossing.
The author. This was the only day where it was hot enough to bring out the 'muscle shirt'. The sun only lasted 2 hours though:(
Janie rowing across New River Lagoon. There is a rowboat on each side which you use to shuttle yourselves across.
Day 6: This was the worst day. We woke to a storm, packed quickly without eating brekky and hiked in the bonechilling wind and rain. The wind would blow the sand across the dunes and it would sting any exposed skin. We got completely soaked that day. They need to invent better Goretex.
Greta and Evan. Can't remember which day/beach.
Aussie Hottie.
Sunset from the cliffs above New River Lagoon.
We saw many Wallabies and Potteroos on the hike. At first it was a huge novelty and I was so excited. But it was still cool seing them hopping around our camp trying to steal food. They were quite persistent and not scared at all. We also had a small thing called a Quoll one night that managed to steal some garbage. No pics though.
Greta scrambling. See the trail marker above the cliff?!
Me filling water. All the fresh water in this part of Tasmania is dyed tea brown by either tannin from the buttongrass moorlands or from Tea Trees, can't remember which is correct.
Drinking water, no need to treat.
More mud. This was a daily occurance.
Having fun with the camera. Twilight reflection on the brown water of a lagoon.
Alastair was crazy enough to pack a spear and snorkelling gear, complete with flippers. His pack weighted about 35kg! But it was worth it though. He went spear fishing twice in the frigid waters and both times caught a small fish in less than 10 minutes. None of us knew what the fish were though, but they tasted quite good!
Developing a bit of a snoob? Yes, I have passed puberty.
The gang (minus Sam) at the trailhead 8 days later!! L to R: Tom, Evan, Alastair, Janie, Greta.
Posted by Evan at 2:56 AM
Back from the South-Wet Coast
I'm glad to say that we started as a group of 6 and finished as a group of 6, and without using the sat phone! 9 days on the South coast of Tasmania was absolutely amazing: at times a wonderful trip, and at others a very trying. After puking on the bush plane flight in, we had 5 days of rain and storms. Numbers on the trail quickly diminished, and only later did we hear that there had been a Bushwalkers Warning alert and no flights were leaving the ground. The track was muddy, very muddy, with us sinking into our knees lots and occasionally up to the waist for the unlucky ones. I've never hiked in so much mud. There were also lots of river and stream crossings, so we always had wet feet. Putting on wet socks and boots in the morning was particularly fun. But it wasn't all hardship...we had a great time, saw lots of beautiful scenery and coastline, lots of native animals, and some cool people on the trail. We were to be out for 10 days, but completed the hike in 8 and left on the 9th day. The side trip we planned to climb a mountain was deemed impossible after we met 5 very tough men as they returned from 3 days in the bush attemping the summit. 2 days of which were spent wading up a very swollen lagoon as the bush is too think to crash through. So instead we enjoyed a couple easier days on the trail with good weather towards the end. Alastair was successful in catching 2 fish using a spear as he swam around the rocks beneath the surf. Crazy guy. He even carried a snorkel and flippers all week to do that. The fish was worth it though! Also, I'm glad to say the knee held up but complained a bit. 5 of us ended up with achilies pains, 3 of us really badly. So much it was very painful to walk on flat ground or up steep stuff. Janie and I walked the last 7km in thongs because the boots were too painful.
Now we're in the town of Hobart. Spent a day at the famous Salamanca market gorging after our hike. And we even ran into the 5 bushmen again there! The others returned to Melbourne so Janie, Tom and I took a tour of the Port Arthur prison today and will probably laze around tomorrow we we're pretty beat. So until we're back in Melbourne and can post pics, CHEERS as they say!
Posted by Evan at 2:32 AM
