Bakers Beach

JR and Lauren, K and myself went for a paddle today from Port Sorell. We paddled around the head to Bakers Beach where we had a rest before battling the waves back around the Danger Marker. We stopped at Penguin Island where we had a re-group, and then we fought the outgoing tide back to the Jetty. It was a tough paddle back, the kind where when you stopped paddling you were sucked back! Great day again...

Vegemite

Oh, and every morning on the Eastcoast we feasted on Vegemite and toast!

And this is how it is spread, nice and patchy with butter on toast!

East Coast Photos

Scamander is about three hours drive East from Devonport. The beaches are white, the roads are dirt and the water is blue. The playgrounds north of Scamander are Bay of Fires and Mount William National Park. There are very few people there and the only phone reception, if you can get it, is with Telstra NextG... For the occasion I even got a Telstra SIM for my phone (so I can do my Geocaches with the N95 phone!).

Scamander Resort

We had 3 nights at the Scamander Resort on the East Coast of Tasmania. We took the kayaks with us. Needless to say we had a mass of photos...

All the photos are coming here soon!!

A Cameo appearance!

K. took this photo of me yesterday... For some reason I rarely put photos of myself on these blogs, so enjoy!

Port Sorell

Click on the pics for full view!

Rather warm today! I would guess it was in the thirties! So to complement my morning 'run' (a lot of walking) when it was still relatively cool, K and I decided to take the kayaks to Port Sorell.

It was like a tropical paradise today. The water was clear, the sky blue, and penguin island deserted except for the Shy Albatrosses, seagulls, pied oyster eaters and more birds...

No sea turtles here, but today we almost expected to see some!

Motorbike Adventures?

Maybe in a few years time... But I had an excellent ride on this Bandit 1200s, Oh What a Feeling! Susuki! This picture taken at Tammy's house in Ulverstone, not our own driveway :(. And yes, this bike is for sale in case there are any generous souls out there...

Mother Cummings Peak

It was really just a trip to Bunnings in Launceston when we decided to walk up Mother Cummings Peak. It was only 40 kilometers (each way) out of our way and we always wanted to do it.

It was a very pretty drive out there till you hit the logging coupes. But hey, if we don't log/rape our forests then some other country will do it - and chances are they do not have Bob Brown to control their damage to the environment. As long as I use paper and timber I guess I better not complain too loud - even though this is happening in my own backyard :(

The walk up is pretty steep, but not too hard. Plenty of rocks to clamber over. We only went to the cool rocky outcrop, located a geocache , ate left-over pizza from last night and raced down again. Bunnings here we come.

Plenty of flowers were out for us. Summer here is great. Today was actually a tad too warm.

The rest of the photos are <here>.

Tassie Trail Jan09

We had a great turnout for the inaugural (actually it is 'on demand') Tassie Trail from Sheffield to Latrobe. It was a splendid day and we had great company. Although it is 90% downhill, the few hills in the middle sure tested our stamina again.
Nurse Jan's pictures are <here>. My full-screen slideshow is <here>.


Jan's picture of my bike after going through a bit of mud...

Cradle Mountain without Dave

That's right, without Dave. Dave broke his leg at work, and the rest of us just went... It was a glorious day at Cradle. Despite the masses of tourists walking around Dove Lake we had a blast going up Hansons Peak and onto the Face Track, dowin into Lake Wilks.

Ian, Rebecca, Walter and Jan all took loads of photos so we could remind Dave of how perfect the day was. .. Truthfully, we all thought of him a lot and wished he was with us instead of in hospital! Here are the slides, or click <here> for the official slideshow.

Van Dyke and Claude

Dave and I went walkabout one good day last month to climb up the mountains. We had a plan, but ammended it along the way. Read the epic adventure <here>.


Dave on top of Mount Claude

A baby echidna!

Black Bluff with K

Full screen slides <here>

Today seemed a good day to go up Black Bluff. About a 40 minute drive from home, we started the ascent at 10am. Stopping every 10 minutes to change layer configurations (to cope with snow and heatwaves and everything in between), we made it up in 4 hours - including a few stops and lunch. Two hours is all it took on the way down! We were buggered at 4pm back at the car.


Black Bluff, at 1340m above sea level, is the highest peak along the 76 km Penguin Trail which starts in the northern coastal town of Penguin. Following the Leven River southward through Leven Canyon over Black Bluff Range to Cradle Mountain, this trail connects with the Overland Track.

Black Bluff is a true alpine mountain experience which includes a glacial cirque tarn called Paddy’s Lake ( a rounded like basin surrounded by cliffs). This is the northern most feature of its kind in Tasmania. Black Bluff summit track starts 2 km passed the Loongana Bridge and climbing to 980 metres it is about a 7 hour - 12km walk.

The above info was borrowed from <here>.

Quamby Bluff

Katherine and I got a chance to make a run for our favourite local mountain, Quamby Bluff. Great day to walk up! Was easy enough, almost routine!


We figured the people who live here at the trail head are regulars but not premanent.

Plenty of puddles up the top.

The rest of the photos are <here>.

Copper Cove Walk

Finally made it along a Dave Curtis walk. Dave is a colleaque of Katherine's.
We walked from the ranger station at Bakers Beach to Archer's Knob where we found a geocache.

At the end of Baker's Beach we had a rest, and Judy a swim!

View from Archer's Knob.

We walked around Badgers Head and ate lunch on the rocks at Copper Cove before scrambling back to Baker's along the rocks. Photos of the walk are <here>

Burnie Hash House Harriers

OK, I admit it, I went out of my way to run with the Burnie Hash... They are a good bunch of people, and I can't go to Devonport Hash tonight.


Bitofthis is looking at me pointing my phone at her...


Check out this rainforest pond! Almost difficult to spot the water due to the reflection. Double Click the image to see the full sized one.


Trust Giggles to prove a point and drag us up this hill!

Here are a couple more <slides>.

Gippsland and the Snowies

Martin and myself...

We drove to Jindabyne, on to the Snowy Mountain Highway to Adamaniby. Camped at Providence Portal, drove past Kiandra, turned off to Khancoban and up to Thredbo again. Up Kosciuszko, camped along the Thredbo River, drove through Jindabyne down the Snowy River Road to Gippsland, and ended up near Sale.

David's Hilux, ahum, I mean Martin's new Hilux worked a charm. We are getting about 30mpg out of it! And the last few days in Melbourne. There we parted ways. I caught The Spirit back to Devonport.
All the photos are <here>.

Deua National Park

A bunch of dirt roads from Araluen, past Majors Creek, and voila, the Big Hole. We camped the night after walking to the two main attractions here. Even spotted a life wombat at the camp after seeing a bunch of dead ones along the road :( .
All the exciting pictures from here can be seen in the slideshow <here>.

Araluen Camp 2008

It was that time of the year again... and for the first time in about 13 years I managed to make an appearance! Great to see old mates again, catch up a bit, relax, have fun... I was with Martin on my way to Melbourne and on a bit of  a schedule, so unfortunately we had to shoot off again the following morning.

For all the pics click <here> for slideshow.