A North South journey through Tasmania on foot
Day 18: 28 November 2019
It is 12 months since we did a reconnaissance trip through the Florentine valley scouting our proposed X-Tas route. That was before major bushfires raged in this area over the summer. We are yet to see the full devastation that they wrought but got a glimpse of the impact today. We had assumed – an unhelpful attitude at the best of times – that nothing else much would have changed.
Continue reading “The other side of the Florentine”24 November 2019
Today marked a year since Tim’s cardiac arrest on the side of Mount Roland. Tim decided he wanted to celebrate the day by firing up the pizza oven and inviting the people who saved his life – the French family, ambulance officers, and SES personnel. Family and close friends joined us.
Unbeknownst to Tim, Barbie arranged for a presentation of a certificate and pin commemorating twelve months’ survival following an out of hospital cardiac arrest.
Day 17: 22 November 2019
I could not contain a sense of joyful anticipation for this next stage as I worked on Thursday. Monday’s challenging walk, due to the distance we covered, was extremely encouraging, and the idea of getting to our destination is starting to feel real. There are also a couple of significant anniversaries this weekend. On this day last year, 23rd November 2018, we began our pilgrimage. The following day was the day of Tim’s cardiac arrest. Tomorrow we celebrate Tim’s “Staying alive” day with ambulance officers and friends who worked together to enable him to make a full recovery. It has been fitting to be continuing our pilgrimage this weekend as well.
Continue reading “A bridge too far”Days 15 and 16: 17 – 18 November 2019
We have set aside 2 weeks prior to Christmas for the final leg of our Tasmanian Traverse, the Port Davey and South Coast tracks. But with only 3 weeks to go prior to our starting date of 8th December, we have still quite some distance to cover and only a few short windows of opportunity. We grabbed the first of these on Sunday afternoon after repainting the laundry (Merran) and giving a sermon (Tim). In 2 cars we drove to Derwent Bridge for the next section.
Day 14: 29 September 2019
We began the morning in fairly heavy rain at Bert Nicholls Hut (Windy Ridge). This meant a very wet tent and all our rain gear on. Only a km or so down the track the rain eased to light intermittent showers which continued the rest of the day. Most other groups were heading for the ferry due at 1.00 pm at Narcissus so had headed off a little earlier than us. We soon caught up with a group of three families from Canberra who had initially welcomed us at Kia Ora. We enjoyed walking with them through to Narcissus.
Continue reading “Down the lake”Day 13: 28 September 2019
A highlight of our second day on this 3-day leg of the trip (Kia Ora – Windy Ridge along the Overland Track (OLT)) was a side track down to the waterfalls on the Mersey River.
Continue reading “Waterfalls and tree-falls”
Day 12: 27 September 2019
I (Tim) have been to Lee’s Paddocks many times over the years so there was a lot to reminisce about as we walked the 10 kilometres alongside the Mersey River to the string of private property titles nested inside the Cradle Mountain National Park. We had ended our last walk at the new suspension bridge and had not walked much over the winter (for a variety of reasons). Now in Spring, and 5 months later, it was great to be back on the track putting another few stages down. This was the first multi-day walk carrying a full pack since my second round of surgery in June. I was really looking forward to it. Even with a rather challenging route planned.
Continue reading “Through the Paddocks”
Day 10: 12 April 2019
Our walk through the state continued over this last weekend. On Sunday afternoon we headed out on a 2-hour car shuffle dropping Tim’s car at the Arm River car park then driving Merran’s through to the Northern end of the February Plains.
Continue reading “Count the Mountains”