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.

Popularity: 1% [?]

19th November 2009, Hobart.

Ever since hearing about the Hobart rivulet, and how it flows beneath Hobart, I wanted to explore it. I didn’t know where to get in. The Pandani Bushwalking Club organised a tour through it, so I signed up and went along. The tours are conducted by the Hobart City Council.

One advantage of going on the tour is that the tour guide is able to turn on the lights. This makes photography a bit easier. I hate using a flash, and rarely do. The few times I do use it is enough to remind me why I don’t like using it.

This is my favorite picture from under there. It is around two metres high. The rest is like typical graffiti.

Popularity: 17% [?]

11th October 2009, on the way to Dora Falls.

This was taken on a Pandani Bushwalking Club walk.

The evil eye of Telstra has found me Please forgive the reference to Lord of the rings. No contact yet, but if these posts dissappear without explanation, along with me (I’m laughing). I can imagine this sort of thing IS something that they do very well and with minimal time and fuss.

Actually, I just googled “telstra” and “evil” , 128,000 results. I feel better now; surely they have bigger fish to fry 251,000 for “telstra” and “hell”. And, my favorite but not such a huge result, “Telstra” and “evil empire” 2,180. “Telstra” and “bully” 23,800. “Telstra” and “devil” 74,300. Whoa, the mother lode; “Telstra” and “complaints 260,000. That just got eclipsed, “Telstra” and “unhappy” 604,000.

Oops, I got sidetracked searching “Telstra” and “dickheads” It’s late and I’m deteriorating, but I came across this great post on urban 4wd car owners - there is some profanity. Well, lots of profanity if you read the replies.

Popularity: 19% [?]

11th October 2009, near Judbury

I forget the name of these falls. Dora Falls, that’s it. It was a Pandani Bushwalking Club walk, sort of led by Simon, who probably spent more time behind a camera than me.

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13th September 2009, near Lonnavale.

The name reminds me of the Soggy Bottom Gang from the movie “O Brother, where art thou?”.

It was a Pandani club walk, but there were only three of us; Simon, Jane and me. Others were probably put off by the forecasted weather or the length of the walk.

It was a great day. The track was one of those where you are challenged a bit to figure out where it is going. A lot of it was mud or running water, climbing over and under fallen trees, then slogging through snow. Jane managed this the best like a Jacana walking on lily pads. Simon got seriously bogged; Jane and I reacted appropriately by laughing and taking photos of him.

And yes, he is wearing shorts and a T shirt - some things just can’t be explained

Popularity: 18% [?]

23rd August 2009, near Judbury

This was on a Pandani Bushwalking Club walk. I like going on walks with them, they are great company. I can also focus on enjoying the scenery and looking for a photo opportunity, instead of navigating - relating what I see to the map I’m following.

I would like to visit the falls again when it is raining. It was an interesting walk in - a steep sided rain forest with lots of fungi and huge areas of moss covered ground and trees. We could also see where cockatoos have been chomping on trees - their debris covering the ground beneath.

Popularity: 18% [?]

5th February 2009

Somewhere on the Wellington Plateau with the Pandani Bushwalking Club.

These are gum nuts if you’re Australian, eucalyptus seeds if you’re not. They look like pies to me. And that reminded me of Joh’s son, Tom. He found this stupidly funny animation on the web, of this cartoon character who crapped on inanely with “I like pie, give me pie”. I tried to find a link to it, but no luck.

Tom is normally an intelligent and creative individual, but sometimes the guinea pigs in his head would take a break from turning the wheels. During these periods he would wander around in a sort of stupour imitating this animation “I like pie, give me pie”.

In hindsight, I feel sorry for Joh. Tom’s inane muttering and my motorsickle song.

But, then again, she probably deserved it

2nd April 2009 - update I think I found the link

Popularity: 22% [?]

5th February 2009

Somewhere on the Wellington Plateau, again, with the Pandani Bushwalking Club.

I can’t remember how the lighting happened on this. I never use the flash - and it’s the wrong angle.

Popularity: 15% [?]

12th February 2009. Somewhere on the side of the Wellington Plateau.

I was looking through photos trying to choose one for posting. It’s not just choosing a picture; do I have anything to say about it?

I realised that there aren’t many with people in them. I wanted one with people, as a sort of balance to all these macro, inanimate objects, and questionable sexuality flower shots.

I found one. These are some members of the Pandani Bushwalking Club. There is an extrovert young eucalypt in the foreground trying to steal the show. Ignore it, and focus on the colour in the background; that’s them, the people

We were on a walk visiting some hidden huts. One of the huts was pretty cosy. Apparently they were owned, along with the land, by the Cascade Brewery. People who lived in them were charged a rent. The rent was collected every now and then by a guy on a horse.

Keith, the bloke with the yellow hat in the photo (oops, I cropped his head out) lead the walk and supplied the history.

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29th January 2009

This is the Lenah Valley track, I think. A veritable highway amongst tracks.

I was on a walk, as always, with Pandani. For a change, there were just five of us, all men. It was so quiet! I’m laughing, because normally, there are these three women in particular, who create all the noise. They laugh and chatter and joke around - they are just so happy. I often wonder if it matters where they are or what they are doing - they enjoy each other’s company so much that they could easily be oblivious of all else around them.

They remind me of school girls.

For many walks with the club, I just thought “gee, women are noisy”, then I narrowed all the racket down to just these three.

It was a nice change, just the five of us men; I think we all enjoyed it. But hearing “those women” laugh and carry on, makes me smile and laugh too.

Popularity: 18% [?]