In Tasmania Day 12 Hobart
In Tasmania Day 12 Hobart Always familiar, a rest day involves slow catching up with messages, requests, etc. still trying to maintain that hard-fought distance from bureaucratic triviality. Wandered to the Retro Cafe for a flat white and to update (this) blog. It’s Australia Day, so the locals have a long weekend. Many are back […]
In Tasmania Day 12 Rivulet Camp to Cockle Creek 10km (and on to Hobart).
In Tasmania Day 12 Rivulet Camp to Cockle Creek 10km (and on to Hobart). Every schoolchild in the English-speaking world at some point reads Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach.” A beautiful and generally easy to understand poem, perfect for angsty individuals struggling with meaning between the tattoo parlor and the second-hand shop. Having grown up […]
In Tasmania Day 11 Surprise Bay to Rivulet Camp
In Tasmania Day 11 Surprise Bay to Rivulet camp Surprise Bay is the right name for the start of this part. Thus far, the map times and distances have been spot on for me, so when the notes predicted up to 10 hours to cross a 9 km trek, I felt a little anxious, particularly […]
In Tasmania Day 10 Deadman’s Cove to Surprise Bay
In Tasmania Day 10 Deadman’s Cove to Surprise Bay This was a day of Tassie walking—rained all night, packed up in a drizzle, and set off fairly early (nearly every day I’ve started within 10 minutes of 7). The South Coast track follows the coast and often drops onto spectacular beaches —mesmerizing waves, broad sand, […]
In Tasmania Day 9 Louisa River to Deadman’s Cove 13 km
In Tasmania Day 9 Louisa River to Deadman’s Cove 13 km This was billed as the most difficult day of the track and lived up to it. A simple hike, up and over the Ironbound Range and down to the sea again—the mountain tops are windy, the beaches are as well, funneling in Antarctic air. […]
In Tasmania Day 8 Cox Bight to Louisa River 17km
In Tasmania Day 8 Cox Bight to Louisa River 17km Off early on a misty walk down the beach for an easy day’s trek to Louisa River. The difference between this area and Port Davey is astounding. The trail is much drier due to climate and surface, but mostly it’s been duckboarded and bridged almost […]
In Tasmania Day 7 Melaleuca to Cox Bight 12km
In Tasmania Day 7 Melaleuca to Cox Bight 12km Felt much better after a day’s rest and a good wander around Melaleuca. The caretakers at Melaleuca were so kind and had been on many adventures in their time. Also Kendron, the psychologist, was good for a number of long conversations over coffee. The hike to […]
In Tasmania Day 6 Melaleuca
In Tasmania Day 6 Melaleuca Always listen to your knees—they have much to tell you, and mine said “take some time, learn about this spot of the world and rest today. Joint wisdom. The hikers huts are like old Quonset huts, curved correlated metal with some semi-transparent fiberglass panels for windows. I woke to some […]
In Tasmania Day 5 Spring River Crossing to Melaleuca 21km
In Tasmania Day 5 Spring River Crossing to Melaleuca 21km Spring River must have had a flood on the last few months— many down trees making the pass all but unpassable. In my “campsite”, a space just large enough to put up my single tent, I could see low growing ferns, dead about one foot […]
In Tasmania Day 4 Watershed Camp to Spring River Crossing 14 km
In Tasmania Day 4 Watershed Camp to Spring River Crossing 14 km I’m starting to think the Mercator Projection (which preserves latitude and longitude by drastically increasing the size of far northern and southern land masses—think Greenland) actually applies to distance measurement here. Almost as far south as you can get without traveling to Antarctica, […]