I spent most of the first three months walking - anywhere and everywhere. This turned out to be very good training for the monster Oxfam Trailwalker. Thanks to everyone who donated to the cause - we raised over $2.5k and had a blast walking for 33 hours to complete the 100km as a team of four. Of course that sounds like a lot longer walking than is entirely necessary, but it includes lots of meals (I would never have believed i'd get tired of eating!), podiatry, massages ... and a bit of limping.
Here's a little slideshow of some photos of the last section of the walk.
Recovery from the event was swift and two weeks later it was Easter and we headed up to the Australian Alps (yes there really is such a place - I promise) to meet up with Ella's family - Helen, Jacques, Ingrid and Jana, plus Phil and Jim (Ingrid and Jana's partners). We had a superb long weekend walking in the hills by day, cooking, eating, playing board games in the evenings. I also took my brand new camera along to get to know it ... here are some of the results:
Jacques heads across a raging torrent!
Helen supports Jacques while he catches his breath on the way up a steep hill ... or was it the other way around?
On Easter Sunday some of us did a day-long circuit walk starting out high on the ridge (1700m) deep into a valley, past several old graziers/camping huts and back to the start. It made for a nice trek with lots of variety. Here we are starting out - Mt Feathertop and the razorback walk on the horizon (we did that walk a few years ago when we last visited this area).
This was the pick of the huts for me, right at the bottom of the valley, nestled amongst the trees in a clearing. It would make a nice place to spend a night or two.
Especially when it's kitted out with this stove.
The whole area suffered badly in bushfires in the last few years. The fragile alpine environment is much slower at regenerating than lowland areas. Even still these huge trees (~60m by Jacques reckoning) are showing signs of recovery.
My camera came with a superb zoom lens. All the better for capturing sister-in-laws from great distance! I call this composition 'Ingrid on a hill' ... she must have been half a mile away when I took this.
Everybody went home on the Monday, apart from Helen, Jacques, Ella and I, so we did a couple of shorter walks before heading back on Tuesday. The trip up to Mount Tabletop was brilliant - wonderful views. The spiny leafless trees gave the landscape an eerie look.
But they make a great backdrop for family photos!
Autumn's here now ... as you can see, but we're trying to plan some enjoyable trips for the future to help us through the winter. Hopefully we'll manage to get over to Tassie for a real winter walk - snow and all. Maybe I'll even be able to update this blog before then... I hope you contain your excitement.
