Kanangra-Boyd National Park

Last weekend we decided to head out to Kanangra-Boyd National Park for a bit of a camping hiking adventure. Turns out we weren't the only ones - the cute little campsite (equipped with drop toilets and a big wooden shelter with tables, benches and a big fireplace) was pretty busy! - which is completely understandable - Kanangra is just breathtaking.

Some of the most spectacular scenery to be found in the Blueys I reckon. You get a real sense of wilderness, isolation, and the vastness of our land up here. At 1300m it's one of the high points of Australia, and you really get that sense of alpine spareness - some of the walking on the plateau is above the treeline! And they get their share of snow in winter :) The area is home to the famous Kanangra Main canyon, a 12 hour epic that I'm really keen to do, having seen the grandeur of the valley. Just amazing.

It's about 30kms drive along an unpaved road from the quaint tourist town of Jenolan Caves (eerily reminiscent of an abandoned alpine ski village) to get to Kanangra. It took us about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to drive there from Katoomba in the evening. The road is pretty treacherous, full of hairpin bends, narrow 'lanes', steep drop offs and some of the most dense fog I've driven in. Just wanted to say TAKE CARE - one of the cars we drove out with was involved in a head on collision on the way out. Luckily no one was seriously injured, but we did experience the scary isolation of the region as we waited hours for ambos and helis, which were then held down by fog. Even having heard about the accident further along the road, people were hooning along the road in dark fog, skidding to a stop at the scene. Crazy!












We spent most of the drive home cruising at about 50km/hr in heavy rain and amazing thick fog. After stopping at Jenolan Caves desperate for food and finding everything shut, we came across this, the best pit-stop ever. This little restaurant somewhere between JC and Mt Vic is open only on the weekends. It's owned by an Austrian couple who live in Marrickville, but come up to their mountain hideaway each weekend to make hearty Austrian schnitzel, goulash and of course good ole burgers and fish'n'chips to wayward travellers. We'd missed lunch and had spent the past few hours really concerned about the people in the car accident, so arriving at this cosy little roadhouse was like a surreal dream. Inside it was warm, the soft glow of old English comedy drifted from a box. The room was filled with clutter. Felt hats sat atop hatstands. Alcohol paraphernalia and Royal Family trees covered every wall space. Records and wine bottles and scupltures and ornaments and caps and cards, the room was a museum. The vienna coffee was made with 'tia maria' blend coffee beans from the supermarket in Marrickville. The burger had an egg, beetroot, pineapple and all the salads. It was just about as much comfort as we could handle. If you're in the area, check this place out - it's something else!

Bardens Lookout, Blue Mountains

A few months ago when I last climbed here, looking out over the rolling fields was like looking over a wasteland. It was brown and brittle, very much in the throes of a nasty drought. It was a wonderful suprise to arrive after almost two weeks of steady rain to see the countryside looking in every way like quaint English farmland, dotted with cosy thatch roofed cottages, no less :) It was really incredible to see the difference just a couple of weeks of rain can make to some of the dry country of the world.






Boydo cruising Hang onto Yourself, 22

Bardens Lookout 2

Our shit is everywhere, looking down from a climb



Stu going for a move on Hang onto Yourself, 22


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Stu checking out the fall




Mid-flight Stu!



The great mid-climb stick clip

The Epic Tassie Ride

This January my dad and I joined 900 crazy-fit individuals to ride bikes along the north east coast of Tasmania, from Launceston to Hobart. Not my standard adventure, I was recruited when mum decided that she didn't want to go through the pain of training. I didn't either, but that didn't stop me. I turned up ridiculously unprepared, and paid for it the whole way!

The aim was to cover about 450km in 9 days, cycling over rainforest passes, along pristine beaches and through verdant fields. The pristine beaches arc'd like gulls in the salty breeze. The verdant fields shimmered in the hot summer sun. When we finally got to their lofty heights, the rainforest passes were cloaked in low fog, spitting rain and temperatures of less than 10 degrees. It really was four seasons in a week, and more extreme ones than we see here in Sydney.

The most striking thing about Tasmania for me, apart from the incredible natural beauty, was the connection they seem to have with their past. They seem to value their heritage more than we do here in Sydney. I'm not sure if it's because of the tourist dollars it brings (or because they don't have the economy to replace charming old infrastrcuture with shiny steel new stuff), but they seem to conserve, reuse and appreciate old buildings, roads, bridges which we would just replace. I guess it's hard for us here in Sydney to keep those old bridges that used to transfer 100 horses if we now need to transport 100 000 cars.....but it was really nice to spend some time in a place where things move more slowly, there are smaller spaces but more wilderness, fewer people but more conversation.

As for the riding - it was the toughest thing I've ever done!!! Hills like that.....enough said.



Sunset on the first night of the ride



Ah, the beautiful flowering gum in Bridport



And again



At 630 am, you want me to WHAT?



SUPER ;P

Tassie Ride Part 2

After WWI, the folks in Legerwood Tasmania banded together and planted a series of trees in memory of their brothers, sons, fathers, friends lost to the war. They grew quickly, transforming the streets of the town, a constant reminder of the valiant and courageous heroes. In time though, these proud and imposing trees grew to a dangerous height and, much to the distress of the locals, had to be lopped. Faced with the question of how to continue to honor the memory of the war heroes, they townspeople comissioned an artist to carve sculptures out of the stumps, and here you have one :)

For more see http://www.netasmania.com.au/online/db/20050515-0.html



Maria Island, off the east coast of Tas



Beautiful early morning harbour



Lush Tas farm