Panoramas of the Walls

White Walls of Jerusalem

Kathryn Cerchez, a student ambulance officer from Devonport, drove with me to Deloraine to meet Robert Knight at 1030am. A quick coffee and a visit to the supermarket for last minute supplies and we left for the Mersey Forest Road near Lake Rowallan to the Walls of Jerusalem carpark.

We got there with an overcast sky, a bushwalkers alert and snow flakes coming down. The three of us headed up the steep track at about 1pm. Kathryn could only walk us to the top of the hill (it is a very long hill) as she had to go home that night. Robert and Kathryn are superfit and I am not only over 40, I have CF and am battling a bad infection, the difference in fitness was day and night. As they darted up the steep slope I stumbled step by step, cough by cough up the hill, spitting green phlegm left right and centre. We made it to Trappers Hut, which marks the halfway point of the climb. We stopped for a late lunch at the hut and battled on. The terrain was definitely snow covered by now and the white dolerite peaks were towering above us at this point. I coughed on, spitting more green fluorescent gunk.

It was now 330pm and we figured Kathryn needed to head back at 4pm. She continued on till we could see Cradle Mountain and Barnes Bluff in the distance, all covered with snow. Our snow cover got thicker too, but it had stopped snowing. In fact it was clearing up for us.

At 430pm Kathryn turned around and Robert and I were left to continue on our own. Soon the snow got deeper and deeper and finding the track became harder and harder. At 6pm we were making slow progress and I was still coughing. Light was failing and we had to put on our snow shoes which were kindly provided by Devonport’s Snowgum store (ex Backpacker's barn). We battled on, or should I say I battled on and Robert patiently walked with me. We had trouble locating the trail, but with the snow shoes we were able to pretty much walk in the right direction once we caught sight of a trail marker. We could see Herods Gate ahead in the distance, it is where our campsite is located. Finally at 7pm we arrived at Wild Dog Creek campsite. There was no one there. The tent platforms were covered with 25cms of fresh snow and we were very happy to finally be there. Not only had we left an hour too late, we also made worse progress because of the snow and because of my health, but we were beaming with joy on arrival, I was beat after the 6 hour struggle. My shoulders were cramping from the backpack, as my straight hips (refer to 2009 proposed calendar) barely hold the backpack’s belt up. I know the feeling well, this is not the first time I felt this pain!

First things first in camp; start hydrating the dehydrated meal I had made during the week, it will take an hour at least! We got the food soaking and set the tents up, one each. Rob has a fancy four-season tent that looks fit for the Antarctic, and mine is a trusty MacPac. We had dinner and flaked out shortly after. My two battery operated nebulisers did an admirable job delivering my pulmozyne and tobramycin in the tent, and a quick jab with Lantis to keep the blood sugar levels under control for the next day. Ten pee stops later (thank goodness for a pee-bottle) into my dream I woke up in a quickly warming up tent. The rays were a welcome sight after the cool night and it was a pleasure sitting there nebulising for another session while Robert caught up on some missed out zzzzs.

Blue sky and bright virgin snow was what greeted us in The Walls. Full of wallabies and wombats we tried hard to follow the trailmarkers towards Dixons Kingdom Hut, but eventually we just sat down in the snow and ate our lunch early, enjoyed the view, the sun, the snow-shoes, the solitude, the scenery of the frozen tarns and snow covered mountains. Mount Jerusalem (1459m) and Solomon’s Throne, all looking spectacular. On the way home to our camp we ran into one solitary skier enjoying the Walls.

We got back nice and early, lazed around the camp, caught a few more naps, enjoyed being out of phone and computer reach and just being there. A grand sunset, another dehydrated meal another cool night with millions of stars, and when we woke up after another frisky night we had a relaxing porridge breakfast before pulling the tents down. Walking down-hill with a totally refreshed mind and coughed clean lungs we made it back in no time to the cars where I had a home-brew waiting for us! Everyone needs to go out and about occasionally! In Tasmania this is all just so accessible, how can we stay at home!

Walter----

Slideshow <here>.

Isaacs Ridge Again

This is the little overgrown path back to Bridges Place.

Kelcey Tier

Our canvas covered reservoir is now protected by an electric fence... Are we code Orange in Devonport??


Katherine is not aware of any codes... especially not codes of conduct.

In Canberra....

Oma sharing a beer with me... At least I walked up the ridge today, what is oma's excuse?

Interlaken

I went out with Prickles from Devonport HHH to survey a plantation forest.


Stopped at Pencil Lake on the Lakes Highway. It is still frozen over.

Other Exciting Blogs

I added a list of blogs I am resposible for on the bottom of this website. Scroll down and see what happens in my blogs!

Back to the norm

The kayaks are still under the house. Has been raining a fair bit lately, but we always find time to do our quick up and down the Kelcey Tier walk without getting wet.

So it does look like a bit of a waterfall, we love it here. We jump in the car for a 2 minute drive and walk our standard loop. There are several varieties, this is the quickest up and down and around. Just under 4kms and we take just over 40 minutes to walk it.



See that spike? That is where I slipped... maybe...

And now that we are using the gadgets, the pedometer counted 3982 steps which it calculates the walk to be 3.2kms. I shall increase the step size setting from 92cms per step to maybe 100cms. That way the pedometer is probably more correct next time.

Interestingly the pedometer, the GPS, as well as the camera are all inside my phone; the Nokia N95. And so why is it that I still lie awake at night thinking about the i-phone? Sexier? Don't I care that myN95 does it all nicely? Do I need another steep learning curve to change gizmo? Like dreaming of a 21 year old blonde... The prospect of retraining one of those is daunting too. Lets just stick to what I have and what does me well, the N95!

Sunset from our front door. This is the cat's view from her bed-basket too incidentally, no wonder it is her favourite place in the house.

Back with Qantas

After all the gripes I have had with Qantas I was sooo pleased to be back on a Qantas jet after the Jetstar flights... I was so pleased to eat my complimentary and miserable airplane food, and have a comfortable seat with a free headphone... Flying Jetstar to Honolulu and back was a serious no-frill experience. One had to rent a blanket, rent a headphone, even the tiniest glass of ice cubes with a drop of OJ in it was $3. We refused to spend the money and had brought snacks along. The headphones on all our adjoining seats were not working on both ears and the buttons were worn out by desperate fingers trying to make it work. We were seated at the back of the airbus as well, and no frequent flier points were earned. It was very cheap, so I cannot complain, but Geez, were we spoiled in the 80s and 90s with free beer and half decent food, free blankets and earplugs, the works.

This is also the last international flight that I have my high Qantas status (read: Qantas Club complimentary for both Katherine and myself) which I might loose after August as I have not been loyal to Qantas. There is no more real point to remaining loyal as so often it leads to disappointments (excess luggage on the way in is charged for by other OneWorld alliance flights on the same ticket who have different excess luggage allowances), and you now earn more points using your credit card then you do by flying (I am sorry sir, you get zero points for that sector as your $2200 fare is so heavily discounted). In the past few years I have noticed that the other airlines/alliances are not much better and that it really does not matter as long as you get there for a half decent price.

We had a hell of a trip, loved every minute of it, but we are glad to be back in Tasmania where it is so very quiet and clean.

Yukele and Good Food

We had a night at Roy's and a night at Sensei's. Awesome Restaurants!

We found lots of hidden talent...

Some were very well hidden....

And some raw talent...

Surfin USA

Dave and I gave surfing a go. Definitely need to try this at home!

Pearl Harbor

Wow, Pearl Harbor... We spent the 4th of July in Waikiki, and drove out to Pearl Harbor for the day. Very depressing to see all the war facts and hear the story of Pearl Harbor. More photos of our last few days <here>.

Last swim at Kanapali

Our glorious beach on which we ran and at which we swam, surfed and frolicked...
Katherine on top of Black Rock



Katherine took the leap.... The only gray haired 40+ person in sight!

David and I were nowhere to be seen!

Just hangin loose

A big competition to see who could do nothing for the longest. We did not last long :(

David did not get picked on to dance even though Katherine said it was his birthday!

Friday we jump on the Inter Island flight to Honolulu pretty much on our way home.

Surviving in Maui

Gosh life is tough here...