Choose a diary entry31/03/2004 - Retrenched! 02/04/2004 - Farewell Lunch 03/04/2004 - Preparation 1 04/04/2004 - Preparation 2 05/04/2004 - Packing 06/04/2004 - Sydney to Hobart to Mt. Field NP 07/04/2004 - Tarn Shelf, then into the Southwest 08/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 1 - Up Alpha Moraine 09/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 2 - Lake Cygnus 10/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 3 - Lake Oberon & Square Lake 11/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 4 - Lake Oberon to Lake Cygnus 12/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 5 - Lake Cygnus to Junction Creek 13/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 6 - out to Mt Field NP 14/04/2004 - Back to Hobart for resupply and on to Southport 15/04/2004 - Southport, Hastings springs, Cockle Creek 16/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 1 - Cockle Creek to South Cape Rivulet 17/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 2 - South Cape Rivulet 18/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 3 - back to Cockle Creek, then Hobart 19/04/2004 - Hobart to Lake St. Clair 20/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 1 - to Vera Hut 21/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 2 - Tahune Hut and the Summit 22/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 3 - Tahune Hut to Vera Hut 23/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 4 - out to Derwent Bridge 24/04/2004 - Derwent Bridge / Lake St. Clair to Hobart 25/04/2004 - R&R in Hobart 26/04/2004 - Hobart, buying a new Camera 27/04/2004 - Hobart to Port Arthur 28/04/2004 - Port Arthur Historic site, then to Fortescue Bay 29/04/2004 - Tasman Trail Hike - Fortescue Bay to Eaglehawk Neck 30/04/2004 - Eaglehawk Neck to Hobart, Targa 01/05/2004 - Hobart R&R, Salamanca Markets 02/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 1 - to Wombat Flat 03/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 2 - to Mt. Ramsay 04/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 3 - Mt. Ramsay to Huskisson River 05/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 4 - Camped at Huskisson River 06/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 5 - Across the Huskisson 07/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 6 - Out, then to Strahan 08/05/2004 - R&R in Strahan 09/05/2004 - Dissapointing Gordon River Cruise 10/05/2004 - Strahan, R&R, Preparation for Overland Track 11/05/2004 - Strahan to Lake St. Clair 12/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 1 - Lake St. Clair to Pine Valley Hut 13/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 2 - the Labyrinth and Acropolis 14/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 3 - Pine Valley Hut to Kia-Ora Hut 15/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 4 - Kia-Ora Hut to Mt. Ossa to Pelion Hut 16/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 5 - Pelion Hut to Windermere Hut 17/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 6 - Windamere Hut to Cradle Mountain Village 18/05/2004 - Sick!, Cradle Mountain to Launceston 19/05/2004 - Recovery 1 20/05/2004 - Recovery 2 - Doctor, and Cataract Gorge 21/05/2004 - Recovery 3 22/05/2004 - Recovery 4 23/05/2004 - Recovery 5 24/05/2004 - Launceston to Bicheno 25/05/2004 - Freycinet Hike - Day 1 - the Hazards to Cooks Beach 26/05/2004 - Freycinet Hike - Day 2 - back to Bicheno 27/05/2004 - Exploring Bicheno 28/05/2004 - Bicheno to Launceston 29/05/2004 - Exploring Further in Launcestion 30/05/2004 - Cataract Gorge 2 31/05/2004 - Launceston to Liffey Falls to Deloraine 01/06/2004 - Trowunna, Devils Gullet, Walls of Jerusalem National Park 02/06/2004 - Walls of Jerusalem Hike - Day 1 03/06/2004 - Walls of Jerusalem - Day 2 - Out, then to Hobart 04/06/2004 - Mt. Field NP, Styx Valley & on to Triabunna 05/06/2004 - Maria Island - Day 1 06/06/2004 - Maria Island - Day 2 07/06/2004 - R&R in Launceston 08/06/2004 - Flying Back Home

Tasmania Diary

 

« 1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 »

Thursday, May 06, 2004

Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 5 - Across the Huskisson

Since I've been in Tasmania, I've found I often need to get up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet. I finally realised that it's because I'm sleeping so much longer than I would normally, due to hiking in the months around winter. Last night I had to get up but also had to put on some socks since my feet were cold, and also had to do some midnight surgery on my right big toe, as my boot seemed to have pressed my nail into the toe, and it was hot and painful. In the morning it was still sore, but not as bad.

It only rained a little overnight, and the river went down a little more. I got packed ready for the river crossing. After breakfast, we packed the communal gear and walked down to the river crossing point. The water was still rushing very powerfully.
Darvis had told us we would use a technique where a small group would cross together, supporting each other by holding onto a stout piece of wood. We were grouped by Darvis into two groups of 4 and one group of 3. It was somewhat funny when Noboru realised what we were going to do, as he had either not heard or not understood the talk last night.
Darvis decided that he, Paul, Chris, and Natalie would go firs, and after a little preparation they stepped int the water. The water made a big wake around Darvis as it hit him, partly protecting the others from the force. It was quite deep – up to his crotch. Their progress was very slow. After about 15 minutes, we started timing them, by which stage they were only about 5 metres from the shore.
Suddenly one of them half fell over and the effect was like skittles, the went over one after another. Fortunately they only fell part way over before enough balance was regained to stand up fully again, everyone on the shore was holding their breaths though.

Inching onward, the were still not even halfway across after about 45 minutes. We were all starting to get concerned, and Darvis shouted back asking me to check up and down stream to see how hard crossing would be there.
I went downstream through the bush, and found a rapid we could see from the crossing. The water right next to the shore looked very deep and swift. I stripped my pants off, and got in with a stout stick for support. I barely got a metre from shore before the water was hip deep, and impossible to move in. At every step, I was forced downstream. I gave up and got out, and Ben who was with me, suggested we try upsteam.
We went upstream to near some big rocks, which were sticking out of the water. I got in again, and found it a little less deep, but still very powerful. I managed to get out about 5 metres by going diagonally with the water, but suddenly lost my footing, as I was supporting myself almost entirely by bracing the stick diagonally into the river bed. I plunged into the water up to my chest, and stayed that way for several seconds as I was pushed downstream. Finally I found a foothold with enough purchase to resist the flow and was able to stand again. My jumper, shirt and thermal top were wet, which made me worry a bit, as they represented most of my warm clothes. Fortunately I'd hitched them up, so it was only the bottom parts which got wet.
Returning to the main crossing, I decided to test it to compare with the other spots. I found it was the easiest of the three, and could have made it out to where Darvis and the others were still crossing, although I was still heavily reliant on the stick as a brace, and couldn't have done it alone with my pack.

We waited on shore as they continued inching across. We could see that their legs were bright red from the cold, and I knew from the short time I'd been in the water that their feet would be completely numb.
Finally after about 1 hour and 40 minutes, they reached the other side, to cheers and clapping from us. We noticed that Chris had lost one of her sandals.

After waiting for Darvis to go downstream to act as a rescuer, should something go wrong, Ben, Noboru, and I got in the water.
For the first 5 metres we were all just moving together, but suddenly we all went down briefly, dipping our bodies and packs in the water. Whilst seeing the others take so long, we had decided to charge it, otherwise it could take 5 hours for all of us to cross. After almost going for a swim, we got organised – one would move their feet while the others held the pole steady as a hand hold. I was on the upstream end, breaking the water, making it very hard to move my feet onto secure foot holds on the slippery rock bottom. We were moving fairly fast, with Me moving first, then Ben, then Noboru, Ben again, then me again, and so on…. After we got to halfway, Rob Brendon, Chelsea and Zinta set off.
After about 20 – 25 minutes, we made it to the other shore, and my feet were completely numb – it felt like they were made of wood for all the feeling they had, which made clambering along the bank to the track tricky. As Darvis's group was crossing, the sun came out, lighting the track on the far shore, so when we got there, we sat in the sun, and tried to get warm and dry. I couldn't believe Darvis' group didn't have hypothermia.

After getting dry, we set off up the hill, which soon levelled out, and came to a recent regrowth area, which the track stayed in for quite a while. The track then went fairly suddenly straight up the side of a very steep hill, and we were all a bit out of breath and hot when we reached the top. From here, the track went back into old-growth forest with huge Eucalypts.
We stopped for lunch in an area free of undergrowth, then continued on. The track wound back and forth around obstacles on the original ancient bulldozed track. At one point, Darvis suggested we stop and sit down for 5 minutes in silence, to just be at one with the forest. I laid down and it was very relaxing, peaceful and tranquil.
We continued walking along a ridge in a little dryer forest with huge Eucalypts, and occasional views out over the surrounding valleys and ridges

Our campsite was a fair way along the ridge, and it was nearly dark when we arrived. Again it was in amongst the big Ecucalypts, this time it was a slightly wider, clearer part of the track.
Darvis, Paul and I went to get water, as it was a fair walk away. We jogged down the hill to the stream in about 7 minutes, then filled all the water bladders and bottles, put them in our packs, and trudged back up the hill in about 25 minutes in the dark.
When we got back, the others had managed to get a fire going, but it was almost out, since the wood was a bit damp. With a bit of coaxing, though we got it going well, and it was a very nice change for the last night of the trip. We were running a little low on the food to go with the rice that was in the food drop at the creek. Noboru, however came up with a pretty nice dish based on dried mushrooms. We were all a little sad the trip was ending tomorrow.

[ 2 comments ]

Friday, May 07, 2004

Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 6 - Out, then to Strahan

Packing and eating breakfast quickly, we set off, aiming to meet Jarrah at the creek at 9:30am.
Darvis suggested we walk down the hill in silence, which we did. Part way down, there was a very big Eucalypt, and we formed a ring, holding hands around it. It was a little uncomfortable, since we could only just reach around it with 11 people, but it was an interesting, semi-spiritual experience. Darvis suggested we think about what we get from being in the forest, and whether we give anything back. I decided I should do something active to try to help save the forest from destruction, as I do get enjoyment, inspiration, relaxation and inner peace from wild places, so I should at very least let my political representatives know this, and ask them to spare the forests.
I took many photos on the way down the hill, as it was one of the few times on the trip that it was not raining, and my lens was not fogged up.
Pretty soon, we got to the creek and we took some group photos, and had a bit of a discussion about what we were taking away from the trip, then we crossed the creek and soon came out at a road, where Jarrah was waiting with the van and trailer.

We packed the stuff in the trailer, got in the van, and that was the end of the walk. The road was a bumpy dirt road for a while through glacial valleys, then we were on bitumen again, and went through Tullah, and on to Queenstown. The scenery was very beautiful until we got to Queenstown, where we were suddenly presented with a landscape devastated by mining. The mountainsides surrounding the northern part of Queenstown were completely bare of vegetation and covered with the rubble of 100 years of mining activity. We stopped in the main street of town, in the southern part, and all went to a café / fish & chips shop to get some fried food.
The others had warned me that Queenstown was pretty rough, and was like a time warp, and they were right – it seemed like it was 20 years or more in the past, as far as the shops, people and styles went.

I was getting off the bus at Queenstown, and heading for Strahan , so I unpacked the Tiger Trails stuff from my pack, said goodbye, and I was on my own again. After going back to the café briefly, and reading about Queenstown in my guidebook, I phoned Tassielink and Strahan YHA. The YHA person told me about a Tassielink school bus which came much earlier than the 9:30pm one the Tassielink office had told me about. After finding the local Tassielink agent, I was able to get a ticket leaving in an hour, rather than 7 hours.
The road to Strahan was pretty windy, and went through areas of plains and mountains. I was dropped off at the YHA, and after getting set up, went to take some photos of the sunset over Macquarie Harbour. I then had dinner at the Hostel, and spent a while trying to clean and dry my gear. It was very handy that I had the dorm room to myself.

[ No comments ]

Saturday, May 08, 2004

R&R in Strahan

After going into the village in the morning, I discovered that Strahan is much smaller than I'd imagined, and was mainly a tourist town. Cruises of Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River are the main drawcard, and they left at 8:30 and 9:00am, so I had missed today's cruises. Looking at the Tassielink timetable, I found I'd have to stay at Strahan till Tuesday morning if I wanted to do a cruise and post some stuff home.
I spent a fair bit of the day at the hostel, going shopping for food, and booking a cruise. I also managed to dry the last of my wet gear. I had dinner at the hostel again and watched some TV.

[ No comments ]

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Dissapointing Gordon River Cruise

Today I went on a Gordon River cruise. I got some breakfast at Banjo's Bakery, then boarded the boat at 8:30. The World Heritage Cruises boat was a big catamaran, with a fully enclosed lower deck, half enclosed top deck and an open air roof deck.
At 9:00 we got underway. It was an overcast, cold day. The boat took us first to the gates of hell (the entrance to Macquarie Harbour), and although we were moving fast, Macquarie Harbour is very big, so it took a while. The Gates of Hell are a channel of water which is extremely narrow, probably only 50 metres wide. As we went through the channel, I went onto the open air foredeck, which was freezing. There are two lighthouses at the Gates (very small ones), one of which is on a tiny island. The water flowing through the Gates was fairly turbulent, and apparently depends on the wind more than the tide for it's direction.

We then went briefly out into the Southern Ocean, where we saw a pod of dolphins feeding on a shoal of fish, at a distance of about 100m. The wind-chill on the foredeck when the boat was moving (even slowly) into the wind, was icy, it must have been well below freezing.
Moving on, we went to Sarah Island. It is a pretty small island, with not many remains of the convict days. I found it surprising that the shipbuilding slipways were largely intact underwater, even though they were made of wood. The tour guide was a bit too much though, as was the size of the group, and makeup of it (mostly retiree package deal tourists).

After Sarah Island, we went the short distance to the mouth of the Gordon River, where the boat speed dropped dramatically to reduce the wake impact.
We cruised for about an hour upstream, with a dense but fairly short rainforest on both banks. After some time, we came into a wide gorge and then into Horseshoe Bend (a 180 bend) where the boat stopped at 'Heritage Landing' for a short walk in the rainforest.
A boardwalk in a 400 metre loop went through dense low rainforest. It was seemed somewhat pointless though.The entire reason the landing and boardwalk was set up was to see a 3000 year old Huon Pine, which was left by the piners, as it was too twisted. But a few years ago the tree fell over, so now all you see of it is a big log. The forest you can see from the boardwalk is also quite pathetic compared to what I saw in the Tarkine, and made me wonder if the reason many people are indifferent to the fate of rainforests is because they only see examples like this. After filing around the boardwalk, we got back on the boat for the run back to Strahan.

I though the best part of the trip was the river views, and the mountains to the north east of the harbour, but on the whole it was not really worth the $75 ticket, as it was too packaged and commercialised
At Strahan, we docked beside the Huon Pine Saw Mill, which was also boring and commercial. I left and went back to the hostel for the night, thinking it was a bit of a waste doing the cruise.

[ No comments ]

Monday, May 10, 2004

Strahan, R&R, Preparation for Overland Track

I had a fair bit of domestic stuff to do today. After getting some breakfast (Banjo's again), I put my flash card in for burning to CD, $30 for two CD copies.
While that was happening, I went to the supermarket to buy food for the Overland Track.
After taking the food back to the hostel, I went back to the photo shop, where I discovered the moron (Tom) who was doing it claimed he couldn't fit my 512MB flash card onto a 700MB CD, so had split it in half, and was doing two CD's, which would be ready in half an hour. Now I would only get one copy for $30 (major ripoff). Fuming, I went for a walk to Water Tower Hill, overlooking Strahan, then to Regatta Point and back. By then the CD's were done. I gave the owner an earfull, but he didn't give a shit, because he doesn't have to please regular customers, as he only deals with tourists, and I had no choice but to accept his terms as I was leaving tomorrow.

I took the CD's to the online access centre to send some emails, and found that there were some programs and thumbnails on there as well, which is probably why they wouldn't fit on a CD. I couldn't be bothered to take them back to argue it, as the man would undoubtedly be too stupid to understand.
After this, I went back to the supermarket to buy a few extra food items. After organising my gear at the hostel, and watching TV, I went out to the pub for a couple of beers and a steak.

[ No comments ]

« 1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 »  RSS

Admin login | Original script by Alex