27 and 28 Mar 2011 As I was crab-crawling my way back down the granite slab, my thoughts touched momentarily on how these mountains are called the “Hazards” for a good reason. This was just the briefest of thoughts for most of my mental energy was being expended on visualizing various rather grisly and disturbing …
26 Mar 2011 11 Km Hike – Wineglass Bay & Hazards Beach Circuit Blue skies, welcome back. Best way to celebrate? Get out of this ding-dang van for awhile and go for a hike. It’s not that we don’t still love our van – we absolutely do – but we’ve really all spent too much …
23 to 25 Mar 2011 Hadspen to Ross to Bicheno to Freycinet National Park A few days ago I wrote about the rain, wishing the weather would turn for the better. It didn’t. “Yup, there’s been five inches of rain in the past 36 hours.” “I reckon it’s the worst flooding in 40 years.” “It …
23 Mar 2011 The twenty-third of March. This is a day that did not exist for us last year, lost in transit over the Pacific Ocean somewhere between Honolulu and Sydney. It’s crazy to us that a year has gone by since we left Seattle behind. Cliche, I know, but it went so quickly in …
22 Mar 2011 Which is more humane: to squish the icky bug into the window or to roll that same window down while speeding along at 100 km/hr (60 mi/hr) to let it “fly away”? In the former scenario, the bug may see the oncoming shadow of my Rough Guide to Tasmania and think nothing …
20 Mar 2011 “Do we have any booze on-board?” This is what I want to know as we plant ourselves at the local caravan park in Penguin. The oceanside setting is outstanding and I am looking forward to searching town for the giant-sized fiberglass penguin the guide book has promised us, but I am a …
19 Mar 2011 There was a disturbing clatter as my camera dropped from the van’s passenger seat onto the concrete curb below. This was followed by an intense inspection of the LCD screen on the back, noting a few minor scratches but nothing that couldn’t be lived with. This was then followed by an intense …
18 Mar 2011 13 Km on Foot Two pairs of socks. Two pairs of pants. Two shirts. Two jackets. A woolie hat and a hoodie. This is what I’m wearing while tucked inside my sleeping bag. The only incentive I have to slide myself out of this down cocoon and into the bitter cold air …
16 and 17 Mar 2011 To Strahan and On to Cradle Mountain National Park To tell by the tone of the produce manager’s voice, one would think that EVERYONE knows that the reason bananas are so outrageously priced in Australia right now is because they come from flood-ravaged Queensland. Everyone but us Yankees, I guess. …
15 Mar 2011 13 km Hike I could see my breath in the campervan this morning. This is not good. Better than saying I could see my breath in the TENT this morning. But still not ideal. Last night we were shorted again on a power site, this time not of our doing. Who knew …