Greetings!
We finished our Tasmanian adventure with the Overland track. A 6 day hike through the Cradle mountain - Lake St Clair national park. It is the only way to see some of the most spectacular scenery in Tasmania. Dad joined us for the walk.
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| Food prep: which involved determining the right ratio of water to powdered milk. |
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| Food prep part 2: snack bags for the walk. James insisted on labelling them. |
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| Beginning of the walk! |
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| Having not walked with a pack for a while and with rocky climbs on the first day, concern did creep in at times. |
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| Cradle mountain with Dove lake below. |
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| Dad did well on the first day... until he started screaming "cramp, cramp" about 30 minutes out from the campsite and had to lie down on the track. No amount of medical training prepares you for that moment when you think you have killed your father (good to see I kept on smiling though). |
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| Dad learning I like to drink herbal tea... another challenge he bravely faced. |
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| Cooking vegetable curry as our meal on the first night. It wasn't quite as good as the cherry pie and daily fresh baked bread that the boutique, organised tour group got. Dad forgave us over that (but the situation wasn't helped by Dad meeting one of his colleagues on said tour, which meant he got daily updates of their amazing daily feasts). |
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| New Pellion Hut. Night 3 of the walk. |
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| Camping definitley brings out the trendy folk. |
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| See previous caption (Dad looking on thinking "my son is an idiot... and he drinks herbal tea"). |
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| Each night you had the option to stay in the hut, if there was still room, as more people do the walk than spots in the hut. We preferred to use our tents and enjoy the elements (it wasn't that cold in this photo, probably 25 degrees, Min is just a big wuss). |
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| The view from Frog flat. |
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| As soon as Dad's cramping issue solved itself, we decided he could carry all the packs (no slackers allowed) |
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| The end of the walk at Lake St Clair. |
After such a good walk, James decided that doing hikes was his new 'thing' (and Min's apparently). Some walkers we met on the Overland mentioned that there is a walk called the Great Ocean Walk that covers 100km from Apollo bay along the coastline to the start of the 12 apostles, with spectacular coastal views. We were driving that way towards SA and everything!
The day after finishing the Overland, James in his excitable state booked to do 5 of the days of the Great Ocean Walk (about 60km) in 10 days time. Min was very pleased.
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| We joined the walk at Cape Otway. Ja! |
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| Seeing our first Koala in the wild. |
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| Backsweat. |
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| Walking along Johanna beach at 12.30pm. At first novel and beautiful... then incredibly hot... then like doing sand hills on the Biggest loser (James reached his goal weight that week). |
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| The view from our campsite on night 2, overlooking Johanna beach |
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| James returned from the beach to find Min like this. Another moment when James had thought "I've killed a member of the walking party". She was just sleeping. |
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| Min navigating. |
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| The Inagural Ainsley Harriot impersonation contest |
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| I don't think we were drinking enough and the dehydration was affecting us (but the more important issue is who won? We can't agree). |
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| The toilets on the walk were outstanding... a mix of garden and ocean views. |
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| Snake breeding season is March. Thanks for telling Min that Park Rangers. Her defence was yelling in a strong voice "Go away snakes" every 3-4 minutes. |
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| The view on the last day as we approached the 12 apostles. |
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| Our last 4 jubes which we rewarded ourselves with near the end of the walk. Good colours. |
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| Couldn't help it... sorry. |
