K was speaking at / taking part in a community development and social enterprise conference for the latter part of our time in NZ so I'll spare you the boring details! Only thing to note is really that from what I can see, Auckland's not worth sticking on your itinerary for a trip to these parts – I guess we've been a bit spoiled living in Sydney but having done the 'bus tour' of Auckland's top 14 attractions, I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to spend much time here. We did go to a very nice beach on our last night for dinner with some of the conference folks, which included a pretty trip over the Waitekere Ranges – hilly bushland with lots of lush trees etc – but other than that, not much to report!
All in all though, I'm really glad we made it down to the South Island and got a taste of the wildness of the country, and I'd love to come back some day to spend more time in the other parts of the country we didn't get to see (just not Auckland!)
Monday, 15 February 2010
New Zealand Day 6 – Queenstown
A quick morning walk and then another beautiful day for our journey back to Queenstown and a chilled out afternoon there including a trip up the gondola to take in the panorama (we couldn't be bothered walking up the hill to get there – figured we'd done enough walking!), another scenic drive out to Glenorchy and back, then dinner at a harbourside restaurant and a few beers in one of the backpacker bars where we caught the news of Scotland's 'group of death' draw for the Euro qualifiers – sigh!
New Zealand Day 5 – Lake Manapouri / Kepler Track
Today, as part of my ongoing campaign to persuade K that he really does want to do a multi-day & night walk some day, we did a section of the Kepler Track, another of New Zealand's many walking tracks (or tramping tracks as they're called here). The walk was mostly through forests, skirting along the side of the Manapouri River and ending up at Lake Manapouri and the site of one of the overnight huts on the Kepler. Apparently some scenes in Lord of the Rings were filmed here, although don't ask me which ones – K reckoned maybe the scenes where Sean Bean gets killed in the first film. We didn't see any orcs or trolls or elves though. The weather was a bit cloudy today and cool enough for us to get our fleeces out for the first time – exciting (!)
New Zealand Day 4 – Milford Sound
Well, just when we thought the scenery couldn't get any more amazing, we took a trip up to Milford Sound for the day. It's about 115km from Te Anau and is a bit like driving into a scene from Lord of the Rings, especially early in the morning with wisps of clouds lingering at road level – who knows how many orcs might be hiding in there! Mountains, mountains everywhere as you drive up and then over a winding pass, before heading down into the valley and the head of Milford Sound itself. Apparently it shouldn't really be called a sound, it should be called a fiord, as sounds are carved by running water whereas fiords are carved by ice. Again, we'd left a bit on the early side, so had about an hour or so to kill before our pre-booked 'nature cruise' departed at 10.30am. Postcard purchasing, coffee drinking and then meandering onto the foreshore of the sound/fiord all passed the time (although the latter was cut short by K being surrounded by sandflys with a mean look in their eyes – he didn't seem to appreciate me taking time to set up my arty picture of the mountains reflected in a pool of water with a duck swimming across the middle!)
The cruise up and down the fiord was simply stunning. It took us a couple of hours to travel up the water to where it meets the Tasman Sea, and then back again, lined on both sides by sheer rock faces, waterfalls plunging into the water, seals basking on rocks and the occasional pod of dolphins popping up for a bit of a playaround. We seem to have been incredibly lucky with weather recently as apparently Fiordland in general, and Milford Sound in particular, is one of the wettest places on the planet. It's all to do with the mountains forming a barrier against the Roaring Forties, a weather system that brings water-laden wind along the fortysomething latitudes, a collision which ends up with 7-10m of rain being dumped on the land each year. It rains most days but didn't today!
We had lunch onboard and then once we got back to dry land, we headed off for a bit of a walk up Key Summit, a peak in the middle of the mountains that's fairly low at 900m but sits in the middle of a basin surrounded by peaks of up to 2000m. Once again, words fail to do justice to how gorgeous the views were.
The return journey to Te Anau was, of course, beautiful and then once we'd freshened up, we sampled another Italian restaurant before heading to the only place in town to be on a Saturday night – the Moose Bar. A guest covers band called Rogue were playing (all the way from Invercargill!) and to be honest, they were a bit shit. But we clapped and whooped enthusiastically anyway!
Link to photos in top right above.
New Zealand Day 3 – Lake Te Anau & Milford Track
Today we'd booked seats on the daily ferry from Te Anau to the starting point of the Milford Track, a 3 day / 4 night walk that runs 54km from the head of Lake Te Anau into Milford Sound. It's one of NZ's most popular walks and if I'd had my way, we'd have been doing it! But as K is still hampered by a bad back, the concept of carrying gear and food all that way wasn't popular with him, and as I hate walking in groups, the concept of paying thousands of dollars for the guided tour option where they carry all your gear, wasn't popular with me! So we settled for simply doing a day walk along the first part of the track and back, before getting the ferry back at the end of the day.
The ferry trip takes around an hour and it was a real highlight of our time in NZ. In the morning, the clouds were still sitting around the surrounding mountains like fluffy shawls on their shoulders, the air was crisp and fresh and the lake was incredibly still and calm. On the return trip, the weather had picked up slightly but it was still a beautiful trip.
The walk itself was mostly shaded and meandered along the side of the river that feeds into Lake Te Anau, with only a slight ascent and stunning views up to the mountains on either side of the valley. This whole area was formed during the last ice age with the onset and then retreat of huge glaciers chundering down from the mountains that have been formed over millions of years by volcanic activity. The speed of the glaciers here was apparently faster than most, which is why the sides of the valleys are so steep, and where they retreated, there left behind channels which became huge and fast rivers which flow into the lakes and, on the other side of the mountains, into the sea. This part of the world gets a lot of rain and apparently Lake Te Anau can rise by up to a metre in just 24 hours thanks to all the rain flowing down from the mountains along the riverbeds of glacial debris (you can tell I paid attention to the commentary on the ferry!)
We walked in for about 5.5 miles and then turned back, with a brief stop by the river for lunch. Only later did we realise that sandflys are a major hazard in these parts! Well, when I say 'we'....for some reason K's blood is far more attractive to any form of bloodsucking and biting creature than mine is (haven't tested this theory with vampires mind you) which means that he tends to get savaged by mosquitoes, midges and, now we realise, sandflys, while I barely get nibbled. He ended up with 30 bites – and I got none! Oops...
Anyway, it was a good long walk and although fairly flat, my feet were aching by the end of the 11 miles. We'd been told that the lake was great for swimming in and although we hadn't brought our stuff, we plunged in in our walking gear anyway. A perfect way to end the walk!
After the boat trip back, a quick shower and a quick bite to eat (pizza and salad, yum), we then headed off on the evening's activity – a trip round Te Anau Glowworm Caves. Although the 'guided tour' element of this was a bit tortuous (I just hate being prodded from place to place like a sheep), the glowworms themselves were very impressive. The tour involves wandering through the caves and then finally getting into a little boat and being guided into the pitch black of the caves where you see thousands of glowworms doing their thing – glowing, that is.
Interesting glowworm fact learned – after feeding for several months (the glow attracts insects which then get caught in stringy mucus and eaten), the glowworm then does the butterfly/moth thing and morphs into a fly. But the fly they become has no mouth, so can't feed, so only lives long enough to mate as much as possible (well if you can't eat, you might as well have sex) before dropping dead. Seems like a bit of a design flaw to me, but hey, they're very pretty while they're glowworms!
So, fully informed about glowworms, we headed home with an amazing sky full of stars overhead to keep us company. I even saw a shooting star!
Link to photos in top right corner of blog home page.
New Zealand Day 2 – Auckland to Te Anau via Queenstown
Earlyish start to get to the airport for our short flight down to Queenstown, the self-proclaimed “adventure capital of New Zealand” and more importantly, the gateway to the southern alps and fiords. Auckland's morning rush hour traffic meant that it took us a while to get to the airport but as I always build in contingency time onto contingency time, we were still there nice and early! (K loves this habit of mine – not!)
The flight took about 90 minutes and the latter part of it was spectacular – flying down the west coast of the South Island among the snowy peaks and jags of the mountains below, and then landing in a valley nestled among them. The first thing you see when you step off the plane is a massive range of almost vertical mountains called the Remarkables – gorgeous.
We sorted out our hire car and then headed into Queenstown for some lunch before our drive on to Te Anau, and then we were off. The weather was perfect – barely a cloud in the sky and close to 30 degrees, but without any of the sticky humidity of Sydney (and Auckland too). After about 10 minutes of jaw-dropping scenery, we stopped saying 'wow' every 30 seconds and settled into just simply enjoying the view. It's the tail end of peak season here but the roads were really quiet, and although the occasional campervan or truck slowed us down from time to time, it was pretty quick driving for the couple of hundred kilometers to Te Anau and our home for 4 nights, the Fiordland National Park Lodge, which is about 20 minutes north of Te Anau itself and looks out over Lake Te Anau. The Lodge is the kind of place you find in the Scottish Highlands that bus tours stop off at – fairly big and fairly functional, but with good views etc. This meant that dinner and breakfast were only served on the days and nights that tour groups were visiting, so over the next few days we became pretty familiar with the road in and out of Te Anau, but as it was a beautiful drive, that was ok! (K did feel a bit alcohol-deprived by the end of it though!)
After checking in, we had a look at the Visitor Centre to check the weather forecast, get walking maps etc, and then sorted out our plans for the next few days including booking boats and that sort of thing. We strolled along the lakeside for a bit before a cheap and cheerful dinner, then the drive home, stopping off at various points to take pictures of the shadows and light being thrown up by the sun setting behind the mountains. Bliss.
Pictures via link in top right corner.
New Zealand Day 1 – Auckland
Touching down in Auckland, we got our first distant glimpses of NZ scenery – an appetite whetter!
Weather on arrival was warm and a bit sticky, but still pleasant compared to Sydney's 30+ degrees and excessive humidity at this time of year. We jumped in a shuttle bus to take us into the city, figuring that we might as well save a few cents. Good enough service but took ages as we weaved around the outer suburbs of Auckland, dropping various people off at their destinations. A couple with a baby had decided to use the bus although I'm not sure why, as they spent the whole time complaining about the driver's driving, worrying about whether the baby was safe on their laps (!) and generally whinging. Given that they appeared to live in one of Auckland's wealthiest areas, not sure why they didn't just get a cab!
Anyway, the upside was that we got a good look at Auckland before arriving at our serviced apartment just off Queen St in the city centre. We'd booked last minute and got a 2 bedroom place for about $120, bit of a bargain.
Headed out for a wander as it was about 5pm by now and soon found ourselves ensconced in a great tapas bar called Mezze, where we sampled the local beers (Monteiths Original for me, a very tasty pale ale, and Monteiths Pilsner for K, which he reported as being very good), and had some excellent tapas – prawns in garlic, spanish meatballs, slow roasted tomatoes on grilled bread and spanish omelette, all extremely good.
For some reason (possibly the 3 beers and our 6am start) we were both pretty tired, so we headed back to the apartment where K finished off some work emails – tsk, we're meant to be on holiday! - and then did some ironing – his favourite hobby, I sometimes think! I slothed on the couch and sampled NZ telly, which manages to do what I thought was impossible and be even worse than Australia's!
About 9pm, just as we were about to go out for a walk and a drink, I noticed that water was pouring through the ceiling of our bathroom from what looked like an overflowing bath upstairs – eek! The management sorted it all out very quickly though and soon had us transferred to an even bigger room, this time with two bathrooms.
I can report that Auckland on a Wed night doesn't hold too much in the way of excitement other than teenagers vomiting on the pavement, but we enjoyed a quick drink at My Bar, sampling some more local beers – this time, an Epic pale ale for me and a Tuahara pilsner for K.
And so to bed...
Weather on arrival was warm and a bit sticky, but still pleasant compared to Sydney's 30+ degrees and excessive humidity at this time of year. We jumped in a shuttle bus to take us into the city, figuring that we might as well save a few cents. Good enough service but took ages as we weaved around the outer suburbs of Auckland, dropping various people off at their destinations. A couple with a baby had decided to use the bus although I'm not sure why, as they spent the whole time complaining about the driver's driving, worrying about whether the baby was safe on their laps (!) and generally whinging. Given that they appeared to live in one of Auckland's wealthiest areas, not sure why they didn't just get a cab!
Anyway, the upside was that we got a good look at Auckland before arriving at our serviced apartment just off Queen St in the city centre. We'd booked last minute and got a 2 bedroom place for about $120, bit of a bargain.
Headed out for a wander as it was about 5pm by now and soon found ourselves ensconced in a great tapas bar called Mezze, where we sampled the local beers (Monteiths Original for me, a very tasty pale ale, and Monteiths Pilsner for K, which he reported as being very good), and had some excellent tapas – prawns in garlic, spanish meatballs, slow roasted tomatoes on grilled bread and spanish omelette, all extremely good.
For some reason (possibly the 3 beers and our 6am start) we were both pretty tired, so we headed back to the apartment where K finished off some work emails – tsk, we're meant to be on holiday! - and then did some ironing – his favourite hobby, I sometimes think! I slothed on the couch and sampled NZ telly, which manages to do what I thought was impossible and be even worse than Australia's!
About 9pm, just as we were about to go out for a walk and a drink, I noticed that water was pouring through the ceiling of our bathroom from what looked like an overflowing bath upstairs – eek! The management sorted it all out very quickly though and soon had us transferred to an even bigger room, this time with two bathrooms.
I can report that Auckland on a Wed night doesn't hold too much in the way of excitement other than teenagers vomiting on the pavement, but we enjoyed a quick drink at My Bar, sampling some more local beers – this time, an Epic pale ale for me and a Tuahara pilsner for K.
And so to bed...
Monday, 1 February 2010
Where did January go?!
Suddenly realised it's 1 Feb today and I haven't blogged about anything in January - it's just been one of those months that has kind of flown past. Here are the highlights (some pictures here):
Festival First Night - picnic in the park with tens of thousands of people (somewhere between 50,000 and 250,000 depending on who you believe!), beautiful weather, still in shorts & t-shirt at 11pm, Al Green the main star - a decent show albeit a wee bit on the short side, but hey, he is in his 60s!
Big Day Out in Sydney - 38 degrees in the shade wasn't ideal for rocking along to Kasabian, Dizzee Rascal et al, but thankfully it was dark and cool by time Muse came on to headline. Another storming show from the boys, fantastic! Was a young crowd this year - reckon K and I increased the average age in the audience by about 10 years :-)
Aussie Open in Melbourne - thankfully the mercury in Melbourne was quite a bit lower and we had ideal tennis watching conditions. Saw an unexpectedly great match between Cilic and Del Potro - 4.5hrs five set tussle! Disappointed at lack of Aussie support for Lleyton "Lleyto" Hewitt, but all in all, a fun few days of soaking up the atmosphere.
Kayaking, wine & oysters at Woy Woy Bay - my Christmas pressie from K, a day trip to beautiful Brisbane Water where we kayaked for a good few hours, broken up with a mid morning glass of wine and oyster snack - very decadent! Lunch on the beach then back to the paddling before finishing off with a waterside seat for daily pelican feeding - quite amazing birds. Great day out despite me forgetting sunscreen on my legs - oops! Finished off with a trip to Palm Beach to see the Home & Away beach - sometimes you've just got to do the tourist thing!
Moonlight cinema in Centennial Park - and last night, the perfect end to the month - The Commitments by moonlight on a big screen in the park accompanied by pals, wine, cheese, dips and crackers - and text updates on the tennis score!
Not a bad way to spend January!
Festival First Night - picnic in the park with tens of thousands of people (somewhere between 50,000 and 250,000 depending on who you believe!), beautiful weather, still in shorts & t-shirt at 11pm, Al Green the main star - a decent show albeit a wee bit on the short side, but hey, he is in his 60s!
Big Day Out in Sydney - 38 degrees in the shade wasn't ideal for rocking along to Kasabian, Dizzee Rascal et al, but thankfully it was dark and cool by time Muse came on to headline. Another storming show from the boys, fantastic! Was a young crowd this year - reckon K and I increased the average age in the audience by about 10 years :-)
Aussie Open in Melbourne - thankfully the mercury in Melbourne was quite a bit lower and we had ideal tennis watching conditions. Saw an unexpectedly great match between Cilic and Del Potro - 4.5hrs five set tussle! Disappointed at lack of Aussie support for Lleyton "Lleyto" Hewitt, but all in all, a fun few days of soaking up the atmosphere.
Kayaking, wine & oysters at Woy Woy Bay - my Christmas pressie from K, a day trip to beautiful Brisbane Water where we kayaked for a good few hours, broken up with a mid morning glass of wine and oyster snack - very decadent! Lunch on the beach then back to the paddling before finishing off with a waterside seat for daily pelican feeding - quite amazing birds. Great day out despite me forgetting sunscreen on my legs - oops! Finished off with a trip to Palm Beach to see the Home & Away beach - sometimes you've just got to do the tourist thing!
Moonlight cinema in Centennial Park - and last night, the perfect end to the month - The Commitments by moonlight on a big screen in the park accompanied by pals, wine, cheese, dips and crackers - and text updates on the tennis score!
Not a bad way to spend January!
Monday, 11 January 2010
Tassie Day 10 – Tamar Valley
Today was wine tasting day, although we didn't really get going till this afternoon as we had a lot of catching up on sleep to do! There are lots of boutique vineyards speckled around the valley, within easy driving distance of each other, and we managed to squeeze a lot in! K was on driving duty so was spitting mostly, but I wasn't and by the fourth vineyard, it's fair to say my powers of discernment were deserting me! We ordered quite a bit of wine, enough to keep us going for a good while yet, and K is now a convert to pinot noir after telling me for the last 18 months how he doesn't really like it...!
Dinner tonight at the local pub, which was 'interesting'. Never had rice, chips and pasta on the same plate before! Back at the chalet, we cracked open another of Marion's wines and fired up the woodburner outside, keeping us warm and the bugs away, while we sat back, got slowly pissed and as the last night of our holiday slipped into darkness, reflected on one of the best holidays we've ever had.
Tassie rocks!!
Dinner tonight at the local pub, which was 'interesting'. Never had rice, chips and pasta on the same plate before! Back at the chalet, we cracked open another of Marion's wines and fired up the woodburner outside, keeping us warm and the bugs away, while we sat back, got slowly pissed and as the last night of our holiday slipped into darkness, reflected on one of the best holidays we've ever had.
Tassie rocks!!
Tassie Day 9 – East Coast to Tamar Valley
Another early start, up at the crack of dawn to get packed up, breakfasted and on our way out of the festival, hoping to beat the traffic. We'd been warned that it could take a LONG time, particularly as the Australian police have a policy of random breath testing cars leaving festivals the morning after, and this had caused massive delays last year. But we were on our way fairly quickly, K passing the breath test with flying colours, and we took advantage of the unexpected time in our hands to meander up the East Coast a wee bit. Stopped off in Swansea (pronounced Swan Sea here!) for a big brunch and then took in the sights of the Freycinet National Park, including Wineglass Bay, one of the most photographed beaches in Australia apparently. Tasmania's beaches are heralded as some of the best in Australia, but to be honest, the beaches everywhere in Australia are pretty spectacular, and we've seen a lot of beaches in the past 18 months...so we left the East Coast glad we'd spent most of our time in the more unusual scenery of the mountains and national parks.
Then it was on to the Tamar Valley, a wine-making region famous for its pinot noirs and chardonnays. After a fairly long drive up the spine of Tasmania to get there, it was bliss to arrive in the gorgeous hideyhole of Marion's Vineyard, where we were staying in a self-contained chalet with a tree-top balcony and four poster bed! We had a lovely meal at a nearby motel – much better than you'd think to look at the place – and then enjoyed a bottle of Marion's pinot noir on our return to the chalet, before crashing out after our early start this morning.
Then it was on to the Tamar Valley, a wine-making region famous for its pinot noirs and chardonnays. After a fairly long drive up the spine of Tasmania to get there, it was bliss to arrive in the gorgeous hideyhole of Marion's Vineyard, where we were staying in a self-contained chalet with a tree-top balcony and four poster bed! We had a lovely meal at a nearby motel – much better than you'd think to look at the place – and then enjoyed a bottle of Marion's pinot noir on our return to the chalet, before crashing out after our early start this morning.
Tassie Day 8 – Falls Festival Part 2
Woke up very early in the sweltering heat that was our tent at 6.30am! Ah well, that's what festivals are all about isn't it?! Quick breakfast and then we joined the ant-march of our fellow festivallers to the beach a few kms away. The water was too cold and jellyfish-infested to tempt us in, but it was a pleasant place to blow away some cobwebs before diving into festival day 2. It was a scorcher today, over 30 degrees, so we spent most of our time in the shade, relaxing to the sounds of Dundee's finest, The View, Norway's DataRock, Welsh rockers The Future of the Left (who cracked the funniest jokes of the festival at the expense of a) Aussies and b) Coldplay), Aussie band The Temper Trap, Editors (who we'd really wanted to see and who were v good). As it started to get dark and as the new year approached, Aussie band Midnight Juggernauts got the crowd going nicely before having to leave the stage as a lightning storm blew in to clear the muggy air! They managed to finish their set though, before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs brought in the new year. They were a bit disappointing – reminded me of a pale imitation of Garbage – but all in all, it was a fine festival and we retired to bed in the wee small hours of 2010 very happy and content. Even being woken a few hours later by the god-awful techno being played by our teenage tent neighbours, wasn't enough to spoil the occasion! (I'm not just getting old, it really was terrible!)
Tassie Day 7 – Hobart and Falls Festival
After breakfast at the hostel, and after stocking up on supplies for imminent festival camping, we wandered around the harbour, taking in the sights and sounds of the end of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race. We'd seen the start of last year's race in Sydney, where hundreds of boats of all shapes and sizes belch out of Sydney Harbour, jostling and tacking for position, before heading out to the high seas for the long trip South. This year, so we heard, the weather at sea had been unusually calm and there was talk of food and water rationing on many of the boats, as they'd had to spend a day longer at sea than expected – not fun! Mind you, all the returned crews looked pretty happy and relaxed as they washed and dried their gear in the sun, while knocking back a few beers!
We had another tasty lunch at the food festival before hitting the road for the hour or so drive to Marion Bay, our home for the next 2 nights, at the Falls Festival. Soon enough, we were there, the tent was set up and we were ready for some music – hurrah! As festival settings go, this one is hard to beat – the backdrop to the main stage is beautiful Marion Bay, with the ocean and hills framing the view, and on a day like today with the sun beating down and not a cloud in the sky, it was sheer relaxation to be sat on the grass with a beer and good music. Highlights of the evening were Rodriguo y Gabriela, a spanish guitar and singing duet, and Moby, who did a storming set over midnight, with his full band on display. Despite lack of prior arrangements or mobile phone reception, we managed to find our friend P, who'd originally recommended Falls to us. All in all, a great day and night.
We had another tasty lunch at the food festival before hitting the road for the hour or so drive to Marion Bay, our home for the next 2 nights, at the Falls Festival. Soon enough, we were there, the tent was set up and we were ready for some music – hurrah! As festival settings go, this one is hard to beat – the backdrop to the main stage is beautiful Marion Bay, with the ocean and hills framing the view, and on a day like today with the sun beating down and not a cloud in the sky, it was sheer relaxation to be sat on the grass with a beer and good music. Highlights of the evening were Rodriguo y Gabriela, a spanish guitar and singing duet, and Moby, who did a storming set over midnight, with his full band on display. Despite lack of prior arrangements or mobile phone reception, we managed to find our friend P, who'd originally recommended Falls to us. All in all, a great day and night.
Tassie Day 6 – Lake St Clair and Hobart
Today was the biggest driving day of the trip – about 5 hrs worth of driving, most of it on twisty, windy roads that twist and wind for no apparent reason! We broke the journey up with a stop at Lake St Clair, where we did about an hour or so's walking through the rainforest and then around Platypus Bay (sadly no platypus to be seen) before walking along the side of Lake St Clair for a while, one of the most beautiful settings I've seen - the water is deep, royal blue, Mount Rufus rises in the background like an old king and the lake stretches out for miles and miles with white sandy beaches at its shoreline and barely a sound to be heard. Blissfully peaceful. Lake St Clair marks the end of the Overland Track and it must be quite a relief to be able to drop your pack and drop into the lake for a cooling swim after 6 days hiking!!
Onwards from Lake St Clair to the big metropolis of Hobart. Well, it's not exactly New York, but after a stretch of time in the peace and quiet of national parks, anything feels like a metropolis! Hobart's the capital of Tasmania, with a population of around 200,000 (Tassie's total population is about 500,000). It's celebrated for its well-preserved colonial era architecture and it's relaxed-yet-cosmopolitan way of life. Hmm, I'm not sure about that, but we were lucky enough to be there for the two big events on the Hobart calendar – the end of the annual Sydney-Hobart yacht race and the Taste of Tasmania food festival, handily located at the waterfront next to the yachts.
After checking into our hostel, we bussed it into town and headed pretty much straight for the 70 food and drink stalls that make up the Taste festival. Clearly, there's only one way to go with food festivals – sheer gluttony. I think we 'sampled' a good 5 or 6 things, all of which were very tasty indeed. The evening's entertainment was provided in a side tent where various performers had slots for the evening, including an all girl hip hop group and a unicycling juggler – “eclectic”!
Onwards from Lake St Clair to the big metropolis of Hobart. Well, it's not exactly New York, but after a stretch of time in the peace and quiet of national parks, anything feels like a metropolis! Hobart's the capital of Tasmania, with a population of around 200,000 (Tassie's total population is about 500,000). It's celebrated for its well-preserved colonial era architecture and it's relaxed-yet-cosmopolitan way of life. Hmm, I'm not sure about that, but we were lucky enough to be there for the two big events on the Hobart calendar – the end of the annual Sydney-Hobart yacht race and the Taste of Tasmania food festival, handily located at the waterfront next to the yachts.
After checking into our hostel, we bussed it into town and headed pretty much straight for the 70 food and drink stalls that make up the Taste festival. Clearly, there's only one way to go with food festivals – sheer gluttony. I think we 'sampled' a good 5 or 6 things, all of which were very tasty indeed. The evening's entertainment was provided in a side tent where various performers had slots for the evening, including an all girl hip hop group and a unicycling juggler – “eclectic”!
Tassie Day 5 – West Coast Wilderness
Today we set off towards the West Coast of Tasmania, skirting round the edge of the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park, with the little town of Strahan as our end destination for the day. We took a slight detour to do a couple of hours rainforest walk into & back from Montezuma Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in Tassie – very high they were too!!
Clearly the West Coast of Tassie is much like the West Coast of Scotland or Ireland as it poured with rain for a lot of the drive onwards! We crossed up over a lot of very rugged, isolated scenery, with the occasional quarry and mine – iron ore I think – before winding our way down to the coastline to Strahan, where the weather was quite a bit nicer. Strahan itself is a bit of a one-street town, but the main tourist destination in these parts because of its location at the head of the Franklin river. Sea planes, helicopters and boats all take people out to see the river but we didn't have the time or really the inclination to do that, so we soaked up the local atmosphere instead (i.e. we went to the pub!)
Clearly the West Coast of Tassie is much like the West Coast of Scotland or Ireland as it poured with rain for a lot of the drive onwards! We crossed up over a lot of very rugged, isolated scenery, with the occasional quarry and mine – iron ore I think – before winding our way down to the coastline to Strahan, where the weather was quite a bit nicer. Strahan itself is a bit of a one-street town, but the main tourist destination in these parts because of its location at the head of the Franklin river. Sea planes, helicopters and boats all take people out to see the river but we didn't have the time or really the inclination to do that, so we soaked up the local atmosphere instead (i.e. we went to the pub!)
Tassie Day 4 – Canoeing and wildlife spotting
After yesterday's climbing efforts, we had a slightly more relaxing day lined up today. Took full advantage of the hot buffet breakfast (full cooked brekkie plus a pancake for good measure – always feel it's important to get your $$ worth!) and then met up with our canoe guide for the morning, Claire. Along with another couple, we'd arranged for a morning of gentle canoeing round Dove Lake, which was formed by glaciation in the last ice age and sits just below Cradle Mountain. It was a beautiful day, quite warm and with a gentle breeze, although still we had to get a bit wrapped up to fend off the chill from the glacial waters. K and I were both feeling ok after our walk yesterday, but glad to be using our arms rather than our legs! Think we both enjoyed the feeling of smugness when telling the others about doing the mountain as they all looked very impressed!!
The canoeing was quite gentle and very relaxing to be out on the hushly quiet of the lake. We did a full circumference, stopping off at a couple of places along the way, taking us about 1.5 hrs in total. Once we got back to the start, K and I decided to then walk round the lake which took about another 1.5 hrs, by which time we were definitely ready for lunch! We had a mediocre frittata at the visitor centre cafe – took ages to arrive, then was still frozen in the middle, then it was obviously nuked in the microwave – before heading back to the hotel for a bit of chill time before dinner and the evening's wildlife tour.
Around 9pm we joined a minibus full of other guests and set off along the national park roads. As Tassie is quite a bit further south than Sydney, it gets dark a lot later and at 9pm was only just getting dusky. It's amazing how much the temperature drops at night – having spent the day feeling comfortable in t-shirts, we now had our fleeces, hats and gloves on! As our bus trundled along, our guide gave us lots of interesting facts about the local wildlife, most of which I've since forgotten – but it was fascinating at the time, honest! We spotted lots of animals from the bus – two types of wallabies (Bennets and Paddy Melons), loads of wombats and a possum. Then we went on a short walk where we also saw a quoll and more wombats, including one that was only a couple of feet away. Sadly we didn't see any Tasmanian Devils – apparently they're now almost extinct because of a contagious face cancer that's spreading through the population very quickly. It's one of very few contagious cancers in the animal world and apparently they're particuarly vulnerable to it because the population of devils is highly inbred, following the destruction of most of the gene pool after British colonisation.
Anyway, apart from that sad story, the night tour was a fun end to our time in Cradle Mountain!
The canoeing was quite gentle and very relaxing to be out on the hushly quiet of the lake. We did a full circumference, stopping off at a couple of places along the way, taking us about 1.5 hrs in total. Once we got back to the start, K and I decided to then walk round the lake which took about another 1.5 hrs, by which time we were definitely ready for lunch! We had a mediocre frittata at the visitor centre cafe – took ages to arrive, then was still frozen in the middle, then it was obviously nuked in the microwave – before heading back to the hotel for a bit of chill time before dinner and the evening's wildlife tour.
Around 9pm we joined a minibus full of other guests and set off along the national park roads. As Tassie is quite a bit further south than Sydney, it gets dark a lot later and at 9pm was only just getting dusky. It's amazing how much the temperature drops at night – having spent the day feeling comfortable in t-shirts, we now had our fleeces, hats and gloves on! As our bus trundled along, our guide gave us lots of interesting facts about the local wildlife, most of which I've since forgotten – but it was fascinating at the time, honest! We spotted lots of animals from the bus – two types of wallabies (Bennets and Paddy Melons), loads of wombats and a possum. Then we went on a short walk where we also saw a quoll and more wombats, including one that was only a couple of feet away. Sadly we didn't see any Tasmanian Devils – apparently they're now almost extinct because of a contagious face cancer that's spreading through the population very quickly. It's one of very few contagious cancers in the animal world and apparently they're particuarly vulnerable to it because the population of devils is highly inbred, following the destruction of most of the gene pool after British colonisation.
Anyway, apart from that sad story, the night tour was a fun end to our time in Cradle Mountain!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Tassie Day 3 – Climbing Cradle Mountain
Up bright and early again on Boxing Day with the excitement of climbing Cradle Mountain ahead. The weather had stayed fine and bright so, although we packed our thermals and waterproofs (you never know!), we were expecting to be able to get to the top. Having said that, it was a bit tricky to know what to expect as although the various guidebooks graded it as a 'hard' walk and mentioned a long scramble and a steep climb, we've generally found that walks here are graded 'hard' when they're really quite straightforward for anyone that's ever been anywhere near a Scottish mountain. Still, I'm not a fan of scrambling and Kevin's not a fan of steepness, but we knew the walk in would be good to do anyway, so off we set.
Our starting point was Ronny's Creek and the start of the Overland Track, a famous and very popular 6 day walking route from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair. I'd hankered after doing this but as it involves carrying all your food and gear, and as K has a bad back, it wasn't really an option. So I was glad to be doing at least a section of it.
Despite its popularity, the track was fairly empty - perhaps everyone left earlier than us!
After around 1.5hrs of steady climbing, we reached Marion's Lookout with fabulous views out over the mountains around and down to Dove Lake. The whole area was formed out of glacial retreat in the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago and the carvings and hidden lakes are beautiful to see.
A few more hours of walking and we reached the foot of the final ascent to the summit. This was our designated 'turn back' point if either of us felt too tired to go on, as there was a hut where one of us could wait while the other one went to the top. But we were both feeling good so onwards we went!
Soon enough the path turned from well-trodden and easy walking track to smallish boulders and rocks that needed a bit of scrambling to get over. Fair enough, I thought, this is do-able. Then after half an hour or so, the rocks started to get much bigger – much, much bigger than me in fact! At this point I was seriously considering whether to carry on – I have a big fear of falling down hills and although I felt ok going up, I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back down again! - but after dumping my backpack under a rock, I figured I might as well keep going. It was very, very tough though and once or twice I nearly gave up out of sheer terror at having to come back down again. But I got my moment of inspiration when, as I was standing to one side, clinging to a rock and trying to find some mental strength to keep going, a portly red-faced bloke dragged himself up said rock, swinging his builder's-bum-in-hiking-shorts in my direction. Nothing like the thought of being beaten by a fat bloke to get you up a mountain!
We must have been climbing up and over these massive boulders, sometimes on almost a vertical plane, for a good 45 minutes before we finally, finally got to the summit. Hard on the legs, hard on the arms and hard on the mind! Every time we passed someone coming down, they just kept saying 'you've got ages to go yet'!!
The views, of course, were well worth it and as a bonus the weather had stayed really clear and fine the whole way. At 1500m+, it's actually the highest peak I've climbed, although as we started from 900m, not the biggest climb I've done, if you know what I mean.
Going back down was easier than I expected, thankfullly, although I did stick to the tried-and-tested (by me anyway) approach of doing quite a lot of the scary bits on my bum. Not exactly a nimble mountain goat! Once we got back down onto the relative flat, I got my second wind while Kevin was starting to lose the ability to string a sentence together after nearly 7 hours walking by the time we finished!
A long soak in our spa bath, with a well-earned Boags for K and glass of pinot noir for me, accompanied by some bar snacks was our reward for the evening. K crashed out asleep by 9.30 – the earliest I've known him sleep in 5 years together!
More to follow soon...
Our starting point was Ronny's Creek and the start of the Overland Track, a famous and very popular 6 day walking route from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair. I'd hankered after doing this but as it involves carrying all your food and gear, and as K has a bad back, it wasn't really an option. So I was glad to be doing at least a section of it.
Despite its popularity, the track was fairly empty - perhaps everyone left earlier than us!
After around 1.5hrs of steady climbing, we reached Marion's Lookout with fabulous views out over the mountains around and down to Dove Lake. The whole area was formed out of glacial retreat in the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago and the carvings and hidden lakes are beautiful to see.
A few more hours of walking and we reached the foot of the final ascent to the summit. This was our designated 'turn back' point if either of us felt too tired to go on, as there was a hut where one of us could wait while the other one went to the top. But we were both feeling good so onwards we went!
Soon enough the path turned from well-trodden and easy walking track to smallish boulders and rocks that needed a bit of scrambling to get over. Fair enough, I thought, this is do-able. Then after half an hour or so, the rocks started to get much bigger – much, much bigger than me in fact! At this point I was seriously considering whether to carry on – I have a big fear of falling down hills and although I felt ok going up, I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back down again! - but after dumping my backpack under a rock, I figured I might as well keep going. It was very, very tough though and once or twice I nearly gave up out of sheer terror at having to come back down again. But I got my moment of inspiration when, as I was standing to one side, clinging to a rock and trying to find some mental strength to keep going, a portly red-faced bloke dragged himself up said rock, swinging his builder's-bum-in-hiking-shorts in my direction. Nothing like the thought of being beaten by a fat bloke to get you up a mountain!
We must have been climbing up and over these massive boulders, sometimes on almost a vertical plane, for a good 45 minutes before we finally, finally got to the summit. Hard on the legs, hard on the arms and hard on the mind! Every time we passed someone coming down, they just kept saying 'you've got ages to go yet'!!
The views, of course, were well worth it and as a bonus the weather had stayed really clear and fine the whole way. At 1500m+, it's actually the highest peak I've climbed, although as we started from 900m, not the biggest climb I've done, if you know what I mean.
Going back down was easier than I expected, thankfullly, although I did stick to the tried-and-tested (by me anyway) approach of doing quite a lot of the scary bits on my bum. Not exactly a nimble mountain goat! Once we got back down onto the relative flat, I got my second wind while Kevin was starting to lose the ability to string a sentence together after nearly 7 hours walking by the time we finished!
A long soak in our spa bath, with a well-earned Boags for K and glass of pinot noir for me, accompanied by some bar snacks was our reward for the evening. K crashed out asleep by 9.30 – the earliest I've known him sleep in 5 years together!
More to follow soon...
Tassie Day 2 – to Cradle Mountain
Up bright and early on Christmas morning for a quick hostel breakfast before hitting the road on our way to the mountains. Slight panic when K announced he couldn't find the car keys and turned everything upside down to no avail. Just as he was calling the police to report them lost, I found them in the place they were meant to be all along – his bag!!
The sun was shining bright and warmly as we started off on our travels. We meandered our way towards Cradle Mountain, our destination for 3 nights over Christmas, via a small sojourn through the Highland Lakes region. The scenery was stunning and it was great to see real mountains in Australia (instead of the pretendy plateau things that the Blue “Mountains” in Sydney pass themselves off as). Did our first walk of the holiday, just a short hour or so to Liffy Falls and back, followed by Christmas lunch of sandwiches and fruit!
Arrived at Cradle Mountain and checked into Cradle Mountain Chateau, our base for next 3 nights. This was only place left when we got round to booking and it was extortionate so we were hoping for big things! Massive king size bed, spa in the bathroom and beautiful view out onto woodland grounds – so far so good.
Walked a km or so down to the entrance to the national park, where we picked up a shuttle bus into the park itself. Visitors are encouraged to use the free shuttle bus service instead of driving themselves, as the roads are narrow and wildlife is a-plenty. A good idea I reckon.
Arriving at Dove Lake we got our first proper look at Cradle Mountain, a jagged and very impressive monster rising above the glacial lakes around. Its multiple peaks and knife edge ridge were quite a sight in the late afternoon sun. Another short walk around the lake and then it was time to head back in time for our Christmas Buffet Dinner!
The buffet promised much but sadly delivered disappointment, especially on the lack of roast potatoes front! Still, we stuffed ourselves silly and after a quick nightcap and one-sided game of snooker in the bar, it was time for bed.
The sun was shining bright and warmly as we started off on our travels. We meandered our way towards Cradle Mountain, our destination for 3 nights over Christmas, via a small sojourn through the Highland Lakes region. The scenery was stunning and it was great to see real mountains in Australia (instead of the pretendy plateau things that the Blue “Mountains” in Sydney pass themselves off as). Did our first walk of the holiday, just a short hour or so to Liffy Falls and back, followed by Christmas lunch of sandwiches and fruit!
Arrived at Cradle Mountain and checked into Cradle Mountain Chateau, our base for next 3 nights. This was only place left when we got round to booking and it was extortionate so we were hoping for big things! Massive king size bed, spa in the bathroom and beautiful view out onto woodland grounds – so far so good.
Walked a km or so down to the entrance to the national park, where we picked up a shuttle bus into the park itself. Visitors are encouraged to use the free shuttle bus service instead of driving themselves, as the roads are narrow and wildlife is a-plenty. A good idea I reckon.
Arriving at Dove Lake we got our first proper look at Cradle Mountain, a jagged and very impressive monster rising above the glacial lakes around. Its multiple peaks and knife edge ridge were quite a sight in the late afternoon sun. Another short walk around the lake and then it was time to head back in time for our Christmas Buffet Dinner!
The buffet promised much but sadly delivered disappointment, especially on the lack of roast potatoes front! Still, we stuffed ourselves silly and after a quick nightcap and one-sided game of snooker in the bar, it was time for bed.
Tassie Day 1 - Launceston
Left Sydney on the morning of Christmas Eve, and after changing planes in Melbourne (onto a tiny one with old-fashioned propellers – fun!), arrived at lunchtime to a cold and drizzly Launceston. Picked up our hire car and found we'd been upgraded to a monster that I soon decided I wouldn't be driving as I couldn't even see the front of it from my seat!
After checking into Launceston Backpackers, we made our way to the Boag's Brewery where we were hoping to squeeze in a quick tour before sampling our first beer of the holiday. Sadly though it was closed up for the festive break, so we had to move straight to the sampling! Boag's is the preferred tipple of Northern Tasmanians, and very fine it is too.
There's not an awful lot to Launceston, but we managed to find a good place to eat – The Pizza Place – where we had a couple of delicious pizzas and a few more beers before hitting the hay.
After checking into Launceston Backpackers, we made our way to the Boag's Brewery where we were hoping to squeeze in a quick tour before sampling our first beer of the holiday. Sadly though it was closed up for the festive break, so we had to move straight to the sampling! Boag's is the preferred tipple of Northern Tasmanians, and very fine it is too.
There's not an awful lot to Launceston, but we managed to find a good place to eat – The Pizza Place – where we had a couple of delicious pizzas and a few more beers before hitting the hay.
Back to blogging
I haven't blogged for several months because it hasn't felt right, and I haven't felt up to it. Those of you who know me will understand why.
But now, it's a new year. And I feel it's time to pick up the keys again, starting with a run-down of our recent Christmas and New Year trip to Tasmania. Link to accompanying photos here.
For Dad.
But now, it's a new year. And I feel it's time to pick up the keys again, starting with a run-down of our recent Christmas and New Year trip to Tasmania. Link to accompanying photos here.
For Dad.
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