Cape walking and forest driving

I'm a bit behind again, so I'll double-post, lucky you!

Cape Hauy
We went down to Cape Hauy on the Tasman peninsula a couple of weeks ago to see the delights of Fortescue Bay and try the walk out to the end of the Cape. It was supposed to be a long walk, but we were both feeling the effects of a hectic saturday and a bbq with plenty of beer, so bizarrely we ended up walking at a really fast pace. The weather seemed very nice, but in these pictures it looks a bit overcast.




The cliffs at the end of the walk are stunning!


Wielangta Forest Drive
Then yesterday we headed almost down to the Tasman Peninsula, but then turned off onto the Wielangta (Wee-lan-g'tar) Forest Drive. We've been meaning to do this for some time, and there was good reason. The weather was superb, and although the forest is largely plantation, it is impressive.


We did a two hour walk in the cool cover of the forest, and found an interesting relic in the undergrowth!


Near the start of the walk was a superb bridge, all made from the nearby trees. It looks pretty old. You can see how big it is next to Ella.




We saw a snake nearby, too. Next weekend we're in Sydney for Ingrid's wedding. I haven't spent much time in Sydney, so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm alive!

I proved something to myself at the weekend … something I’d guessed for a while. I’m no speedy Gonzalez!

About two and a half weeks ago I decided to enter the Point to Pinnacle half marathon... why? I'm not sure. But seeing as it started very near my house, I thought I'd give it a bash. The run was last Sunday setting off from sea level at Wrest Point Casino, and finishing 21.4km (13.3 miles) later at the Pinnacle at the top of Mt Wellington at (cough) 1,273m (4,176 feet). Here's my Google Earth mock-up of the course:


It went off without a hitch:

The running race started at 8am. I walked the 1km to the start … figuring that it would serve as a warm up, bearing in mind I had 21.4km to run. I saw several people doing serious warm ups along the way, though. One guy had muscles on his legs that I didn’t even know existed, and he must have been 45 years old (perhaps new types of muscles will grow as I age?) Well, I certainly got used to seeing people I wouldn’t have expected running up a mountain, and doing so with surprising ease.

I decided my tactics well before the race, and after having tried the course in two halves over the previous two weekends: Start at the back, run steady and probably finish at the back. I had a feeling that I’d be able to run the full distance and was hoping to make it in 2hrs 30mins – 2hrs 45mins. I wasn’t racing, I just wanted to get to the top.

After a hot weather practice run the previous weekend Ella decided to give the run a miss - she was still getting over a cold. Instead she drove up to the halfway point and walked up the trails. It turned out to be a hot day for the race, too, even though it was early. Although it was cloudy at the start, and the top of the mountain was shrouded in mist, we ran through the cloud, as you can see from the photos Ella took as she walked up.



So I set off at the back of the pack, and plodded along. After a few k’s I’d worked out the group I was likely to stay with for most of the rest of the morning. There were a mixture of larger younger guys (a bit like me!) and a few older larger guys, and a couple of women. I made the halfway mark a little ahead of my target time, but, seeing as the course went up the side of a mountain, getting steeper and steeper, I knew I was going to slow down eventually.

A common tactic to keep the body going on these sorts of events (and those much longer), is to take energy gels. I checked these out and chose not to take them in the interests of economy and wishing to avoid some of the crap that is in the gel. So I carried a couple of bananas in a small bag.

My right knee seemed to swell up at one stage, and I just hoped that it would stop hurting … and it did. Unfortunately the pain shifted to the left knee. It didn’t get too bad, though, so I kept on. A little over halfway I was beginning to overtake lots of walkers (they set off an hour earlier than the runners) and even a few runners. Lots of runners were using quite different tactics to me, though, and running for a while, walking, then running again. This was annoying as I’d catch someone up, then they’d set off running again, only to be caught again. I felt a bit like Elmer Fudd being tormented by Bugs Bunny! Still I wasn’t going to get lured into changing my pace, and I kept plodding on.

I had planned on conserving enough energy, such that at the final drink stop (at 19km) I could try and pick up the pace and get to the line in a bit of style (amidst the sweat and tears!). As it was, at 19km I was pretty much blown out, so I walked for a couple of hundred metres, before struggling to run at speed. I managed to do ok, but with 1km to go I slowed to a walk to summon up some more grunt. I fixed my eyes on a guy walking in front and caught up with him, told him that he was going to cross the line running with me, and proceeded to bully him over the line! I’m not quite sure where that came from, but he seemed appreciative. In this photo that Ella took he at least seemed to be talking to me!


The finish line:


I crossed the line at 2.42.06 placed 268 out of 358 finishers. Respectable enough for an unaccomplished runner that hasn’t run a half marathon before, let alone 1200 metres up a mountain.

I think this photo shows how high up it is:


There were coaches laid on to take all the competitors back to the Wrest Point Casino where the race started, and we were given a bit of a feed. I think that all the food and water I consumed did me good, as I haven’t had any serious aches and pains apart from a bit of pain in my knee, which I’m sure will get better soon.

It was great fun, and I’d certainly do it again … but I won’t be getting carried away and entering any crazy triathlons like my old housemate, Alec, who's documented his Iron Man experiences on his very yellow website (I wonder if it's supposed to be gold?)

Island of Falls

Since returning from my holiday in Europe almost two months ago we’ve taken advantage of the slowly improving weather. Spring is a bit nicer for our walking so that’s what we’ve aimed to do at the weekends. Just as I thought I was running out of my ‘Island of’ themes we chanced upon another one. Unintentionally three of these weekend walks have been to waterfalls – and that’s enough repetition for an 'Island of' bestowment I reckon.

As part of our Mount Wellington walks – we’re trying to walk as many of the trails as possibly in Wellington Park - we finally visited Wellington Falls. This was a good long circuit walk, about 16-18km with a good variety of paths, from boulder hopping to smooth tracks. The highlight of course was lunch, at the viewing point to the waterfall.

There were lots of yellow blossoms in the trees and a real spring feel to the forest.

Here's the waterfall, and with Ella in front of it, too.



Here's what one species of Eucalypt trees look like - incredible bark!



The next weekend we drove out to the small town of Snug – a short distance southwest of Hobart. There’s a signpost leading down a narrow lane that announces ‘Snug Falls’. We followed it and after a short way down a dirt road parked the car and walked a couple of kilometres to see the falls.

Here's the Snug Falls - with me at the bottom


The finest of the Falls experiences, in my opinion, was our trip to the Kermandie Falls. It’s not so much the quality, or the way in which the water drops, or even the setting (although that’s extremely good) but the journey to get to them.

We started out by driving down to Cygnet, to see a craft and herb fair. This turned out to be almost a non-event, but seeing as we’d driven 45 mins southwest of Hobart we’d planned a walk out there after the fair. Mount Field, which we last visited on our holiday in June/July 2006, is fairly nearby, so we’d decided to walk there. As we got close, though, Ella spotted Kermandie Falls on the map. It’s in the shadow of Mount Field so it shortened the drive a bit.

The walk started out in a recently logged (i.e. decimated) area of forest, but soon we were walking in thick mossy forest on a twisty-turny and very muddy path. It reminded us of the forest surrounding Frenchman’s Cap that we walked through last Christmas. It made for very slow progress. To cap it all the river was stunning and virtually filled with fallen trees and the falls were great. The path didn’t look like it was trodden often, so it felt even more special - as if few other people have seen them.

This shows how small trees grow out of large fallen trees!


Some of the ferny undergrowth.


The falls themselves


and Ella sitting on a tree near the base of the falls, and looking at the rest of the tree!

Off the Island

Well I was off the island for three weeks, but back home on another island. I've been home for nearly four weeks now, so it's about time I put some pics up here.

In brief, I had a fantastic trip. I caught up with lots of people and really enjoyed myself.

First up was a weekend in London, catching up with friends, such as Alec, who had just become an Ironman:


We had fun in Richmond and went to Notting Hill Carnival - which was a first time for me:


I then travelled up for a few days with Kim and the boys in Kettering. This was great - it was good to see them all healthy and happy, and fun to take them to adventure playgrounds.


Next up was a weekend in Louth at Dad and Joan's and Chris & Sarah's places. I got to see all the usual suspects, of course, such as:

The Worksalike

Paddy, Chris and Jody

Aidan and Jenny (quite pregnant!)

... and Molly (Chris and Sarah's daughter)


Once again, it was very relaxing and I got to spend a decent amount of time with everyone, catch up on my English beer, etc.

Then I headed down to Devon to stay with Mum and Julian for a few days. On the way I had breakfast with Owen at Paddington Station:


We had time for a good walk in the sunshine


I swung by Andy and Charlotte Pearce's house on Charlotte's birthday and had dinner with them and saw their kids (including new arrival Olivia).

And I even met up with Carl halfway between Exeter and London (Salisbury. He's now off travelling in Asia.


Mum and Jules took me to Leatherhead where I met friends (Martin and Bryce) in a Triumph Toledo and headed off to the south of France and back via the Alps and 8 other countries. That was an adventure-packed few days! We were joined by Andy and Sarah in their Triumph Stag.





My mates dropped me at Nana and Pete's on the way back. So I finished off my trip home to England with an enjoyable few days with them. We visited Greenwich on a glorious day


We also went to Burnham Beeches.

Then it was back on the plane. I managed to pack a fair bit into three weeks, but it was well worth it - I enjoyed every minute, even if I was away from Ella a long time.

Island of Peninsulas/Peninsulae/Peninsula(?)

I'm sitting at work, looking at a map of Tasmania and it certainly looks to me like there are a fair few peninsula. They make good National Parks, too, apparently. For a start there's Tasman Peninsula which we visited way back last year. But last weekend we took a trip to the world famous Freycinet Peninsula. I took Monday from work so that we could head up on Saturday and get a decent walk in on Sunday.

It was a two and a half hour drive up the east coast to Freycinet (named after a French explorer I think). We booked into a decent Youth Hostel in Coles Bay and headed down to the beach to try and catch the sunset whilst I called Nana to wish her a happy birthday.


In the winter it's fairly quiet in Coles Bay (population:not much) so the Hostel wasn't too busy. Saturday morning we headed over to the car park that marks the start of the walk that all the visitors do - over the 'saddle' to Wineglass Bay. At the top of the saddle there was a nice seat:


There's also a lookout so you can see the splendour of Wineglass Bay before you get there:


Then it's downhill to the beach, which is quite stunning. We were very lucky with the weather as you can see... especially as parts of Tassie were flooding the day before!


We were enjoying the walk and it had been easy going so we extended things a bit and started some of the Freycinet Circuit, walking on and up to Mount Graham ... the most tastefully named summit ever :-)

From here we had great views back to Wineglass Bay:




And also, Schouten Island at the end of the peninsula:


After a little lunch we turned back the way we came to head back across Wineglass Bay and up over the saddle. By this point we were getting a bit more weary, so you can't blame Ella for having a rest:


After a second relaxing night in the YHA we took a short trip up the coast to Cape Tourville to the lighthouse which had a nice view south to the peninsula:


Freycinet rated highly in my opinion, although I'm glad we went in the off-season because it was fairly busy and it looks like the paths suffer from over-use. Here's a map of the area so you can see where we went.

So next up is my trip home to England. This time I'm coming without Ella, as she's staying for work and a trip to the Northern Territory with her folks. It will be strange being apart for nearly four weeks, but we have the rest of our lives to spend together so it's not the end of the world.

Island of lazy bloggers

I can't believe it's nearly August already. I haven't "blogged" since March. To be honest it's a combination of being a lazy blogger and the fact that I have had a decent amount of work to be getting on with...

Anyway, a quick round up and photos:

Uncle Karen visited and amongst other things we went to Bruny Island:


Ella and I had a fabulous Easter weekend driving around the south-west of Tasmania:




At the end of May we went up to Queensland and saw Ella's family (including Ingrid and Phil back from Germany briefly)



Then we had a visit from Ella's family and we climbed some of Mt Wellington in the rain and cold:


At some point I started playing football again, for local team Newtown Eagles ... and they put a picture featuring me (!) in the local daily paper:


Recently it's been quite cold and we've done a little less walking, but we have been up to the mountains to see the snow. A work mate of mine and his wife moved to Hobart a little after we did, from Townsville, in tropical North Queensland - so snow to them is a real novelty! Juan took these photos of us at Mount Field:







Last week we moved house ... but you'll have to wait for me to tell you more about that (hopefully not 5 months though).

I'll be over to England at the end of August, so maybe I'll see you then.