March 1st - 4th 2010, Western Arthur Range, South West Tasmania

Adjective: epic

1. Very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale) - wordweb dictionary.

If I contemplate this walk, two themes come to mind. Epic is one, the other would be the amazing people I did this with.

I’ve been for a walk on the Western Arthur Range with four others from the Pandani Bushwalking Club. It has been three days of exploring physical limits - day one was a comparative bludge. It is the hardest I’ve worked in a long time, and I have a history of these ventures.

I ate like a horse to try and prevent burning up the little muscle I have; despite this, I’m looking mighty skinny at the end of it.

Simon put this walk together. He manages to choreograph the elements of adventure, safety, time, and physical limits. He is a social person and a student of human nature.

I met Peter for the first time. He puts together walks himself, and they always seem to be graded hard. He is the sort of person who always thinks of the group, and what they might need. You know if something goes wrong, Peter will have the first aid kit, or epirb, or extra food or whatever it is that is needed. He carries the extra weight without thought. Simon is also like this. Peter walked for one and a half days with a damaged knee - the bane of bushwalkers.

Michael is a young affable academic who enjoys food, cooking and people. I don’t think he ever really suffered. Some of the climbing had him worried, but by the third day he was at ease with this too.

Sharon, was physically the smallest of our group. There were a lot of places, climbing up or down, where I knew my height was an advantage and I wondered (with a smile) how Sharon would manage. She always did. A working mother who adores her family, always laughing and full of good humour. Walking is a passion that is for her (it’s a parent thing) as an individual. Another of her passions is her beautiful tattoos. One covering her back is complete but also a work in progress; this is her artistic intelligence.

Sharon and Simon are fellow fans of Shaun the Sheep

These people are tough.

Humorous when they could fall over from fatigue, or benighted or in pain.

Seek the company of people and see the good in them.

Have happy, enjoyable lives, and great relationships.

I have worthy aspirations. I am humbled by their good natures.

Katherine, a friend of mine who has travelled widely in the pursuit of rock climbing, says the people who do these things are similar the world over.

As an after thought, I have to mention the mice. Native mice. Deceptive demons that look cute; although Michael and Peter described them as deformed little wombats.

They were indifferent to us and at ease hopping over our feet. These things gave Steven Spielberg his inspiration for the movie Gremlins (it’s true!).

They are evil.

They chewed a hole in either end of my tent; the theory is that one was the entry the other an exit. I think they organised a walk through food selection line, selecting from the various items of food I had as they walked through. The line was clearly marked by their pooh.

I was considering the beneficial uses of them. The best idea was to tape five of them to the sole of each boot to cushion the impact on the steep rocky descents. This idea was particularly appealing because I’d get to hear their pathetic little squeaks of protest with each step.

The peaks we climbed:

Capella Crags, 1049m, 4/3/10
Mt. Hayes, 1119m, 4/3/10
Mt. Hesperus, 1099m, 3/3/10
Mt. Orion, 1151m, 3/3/10
Procyon Peak, 1136m, 3/3/10
Mt. Sirius, 1151m 3/3/10

Simon is in the above photo. He is, umm…intimidated by big drops. The exception is when he has a camera in his hands. He is one of those guys, if he was a war corespondent, he’d get blown up or shot, or run over by an incredibly slow moving tank while he was preoccupied getting “the shot”.

If you want a photo of someone in a precarious location, look for the photographer.

This was last light. We still had a hard climb ahead. We got back to the tents at 9:30 under headlights.

Simon took this shot of me while I was taking the last light shot.

This is Junction Creek. A mere eight flat kilometres to Scotts Peak Dam and our cars.

Sunday 7th March 2010, Ranelagh

We went to the Taste of Huon yesterday. We went early, which is a novelty for me. I really enjoyed it. If it wasn’t for the camera though, I think I would have been bored.

I took lots of pictures.

Families with young children seemed to be the main visitors.

There were different musicians playing. The two guys I’ve shown here (below) played really good blues. If they had cds for sale I would have bought one.

14th February 2010, New Norfolk

I was talking to an old dog lying just outside the entrance to the motel I was staying in. This cat came running as though it was waiting to see how the dog was treated before making it’s move. It had the feel of a scam

The scam became evident when the cat took advantage of my entrance to get inside. Then it waited by my door - how it knew which door was mine I don’t know. Maybe most new guests are given the same room?

It made itself at home on my bed and went to sleep.

14th February 2010, Tynwald Park New Norfolk

Also known as The Rodents.

I met these guys in New Norfolk. Fonzie (the one with the tongue) is a ball dog; he bugs his owner to throw the ball, or in this case, the stick. Leanne (the owner) was absent mindedly throwing the stick while talking on the phone.

Fergus doesn’t get the ball game. He was more interested in grabbing hold of Fonzie’s tail while Fonzie was preoccupied with the stick.

14th February 2010, Jeffrys track

I’m in heaven. Even with a swollen ankle.

I’d heard about Jeffrys track, that it went all the way to New Norfolk. It is actually about 6km short of New Norfolk. The people I questioned about it all had horror stories, so I was apprehensive. Especially riding alone.

It is a great ride. A nice challenge, interesting varying terrain, and 70km! Although about 15km of that is on road.

From where I live, I only have to go a few kms till I’m on tracks. Then to Bermuda track, Whites track, Jeffrys track.

My ankle? That was closer to home. One of those hills that you can’t see over the hump in the middle of it, like a steep ski slope. Too much front brake and I was sliding head first down the hill with my bike on top of my foot, with the thought in my head “my ankle is broken”. It isn’t

I hope you all have someone to celebrate St Valentine’s day with.

21st November 2009, Salamanca market

There isn’t much good about this photo, I just like it

21st November 2009, Sullivans Cove

Sea gulls are one of the lucky animals that coexist  reasonably well with people, sometimes profitably. Although I’m guessing the quality of their diet isn’t too good especially in these fast food areas.

In the busy streets of Hobart you can see them flying along just above the traffic. If you stop and watch them, they are pretty amazing. Sea gulls and sparrows seem to go unnoticed by most of us, so they get more comfortable in our presence. I have seen the same with cows, willy wag tails sitting on their backs, sometimes even trying to pluck out hair for their nests. Or standing attentively by the cow’s nose while it eats in the hope that some insects might get stirred up in the process.

21st November 2009, Salamanca market

21st November 2009, Sullivan’s Cove

These were taken a while ago, but today is Christmas day.

Wiebke took the one of me above, I took the one of her below.

I think I was shooting a seagull poking it’s head over the top of the wall.

Wiebke is huddled up on the ground to look through the view finder for a low shot of me taking a low shot of her. One of the advantages of my camera is it has flip out screen

I hope you all enjoy your day.

Top: 4th December 2009, Boat Harbour Beach

Middle: Stanley

Bottom: The Nut

Stanley is an interesting place. It reminds me of Wyndham on the Kimberly coast which is squeezed between the Bastion range and the sea. Stanley is the same, it is squeezed between the Nut and the sea.

The Nut protects Stanley from the Westerlies; the prevailing strong winds. Views from the top of the Nut are pretty good. There’s also a track around the top with look out points so that you can see the coast to the East and West and 180 degrees of sea when you look North.

There’s a steep concrete path up to the top and a chairlift; I took both.

In the middle of town is a seafood cafe with lots of interesting photos plastered around the walls. They look like snapshots from one family and their friends mostly from the 70’s and earlier. Snapshots of them working on fishing boats or in the Cafe. From them you get a great idea of life in Stanley and what it would be like to live there. In most of them the sky looks overcast and grey. You also get an understanding that people have to work at several occupations to make an income - like the inhabitants of Lord Howe Island.

Fishing is still a significant industry - for a little town there are a lot of fishing boats. You can still see some of the infrastructure left over from when they used Stanley as the port to ship out iron ore from the Savage River mine.