Great Ocean Walk. Day 4. Cape Otway to Aire River. October 2010

Headstone at Cape Otway cemetery

A night spent in the land of the koalas was an interesting one. I confirmed that the bizarre demon purring I heard a few nights earlier at Elliot Ridge camp site was a koala. I know that as I had the very same noise letting loose every couple of hours for no apparent reason directly over my head. I would be impressed if anyone can stay asleep when the rumble of a koala starts up. I had a bit of a weird night, in that I was sleeping on the ground and my pillow now consisted of rolled-up clothes. It sort of helped but I still woke up with my back and now my neck creaking for something a little bit different.  I began to wish I had a portable walking frame with me to help me get up (titanium of course).  The body was starting to ache but once up it wasn't too bad.  I did find that some time during the night I must have rolled over and absolutely obliterated my glasses case. It was completely destroyed but lucky in that the glasses were okay. If I don't have my glasses I can barely read (what's with the 40s? It sucks!) I would now have to be careful with my glasses seeing as I no longer had a case. It was becoming the hike of destruction.

The Nemesis...

I checked out the monster sized group and got a feel of how far they were going to walk today. The answer was surprising, "Nowhere. We've decided to call it quits and get picked up." Wow. I didn't expect that one, but at least I was going to have a bit of peace for the next few days (I hoped anyway). I suggested to them to walk a short distance up the path and check out the Cape Otway cemetery which is a small yard with a handful of graves in it. The lighthouse keeper's family members and a couple of sailors from the 'Blanket Bay Disaster' (what was that?!) are buried there.  It's a nice peaceful spot to reflect on the hardships early explorers endured along this coastline. The trouble is after talking it up to the large group, I just got blank faces and they left me confirming that they had no regard! Oh well, history only appeals to some people I guess. They were only going one way and that was to the car park.

As I packed up I had my sleeping bag out on top of the bivy bag as it was the last thing to be put away. I thought I'd sneak into the toilets as they were free for the moment. Five minutes later I returned and something caught my eye. The sleeping bag and inner sheet I use were quite wet.  "What's that?" I was thinking as I looked up directly and my question was answered. Directly above the bag was a koala with a nonchalant look on his face munching on gum leaves. I then realised what had happened. OMG!!!  He's pissed into my sleeping bag!!!!!!  Calm down I said to myself as the blood pressure rose. I smelled it and if anyone is wondering what koala pee smells like I can give a pretty good answer. It smelled like being trapped in a eucalyptus factory. Not surprising really since that's all they seemed to be eating. It might sound like quite a quaint smell but no it wasn't. This was no waft-in-the-breeze type of smell like a perfume but more of a flame-the-nostrils type of odour. I looked around the spot I was in and not one other area appeared to be wet. In all the areas of the camp site this koala could have had a leak he's opted for my sleeping bag. Not only on the bag but right at the top of it which is smack bang where my head will rest whilst sleeping. I packed up my urine bag and thought best to leg it. The next stop was Aire River which is not a long walk but I was not in a walking mood after the morning shenanigans.

Sunny Spring Day heading to Aire River...

I headed off and stopped at the cemetery for a look. The super size group certainly missed out on a great little spot. I then continued on with the walking being quite easy from this point. There was a fantastic view of the ocean for the most part. It was clear and sunny without being too warm. I had my long sleeved shirt on as I panic about sunburn. When the sun is out I'm dressed up like a mummy.

There's an option to walk down to the beach at one point. This is what I did the previous year thinking a bit of beach walking would be fun. Well, it wasn't. The sand is mega soft and I thought I was going to faint from pain. I'm a good authority on beach walking now since the Croajingolong National Park hike. Avoid the sand is my motto! The cliffs are a good option for walking anyway as it's a magnificent view on this leg of the hike. I was startled at one stage by a wallaby jumping in front of me near the cliff edge. I got a photo of him as he was warily checking me out. I didn't want to scare him though as he was right on the cliff edge. The way this hike was going there was a possibility I would cause a wallaby suicide. I got a few photos and crept away.

Cliff top Wallaby

I reached the point where the track turns to sand as it leads down a hill. I could imagine coming the other way would be quite painful just getting some grip. A day tripper bloke was coming the other way and in a strong English accent told me, "Look out ahead, a tiger snake is on the path!" He was pretty pumped up when he told me as well. I acknowledged him and began to scan the path as if I was looking for buried mines. Every stick I saw after that I was suspicious. "My god! What's that??!!" Oh, it's just a stick.

On I went and I was sure I could smell eucalyptus. I'm not sure if it was my brain traumatised by the mornings events but I came up with a cunning plan. After I walked down the hill and reached Aire River I decided to give my inner sheet a wash in the river. Off went the pack and out came the sheet. A few people were fishing  at Aire River as the hiking camp site is shared with car campers. As I was washing I must have looked like someone on the River Ganges doing likewise. The sheet was getting flung about, rinsed, repeated and slapped around.  I think I got it a little bit clean after about 10 minutes of belting.

Sheet washing time...

I then crossed Aire River bridge saying hello to a bunch of severely obese blokes fishing on the bridge. I was thinking they must eat more than the fish they catch. The hiking camp site is set apart from the car campers though, which is a bonus. I walked up a bit of a hill and found the area empty. Knowing my luck I was expecting a swag of people to appear right at the end of the day. I set up camp and hung the sheet up on my walking poles and even got the sleeping bag out for a bit of an airing.  It was nice and sunny so I just vegged out.

  

At one point a bloke from Parks Victoria appeared with a mighty impressive beard. A long and intense looking one. We said hello and then he said, "What are you doing here?" The Great Ocean Walk is a 'book only' hike in which a camp site is allocated out of eight sites by Parks Victoria. I told him I had booked and I had a camp site number. He replied, "Not according to my record here. I better look at your receipt." Bloody hell. Lucky I'd had it.

We trudged to my gear and I came up with the receipt which also had a mild eucalyptus smell to it. He acknowledged that his record was stuffed up and I asked him about the large sized group I had been with for a few days. Had they booked? He replied that he had no information on them either so who knows what's going on? Outside peak season I can imagine quite a few people not booking and just doing the walk, which I had a feeling the big group had done.  Oh well, look at me being all law abiding...! The bloke wished me well and left me on my own with his beard leaving a few minutes later. I awaited the crowd that surely would arrive but no one did. I had the camp site to myself for the night and I set up bed. The airing of the sleeping bag and the washing of the sheet helped a little. I no longer felt like I was getting punched in the face when I smelled them. I went to bed reflecting on quite an unusual day...

Aire River bridge (minus large fishermen)

Great Ocean Walk. Day 3. Blanket Bay to Cape Otway. October 2010

Cape Otway koalas

The night spent lying on the ground was a little uncomfortable and even more so when I had another 'equipment' problem. I like to use a Mountain Designs inflatable pillow if I want to walk in luxury. If I'm being a real weight nut I'll leave it at home but this time I had it and it seems to give me a better nights sleep. That's if it stays inflated of course. I think that's the main aim of a pillow I believe as I did wake up with the pillow completely flat. WTF??!! I know when I'm putting on weight when Ben starts calling me 'ass man'. I did consider that my largeness contributed to the sleeping mat failing as one could sort of believe that. Regarding the pillow though surely my head is not fat enough to crush the air out of it though?

It was a bit of a problem in that I now had to carry two items of luxury that were completely useless and essentially ballast. It reminded me of a route march in the army where we covered 100 kms in two days but I was carrying a heavy radio that broke within 30 seconds of the start. I might as well have carried a bag of cement  as at least I could have used that as a pillow. Oh yeah, the pillow. It's a bummer as I like to sleep with a bit of vertical action with my head. If only they could make a hiking banana lounge then I would be set. It would preferably be made out of titanium for lightweight use and painted striped colours for the hiking 'look'.

Well, I packed up and was taking my time. I noticed the super sized hiking group were taking their time as well which surprised me if they were attempting another double leg day. When I eventually set off at about 9.30 am they still had tents up. "Dream on fellas, there's no way you're going to walk a double today", I thought. I set off heading towards Parker River Inlet which was a few kilometres away. I slogged up Parker Hill on a nice dry track taking a few photos along the way. Pity none of them are good enough for the blog. I then made my way to Parker Inlet which is a lovely spot. It was another decision spot which I thought was easy to make. The tide was well and truly out so I wanted to walk at the base of the cliffs along the rocks. The rocks are flat and easy walking with no boulder hopping. I saw a couple of girls at Parker Inlet hiking who must have come from the opposite direction. They elected to take the 'high tide' route inland which I thought would be the dull option of the two.

Parker River Inlet

Shipwreck looking thing?

I set off walking along the rocks and kept noticing a black object popping up now and again in the water a few hundred metres off shore. I couldn't work out what it was and I wish I had a better telephoto lens on the camera. It was either a seal, whale or a Chinese submarine with Harold Holt at the controls. I now have about 5 photos of a black object in the water. Again, I wouldn't waste such a crappy picture in the blog. I did come across a bit of old rusted metal lying around complete with bolts and a large, bulbous looking thing. It had to be from a Ye Olde ship which was interesting.  I couldn't find anything on the great new map I had to say what it could be from. It was around this point I started seeing the Cape Otway lighthouse. I found the previous time I walked that the lighthouse which is the destination for the day is seen early but for some reason it takes an eternity to get there. It's an entertaining walk besides the shipwreck as there are plenty of perfectly round holes in the rocks to look at. There would be a geology answer to this but I can't be bothered Googling it right now.

After about an hour of walking I came to a beach area where the path heads off inland. As anyone who walks this hike would know there are a number of inland sections which tend to be rather dull compared to the coastline. I believe the reason is some landowners haven't given permission to Parks Victoria to put the path through their properties. The result is having to go around them. Oh well, I guess they want to enjoy the view all to themselves and not share it with anyone else. I guess they bought the properties years ago and can claim some ownership complete with hot-head signs like, 'KEEP OUT. PRIVATE PROPERTY ONLY'. One can almost see the anger in the ink of the sign.  Fair enough, you were here first. Hang on, shouldn't it be the Aborigines that get the first choice then? Silly me, I forgot we wiped them out in the southern states years ago.

Well, on I went climbing up past a private property until I reached the road which leads to the lighthouse. It appears the path was created by a sadist as it follows the road. What's interesting is the road tends to be flat but the walking path goes on some crazy roller-coaster undulation up and down hills. I did come across a great find though and that was a koala and baby in a tree only about 8 feet off the ground. Plenty of cars were whizzing by oblivious to what I was looking at. They seemed quite peaceful so after a few pictures I continued on until I reached the lighthouse.

Well, the lighthouse was jumping. There were plenty of cars in the car-park as it's quite popular. I had to pay an entry fee to get in but although it's a bit steep in price I wanted to go in just to have a bite to eat at the cafe. It's the last place for the rest of the hike to get some fresh food so I went in and made a bee-line for the cafe which was quite crowded with day tripping punters. I settled down for a cuppa and had to listen to everyone talking absurdly loudly. Everything seems loud after spending some quiet days in the bush. There was a woman on the table next to me who had an insanely high voice.  Similar to a squirrel on helium. I was just absorbing the shrill as she was working away on an Instant Scratchie ticket. Then the volume went higher as she said, "I've just won $25,000!!!" I almost choked on my quiche.

Cape Otway lighthouse

I left money-bags and bought a take-away vegetarian wrap so I was set for the evening. A bit of a look around and I decided to head off to the camp site which was about a kilometre away. As I was leaving I noticed the super sized group of hikers appear. Mm...it looks like I'm spending the night with them again. I spoke to a couple and they were talking of quitting the hike altogether. I was getting confused by what they were doing so I just headed off to the camp site. Again, it's a nice camp just far enough away to avoid the crowds at the lighthouse.



I didn't really bother setting up near the kitchen shelter as I knew the big group would hijack it again which is what they did. They arrived soon after me and set up their tents all around it including in the middle of the access path. It was getting a bit bizarre now. I was pleased to have the bivy away from them and when I started looking up I began to see plenty of koalas. They seemed to be everywhere which was quite nice as they're an interesting creature to watch. Plenty of eating and sleeping seems to be their motto and it's not a bad lifestyle choice they've made. I had my wrap and waited out the end of the day relaxing.  It was off to bed with the iPod listening to a bit of Sigur Ros...

    

Great Ocean Walk. Day 2. Elliot Ridge to Blanket Bay. September 2010

Blanket Bay

Well, the night spent at Elliot Ridge was interesting. Firstly I was surprised to see two full sized bags of rubbish left on the table in the kitchen shelter when I arrived. Hey, if you can carry your crap in you can carry it out! That's my vent out of the way for this minute.

I read the intentions book in the shelter and someone had written, "What's that purring noise?" I didn't think much of it until I went to bed. Yes, there was a purring noise, but it sounded like Satan's cat who was purring whilst on steroids. I was pretty sure it was a koala as it's amazing how such a small animal can sound so demonic. I was 99.9% sure anyway but 0.1% of me thought it was a blood crazed Yowie who was going to descend on me in the middle of the night and pop my head off and use it as a kebab.

It was a restless sleep and even more so when I woke up after a few hours to the sound of the demon cat and my spine feeling like Mike Tyson had returned to use my torso as a warm up. Wondering why my spine was so wrecked I put my hands out and felt beneath my sleeping bag. Yep, the lovely Exped sleeping mat was completely flat. It was as if I was now lying on a piece of tissue paper and it reminded me of my army days where we would just sleep in our bags on the ground. I then had a sinking feeling when I remembered that I didn't bring the nifty Exped sleeping mat repair kit with me.

Okay, day one and it was the first fiasco of this hike. I put up with the deflation and demon until the morning when I crawled out of the bivy like a geriatric. I went for the standard porridge breakfast with a couple of lifesaving 'Panafen Plus' tablets. Ibuprofen 200 mg with 12.8 mg of Codeine per tablet was the pain killer of choice for my back.

I packed up and got ready for the days walk. It was a standard day of about a 12 kilometre walk inland through the Otway forest to the next camp at Blanket Bay. It's quite a short day, as the track walked is mainly on vehicle tracks which are nice and wide and easy going. I set off and the painkillers had kicked in giving me a nice floating feeling early on. There had been a lot of rain in the previous weeks and the tracks were soaking. Soft and plenty of water under foot. With small streams of tannin stained water running down the track, I kept my eyes out for some close up leaf shots which eventually paid off.

With these wet conditions, I wondered how the runner blokes were going to go. I did speak to them briefly and they were going to combine two days walking into one by going to Blanket Bay and then kicking on to the next camp at Cape Otway. Good luck for them as they were planning a 20+ kilometre day. I had a week to walk so I had no intention of going quicker than I needed to. I'm not a big fan of racing through a day to the next camp. It sort of misses the point of bush walking for me.

Walking was quite straight-forward, although again gaiters may have been handy! Not so for the runner brigade. I stopped for a rest at one stage and they came trudging up the track. They didn't appear happy at being soaking wet. I was feeling quite comfortable in my boots, but I didn't want to remind them of that and off they went as I slowly strolled along in their wake.

I did have a mild amount of panic as I went for my sunglasses and suddenly realised I didn't have them. I had stopped in the previous 500 metres and I assumed they had fallen off there, as I had taken my pack off. I set a cracking pace back and after a bit of fossicking around found them in the area I had stopped at. The sunglasses were sitting there on the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief as I'm the sort of person who can not operate outside unless I have my sunglasses on. It put a bit more distance in the day, but I still made it to Blanket Bay early in the afternoon after passing some old ruins.

There was no one at the hike-in camp site, so I again made myself comfortable. There's a small waterfall at the back of the camp and I set the tripod up for a few pictures.

Waterfall at Blanket Bay

I had reached the camp very early in the afternoon, but it wasn't too much of a problem as I spent some time lying around whilst also trying to take photos of Superb Blue-Wrens. This was pretty frustrating though as they're so fast! I actually ended up with a few photos of ground only as the bird had moved before the picture was taken. I did get a couple though...

Just as I was slipping into a relaxed coma mode, I could hear voices coming. Yep, at least 15 people in a group arrived and in size alone meant they took over the place. The group camping area was near the kitchen shelter so they scored that, I was happy to sit away from them to cook up in peace. I spoke to a couple of them and they had set out from Apollo Bay that day and walked two legs of the hike at once. I probed with a few questions and they were saying they were going to walk another double the next day. Mm...pretty keen but I wasn't sure, as a couple of them were looking like they were dying.

If you're really interested, here's the GPS result for the day.



It was time to cook up and prepare for night of lying on the ground. I had the iPod to amuse me and distract from the pain of my spine...

Superb Blue-Wren

    

Sunset at Blanket Bay

Great Ocean Walk. Day 1. Apollo Bay to Elliot Ridge. 29th September 2010

Sunrise at Apollo Bay

It was day one of a week of hiking and I had to drive down early so I could park the car at the end of the walk and then catch the bus back to Apollo Bay for the start. The bus only runs once every second day and it was going to be at the stop I needed to catch it at 10.45 am. I did not want to miss the bus otherwise it would be a balls up before the hike even started! I set off insanely early to the point that I made it to Apollo Bay at sunrise. I then drove on until Princetown where I parked the car. I had made good time and I had a couple of hours to kill. I ordered a cup of tea at the shop and the bloke asked me if I wanted a large. Sure. Why not? I was then given a tea that appeared to be in a cup used for milk shakes.  It's easily the largest tea I have purchased in a shop in my life. It was quite a moment and handy as drinking it took up most of the time I had to kill for the bus.

Early morning moon...

I got my stuff together and I had a moment of umming and ahhing over whether to take gaiters. I didn't use them last year on the same hike, so I thought I'd leave them behind to save weight. You may ask, "But aren't they on your legs so how does that save weight?". Yes, that's correct but don't come here expecting logic. I then walked to the bus stop getting a feel of the new pack and it felt pretty good. Well, pretty good over 300 metres anyway. The bus was on time and that was one worry out of the way. Sit back for an hour or so until Apollo Bay.

Where all good hikes begin...

The previous year I had hopped out of the bus at Marengo which is a couple of kilometres short of Apollo Bay but not the official start of the Great Ocean Walk. This time I thought I should go to the official start and it was a chance to get some more food and visit the Apollo Bay Information Centre. At the centre I bought a new map for the walk which is a beauty. I asked a staff member if there was any up to date information about the walk that I might need to know regarding conditions etc. She answered, "What should you know?" I'm not even sure what that means so instead of cracking out my portable Enigma cipher machine I decided to get going.

Container ship off the coast.

There is a good reason to start a few kilometres up the road at Marengo. The official start takes one on a few kilometre walk next to the road. It's kind of lame but it's flat and on a path so it's a chance to warm up the legs. There's even a public toilet on the way which is handy as the worlds largest cup of tea suddenly began to attack me. I kept going into Marengo where the path leaves the road and then weaves through a caravan park. A quick piece of side stepping barbeques and bikes littered around the caravan park before I was on a path that actually felt like a hike.

The entire walk has a number of 'Decision Points' signposted where the option is given to either walk on the beach or go inland in case the tide is not in favour. There's an incredible five decision points in this first leg of the walk. I'm not sure if they're there to get people in the swing of seeing them but they seemed to appear every 30 seconds. I'm not sure what I even did but for the most part I stuck to the beach as the waves were pretty big. I was hoping to get a few photos of super sized waves. As per usual I got one good photo for every 10 crap ones!

I got off the beach to walk up 'Bald Hill'. I felt like I was climbing Everest when in fact it can be no more than 100 metres high. I really should train before hiking I think! There is a nicely placed set there though that looks right across the coastline. Definitely a good spot for a quick break.

Seat on Bald Hill

After reaching Bald Hill summit I began to notice the path was really quite wet and muddy. Gee, it would be nice to have some gaiters I thought to myself. The previous year was really dry, but then again it was in the middle of a ten year drought. I really should think about things more.

I passed a few day trippers here and there until I reached Elliott River. This was another decision point before the path suddenly swung straight up hill to the first camp site. The theme of the Great Ocean Walk is generally most camp sites are at the end of a bloody big hill to climb!

Mouth of Eliott River

I slogged up the hill until I reached the camp site which is well laid out with shelter kitchen, toilet and water tank. There was no one else there and I started to think that's how it would stay. The first days walk was pretty short with only 10.17 kms hiked with the total elevation climbed a comfortable 331 metres. I have downloaded the GPS reading of this at Garmin Connect.

I set up the bivy and had something to eat before I heard the sound of people coming. Right at the end of the day four blokes arrived and I was impressed to see all except one were wearing runners. I'm not sure how people can survive without boots on but I guess they like the fast walking aspect and didn't mind getting wet feet. Then as I thought that one of them said, "What's the rest of the track like? My feet are wet and I don't want them to get worse!" Okay, maybe I thought too hard about this...

Victoria gets damp as well...

   

Great Ocean Walk, Victoria. September 2010

I had a spare week off at the end of September and I felt like trying to fit a week long hike in. I was a bit deflated after the snow hiking fiasco so I resorted to something familiar. I had walked the Great Ocean Walk in Victoria the previous winter on my own. I loved the hike and its ease of organizing was perfect for a last minute idea. I set about the same method of doing the hike solo as the previous year. I'm happy to carry my supplies for a week so I don't need a food drop. Some money saved there for starters. I can leave my car at the Princetown General Store which is near the end of the hike for $10. I'm thinking that's pretty cheap! About 300 metres away is the Great Ocean Road where I can catch the V/Line bus heading to Apollo Bay which is the start of the hike. That costs me about $7 for the fare. It's a couple of hours on the bus and it arrives in Apollo Bay about midday. That's about it. Ready to go!

I planned to travel pretty light and try out some new gear.  I went for a smaller pack than what I usually carry. I bought a Lowe Alpine TFX Summit pack at the half yearly sales and it seemed to fit me really well. I also bought some Black Diamond Trail Ergo Cork trekking poles. I liked the fact that most write ups say they're sturdy and the extra length is handy for my height. My previous poles are an Exped pair which are okay but could be better as I think an angled grip helps. They had been through a lot in a year and in one day they aged about 10 years. I guess throwing them off a cliff after rescuing them from bouncing off rocks in the surf would do that to them. The sorry tale is included in a previous post here. 

     

The previous year the total distance walked on the GPS was 100 kilometres exactly so I knew I was in for a solid week. The weather forecast looked really good though and I took a punt by leaving the rain jacket at home and making do with a North Face Sentinel Windstopper jacket. I love this jacket and have used it on every hike so far. Windproof and great when wet as it dries quickly. What else?  Not much other than to pack and get going...       

Mt Feathertop Hike, Victoria. 22nd September 2010

Getting acquainted with snow hiking.

Well, the day started off as planned. First things first, Ben managed to fit the world's largest pasta into his pack without the use of a forklift. I dropped the car off at the bottom of the Bungalow Spur and then we  headed to the bus stop which was nearby. Right on time the mini-bus arrived which was jam-packed with day trippers off to Mt Hotham for a day of skiing. As I looked inside it appeared we would need a shoe-horn to get in, but we managed to slowly work our way to the only two seats left at the back of the bus. Most people appeared to be sleeping/dead or acting strange. I was intrigued to see a bloke sitting with his shirt undone and pulled off the shoulders, until it bunched around the waist revealing his naked torso. Not the sexiest look I've seen and especially as I had just had breakfast. It didn't end there though as we then had to listen to some bloke talk about how his dog had attacked and eaten his pet hamster. Not once but multiple times this story was relayed to his friend. I closed my eyes and had a vision of this bloke being the hamster.

The drive up was short on views due to soaking wet windows from breath condensation, so I was very, very happy to reach the drop off point outside Diamantina Hut. Once escaped from the bus I looked across the Razorback Spur and saw lots and lots of snow. I started to think that I should have got more advice about the conditions than the hotel receptionist. 

The view ahead...

I did look pretty silly not bringing the snow shoes as there was clearly tons of the stuff! Oh well, we'll make do with what we've got I thought. There were a group of skiers in their 50s also setting off nearby. When one of them saw we didn't have snow-shoes he began laughing out loud and generally being a bit of a tool. I didn't realise at the time but this laughing fool was going to be other outdoors equivalent of the hiking hero. He was the 'lecturer'.  

Ben set off quickly and found his feet sinking into soft mush up to his knee. He thought by moving quickly he would avoid the sinking in part of each footstep. The trouble is as his speed picked up he eventually was powerless to prevent a solid face-plant. His arms were outstretched and with a sudden quick fall he found they weren't in position quick enough to break the fall. It wasn't too bad as his fall was successfully absorbed by his face. Once I realised he was still alive I couldn't stop laughing and made sure I got a decent photo. In fact I took a few until I could hear a mumble in the snow, "Have you got a photo? The snow is freezing my face."

Well, the going was now officially tough. It wasn't remotely cold as the temperature was about 6 °C. The snow was soft, wet mush and most steps went almost knee deep. Would snow-shoes have helped? I think they would have made all of the difference but it may even have been too soft for them. Suddenly up ahead was the laughing lecturer heading back to his car as he had given up for the day. Too soft for skiing apparently.  Instead of a quick yarn he decided to stop and commence a fairly lengthy bang-on session. 

When I told him that the temperature was warm and the previous day too tropical for snow, he was quick to implore, "No, No, NO!!" I was now interested as he told me, "No, the problem is there's an inversion over the mountain and heat rises" I was gobsmacked at this stage. Heat rising? What? I was always of the opinion that as my feet get hot in my shoes then heat must sink. How did this bloke come up with such an unknown idea?? Hang on, why all the 'No's'?  Isn't that what I just said? 

Next it was a matter of ticking off the boxes. "In Europe where I ski everyone wears snow-shoes unlike here." Okay, he has travelled and he had to tell me that. Tick that box. "You hiking here is chopping up the snow for skiing." Right, apparently he owns the Razorback Spur or instead is rather self-absorbed. Tick that box. In the end I was enjoying the banter as it does give me more material for this lame blog. Whereas the 'hiking hero' will force feed you how he has done things longer, better and harder than you 'the lecturer' is a different sort of hombre. He likes to inform you that you're doing something wrong and will continue blathering as if you're brain dead and missed out on going to school. In fact I had no intention of talking to this bloke at all but he went out of his way to crap on about rising heat to someone who had an insanely blank look on his face.

Well, as the lecturer skied away I took a look at my GPS. Yes, in one hour of walking we had covered exactly 800 metres. It was at this point I began to wonder if we should pull the pin. We had a lazy man option in that we were near another track which leads down the mountain to Harrietville. This is the Bon Accord Spur and I had walked down it the previous year. We struggled on in the snow until we reached a point where the turn off down the Bon Accord Spur is sign posted. For some weird reason this spot was higher than the surrounding area but it had no snow on it. It was good to lie down on some grass and ponder the options.

Bon Accord Spur turn off...

I thought we could zip down to Harrietville and come back the next day by walking up the Bungalow Spur to Mt Feathertop. I do remember quite clearly from the walk the previous year that the Bon Accord Spur, well, sucks. Firstly the sign saying it's 9 kilometres long back to Harrietville is clearly wrong. I remembered ticking over 9 kilometres last year and being nowhere near Harrietville! It's downhill all the way but not much in the way of a view and lots of loose stuff which is a killer on my dodgy knees.

A bit of a longer stop to eat my pillow of scroggin and down we went. We dropped only about 100 metres in height and there was no snow at all. The snow was a bit of a novelty for both of us! Now it was just a matter of slowly descending with Ben vanishing in the distance..

Off to Mt Feathertop, Victoria. September 2010

Ovens River, Harrietville

September school holidays and it was a chance to head to the Victorian alpine area for a walk in some snow. I told Ben he would have a great two day hike with plenty of snow and lots of 'good' times. He was suspicious but I managed to seduce him with a plan that sounded too good to be true.

I had climbed Mt Feathertop in December 2009. There are two common ways of getting up there with one a lot easier than the other. The easy way is to travel up the road to Mt Hotham and park the car near Diamantina Hut. Then set off on the track across the Razorback Spur for about 10 kilometres towards Mt Feathertop. This is easier as the start of the walking is already at 1700 metres in height. The harder way is to start from the town of Harrietville at about 600 metres in height and slowly climb for 10 kilometres up the Bungalow Spur. I previously did the Bungalow Spur and the thought of a ten kilometer climb didn't sit too well in our unfit 'holiday' state.

So, the plan. Park the car at the bottom of the Bungalow Spur. Then catch the 'Alps Bus Link' up towards Mt Hotham. Hop out at Diamantina Hut and walk across the Razorback. Spend the night at Federation Hut beneath Mt Feathertop. Get up early and climb Feathertop and then walk back downhill along the Bungalow Spur to the car. Voilà! Easy walking I'm thinking! A quick trip to Bogong hiking store and a hire of snow shoes meant we were equipped.

We headed up and the first thing I noticed was it was unseasonally warm. Upon arriving in Harrietville we found out it was 20 °C. I started to think that the snow would be mush and by looking towards the surrounding mountains I was surprised to see minimal snow. Okay, seek local advice I thought. Yeah, I do stand here with full admissions of being a tool in hindsight. The local advice I sought was the receptionist at the hotel we were staying at. Yeah, yeah, I know, asking Parks Victoria may have been a better option! I asked what the conditions would be like across the Razorback. Snow?  Difficult? Snow shoes required? I was then told, "No, there's barely any snow on the Razorback. The only snow is at Mt Hotham and that's due to snow making" So that was it. I decided as it was quite warm any minimal snow would be mush and snow shoes wouldn't really work anyway. We might as well leave the snow shoes in the car and just do the walk as planned. Oh well, it will be easier walking than if we were trudging through snow I thought...

It was a matter of relaxing the rest of the day and generally just eating. We had made up some scroggin and it appears we made enough to feed a hundred people. My scroggin bag looked suitable to be a pillow. I've never seen so many snakes forced into a zip-lock bag. I had also made up a pasta for the trip and that also appeared larger than life. I felt relieved that Ben elected to carry the pasta as it was truly monstrous and I was thinking this may be the first hike I go on where I actually put on weight!

Jet plane during the setting sun...