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Hello again, just dropping by with the rest of the days photos… not much more of a story in there.

I love all the waterways, tarns, puddles etc

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I think Cradle is getting slightly closer…?

And Jeff further away!

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I think the above view is one of my fav’s from up that way

Since we felt we didn’t have enough time to do the Face Track (Last bus back to the carpark was 4pm) we just walked back via Marions Lookout where we sat to enjoy the views and lunch

Hit the spot for sure…

Picnics always bring out the freeloaders too

Nope, sorry. You can’t have my sandwich!

Instead of going down the usual way, we took the steep direct path that went down to Dove Lake instead of Ronnies Creek where we started

The chains are very helpful – less tumbling down on my part

The track comes out just before the boathouse where a keen wedding party was standing around getting photos!
I snuck a quick snap before getting out of the way

Sunny day or not… I bet the bride was feeling chilly!

Dove Lake car park is being turned into some kind of interpretation/visitors centre. (General visitors haven’t been able to drive up here for a long time… have to rely on the shuttle buses now)
I am not sure why its nec.
They’ve just built a lovely big visitors centre at the fringe of the park which is great – quite big, but got everything there to appease the visitors.
I tend to feel the more structures and buildings, the less wilderness it becomes.
Horrifyingly they are talking of putting a chairlift up to Marions Lookout!!

This is a Natural World Heritage Site – and while it would make that spot more accessible to those that can’t walk it, I can only imagine the impact of excessive amounts of day trippers up there, not to mention the act of installing and maintaining it. (And then comes the safety boundary fences probably – I am sure most people who hike up love the open feeling of standing up there without the man made structures enclosing us)
There will be more rescues needed – We’ve already caught people heading down really dangerous paths with toddlers who they managed to get up to Marions!! If they get an easy lift over that hard slog up, I suspect in many inexperienced walkers, there would be a false sense of ability to tackle some of the other tracks from that point.
And rubbish. Sadly its creeping in more with the popularity of the spot.
So, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that a chairlift/cable car wont actually get built there.

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We made it back to Dove Lake in plenty of time to get the bus back to the car and on our way home before the roads iced up again!
We really couldn’t have asked for a better day out!

Hope you enjoyed
Cheers!

Hi! Busy week but fence is done!
Decided to do the walk story in two parts otherwise I was in danger of not getting it done at all!!

As you can see… it was a magnificent winters day up at Cradle!
Fresh, crisp air – fabulous for walking up hills!

We started out at the usual Ronnies Creek… lots of the little ponds and streams were iced over

Still frosty where there was shade too

Spotted a nice fat wombat eating his dinner before presumably popping off for a snooze

Crossing the bridge

Didn’t take us long to find the first mud puddles!!

There were a number of people out on the track that morning. A group was geared up to start the Overland.
We took the turn off and went up the Horse Track where there were no other people

I admit I struggled in the morning. Its not as steep as going the other way but its longer and stretches up for ever

The views as always just get better as you go

The narrow paths are quite pretty

(Still struggling on up!)

Came across a mini waterfall and waterway

Looking across the hills… so clear that day!

Then looking back

Then looking ahead (Sob)

Getting high enough again to see Cradle peeking over the edge

The track was icy in parts. Nothing too difficult though. Enough to slow us up a little.

The old timber tracks look cool but can sometimes be a bit hard to navigate. (Easy to slide off or end up in a puddle)

Not far off the top now…
A quick diversion off to Crater Peak for a look. Always love the views from up there

Makes me feel small

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Back on the track we stopped to refill one of the water bottles with some fresh icy mountain water

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Sometimes the ice between the rocks was hard to spot

Jeff saw these trees and thought it looked like an aerial shot

Onward!

The new tracks are so easy to traverse after the old ones!

Going to have to climb Barn Bluff one of these days!

Brrrrr… well… its cold sitting here and I will warm up better if I get off my bottom and do something with the day while the sun is shining…
Back with part two soon! (And Fence Stories of course!)

Cheers

So… been pretty busy so still not got to our hike photos!
Currently getting the fence put back up – Sharons husband Paul is doing the fencing but I’ve been helping.
Dug some holes.
Now I have a backlog of stories!!!
Will get back to you when I can!!
Cheers!

Hello… I haven’t really finished sorting the photos from Sundays hike… but as you can see, we had a fabulously amazing sunny winters day up at Cradle!

We had planned to do the Face Track but things were a bit slow going up the Horse Track (Me with my ‘Up’ issues)(and early morning issues) and enough ice on the track to slow things up as well

Plus, the last bus out was at 4pm and we wanted to be heading home before the temps dropped and we hit black ice.
We hit a few small patches coming in and its not a nice feeling.
So we ducked back across to Marions and went down that way.
Still a great day out!

And guess what??
We booked in to the Overland Track again!!
25th January!
Sharon and her husband Paul have been wanting to do it for a while and had decided to do it as a family for Paul’s 50th birthday.

That would be in May so I had a chat to them and said they would enjoy it more in summer – longer days, less chance of snow and – more importantly – ice!
Booking for the next season opened at 9am this morning.
They invited a few others in on the adventure (us included – I didn’t just crash the party) so they went in and booked first thing – then rang us to tell us what date they got. The 24th Jan. Jeff got online and couldn’t get the 24th so booked us in on the 25th. We can do a double on the first day and catch them up I’d say pretty easily.
No-one else they invited could lock in bookings. 🙁
By 9.30am all of December, January and February were booked out!!!
Its always kind of like that, but now even worse with the reduced numbers allowed to start each day due to covid.

Anyway… its a while off but am pretty excited!

Hope your day has been great!

Cheers

Hi!
Just a little showing off with my first attempt at making a ‘drink like’ soap

I’ve seen a few versions of this.

It was insanely tricky getting it out of the mould!
Its a choc-orange sundae!
(Fragrance is bitter chocolate and orange)
The creamy top today has more of a latte hue as the fragrance has discoloured it
Perhaps the next lot I might set aside the top layer and not put in the fragrance.

Anyway, they worked out pretty cute. (and smell amazing)

Currently I am working on some photos from a hike up at Cradle we did Sunday so will get back when I am done to share!
Hope everyone had a great weekend (now that we are mid-week!)
Cheers!

Hi!
Not done a lot of excessive soaping lately…
I have been out of the soap with the English Rose fragrance so made a batch of that. Spent some time cutting out the matting for the bottom of each cavity.

I just used two clays for the colour, so its a lot more subtle than my normal style! (Brazilian purple clay and dusky rose clay)

Quite neat…

This one was with the mango fragrance… and worked out nothing like I planned!!
Oh well… it happens.

A new matting for the bottom just to see how it turns out

Nice big chunky bits with an ‘interesting’ pattern!

And then… some Wasabi soap as I was running really low

A loaf and some leftover mix into my horse mould

I like the bubble type design!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!
Cheers!

Hi… Got the wood stacked… with my resident snoopervisor, Flea.
Her foot is getting better and better but she is still separate from the flock and in her B&B inside here at night.

She is clearly doing a lot better judging by her adventurous spirit returning
We do supervised visits with the flock. She gets pecked a little bit but she is usually happy wandering off to do her own thing like usual.

(Yes, I did get her down to save any unnecessary impact on her foot)

So… the front yard! Willfully neglected, grass/weeds running rampant.

First up, dug out the concrete edging from its grass prison

Flea was delighted! So many worms and grubs up for grabs here

We started digging out the path itself the day before yesterday… but the rain started pelting down… so we stopped at this point

I managed to use a fair bit of the soil and grassy bits to top up under the bottom gate thats been annoying me forever.
The sloping land left an uneven gap under the fence which we’ve tried to block with wire and planks of wood… not a great look and pretty inconvenient.
Really… I just want to walk through a gate, open, shut and thats it… not a 5 minute removal-reconstruction job.
And if you don’t – its a sure bet a chook will squeeze under and call the others!

So I just started building up the area with the unwanted soil/grass.
I have faith it will grow in ok.

Next day, less rain, more digging.
Luckily we’ve got that whacking great hole down the back – so all unwanted material could just be put down there.

Jeff decided he wanted the path up through this area cleared as well.. so he cut a gap in the concrete edging and we sorted that too

Ready. (note to self… find plants for this garden that the rabbits don’t like)

Now for the lifesize, freestyle jigsaw puzzling with Margies shed cardboard!

Done…

Then down to the macrocarpa woodchip pile to start putting the finishing touches on the path

It was getting a bit later in the afternoon and we were a bit over it (ie backs were aching a wee bit haha) but we had to finish since we had gotten this far!

Quite the improvement!
Its pretty fine material so we will see how it goes… once it settles we might get a couple of trailer loads of coarse woodchip to top it off. Less stuff being tracked up onto the deck and inside.
(Or just buy a heap more doormats)

Hope your week is going fabulously!
Cheers

Back up the Postmans Track we go!
It was a rather nice day on Sunday so we put the hiking gear back on and headed out.

Stunning views as always

Today we were planning on following the coastal track down a short way, then divert off down to Cathedral Rocks

Rolling hills and the track ahead.
Jeff uncharacteristically unfettered by hiking poles and a pack!

Rather happy to be going down rather than the severe ups of the inland route

Sorry… lots of Jeff’s butt in todays shots. (Not that I minded at all)

Small wildflowers even in winter!

Small balancing acts required

As with the other end of this track, there is a pile of materials in the bush that are clearly meant for use in some track maintenance. The lot up our end has been there since about 2017 I think? I presume this lot got put down at the same time (Helicopter)

It might be time they used them.

There were several balancing acts along the way. Happily neither of us fell in to any mudpuddles or streams

New path for us. Every time we’ve been past this junction we are usually a bit too tired or have to far to go to do the diversion

Getting down to sea level again

Destination in sight

Fungi growing in a burnt out Xanthorrhoea

The path suddenly became quite rubbly

And here we are. There was no path out to the point but we scrambled along a fair way best we could

And scramble is the right word!

How great does that look? White and orange lichen!

Jeff pointed out this section where the rocks have frozen in a flowing formation

Jeffs smiling face rather than his bottom haha

All sorts of fabulous rock formations here

These rocks were so chunky… but easier to walk over

Over the other side…

Where the rocks turned white

Someone has taken time to arrange the driftwood

Jeff on his way over… gives you some scale

We wandered a short way but eventually turned back. Wasn’t sure on the tide times or how long it would take us to get over to the point, being that there was no path

Weird toothy rock monster

I accidentally disturbed a crab who ran about backwards for a while

And found a tiny rock pool with a couple of blue-green sea stars

Before heading back we walked up the ‘beach’ a short way and over the creek

Love the colour of the water

I can’t remember if the tannin colouring is from the buttongrass or teatree in this area or upstream…

The winter afternoon light is quite beautiful

A few minutes spent arranging some seaweed!

Mini rock gardens!

Last look before heading back up the track

Up up up… not too bad really.

Anyway… it was an afternoon well spent! When the sun is out in winter, best to take advantage!
Cheers!

Hi!
We’ve had a few rather nice days – good enough to be in a t-shirt while working outside!!
My spring onions above… sigh. Poor things. I dug them out of a patch months ago and dumped them on a stump. Undeterred… they are growing nicely!!
I’ll be kind to them soon and find them a plot to stretch their legs in.

Garlic… talking about garlic all year in that offhand way “Yeah I don’t plant until mid June”
How did mid June arrive without me properly noticing????
Panic…

Flea’s foot is doing a lot better… we bring her out of the hothouse to play in the garden when the weather is nice.
She was really happy helping me in this plot! Worms galore!!

As usual it was the twitch that slowed me down a lot.

I topped the plot up with a little of the leftover fancy compost I bought ages back and some leaf mould compost.

(All looking scrumptious)

Got my garlic (Purple)(And you can see IT knows when to grow even if I don’t!)

Ready to go…

I don’t even want to show you the next photo… but I will…

Seems like a horrible waste.
But by the time these got to the red (ish) stage they weren’t tasting very nice and they were bruising quickly. (and half eaten by slugs) The season was not on the side of the tomatoes this year.
So… I hardened my heart and just ripped it all out.

Flea was on hand to assist here too

Another worm smorgasbord!

This plot will be for the white garlic. I need to go into town and get some blood and bone to dig through… that’s on tomorrows job list.

Remember how Flossie-Veloci was looking so scruffy a while back?

She is now super sleek and pretty!

Moving right along…
The blueberries!

Margie just got a big garage/shed built and I managed to snaffle the carboard packing!!
That and several barrow loads of the macrocarpa woodchip and voila!
Much Better!

Cousin Jeff came around yesterday morning with his son and his wood splitter and split the rest of the wood that seemed impenetrable to the axe

I’ve probably gotten about half stacked

Its pretty green so it won’t be used for a good long while

Getting a few nice evening skies too when the weather is on form

And nothing much changes in Pips world.
As long as there is a warm towel and a comfy chair?
Life is grand!
Cheers!

Hello! Well… this amazing photo (haha) is our gourmet dinner – yes, I ditched most normal camping food in favour of cup-a-soups, chocolate, muesli bars and cheese and bikkies (crackers)
Totally enjoyed. Funnily enough the biscuits made it happily through the trek without becoming crumbs.
I kinda wondered if I would have to pour crumbs into my mouth and follow it up with a cheese-chaser…

(Photo of me looking all glamorous from Leonie… you can kinda tell its all a bit cold and damp)

So… we went to bed early, ate and then tucked in to try to get some sleep.
Ahhh, well… gosh. My, that was a looooooong cold night.
Not hypothermically cold (I may have just made up a word) but the cold kept seeping in at different spots all night. I think against all odds we did get in a good block of hours sleep but it was hard to feel rested in the morning.
Oh I did NOT want to get up to go to the loo either…
Of course, I eventually did, got dressed and made a hot tea.

We decided not to do the second night.
But we walked a short way up into the actual Walls area to see what we could see

It was cold enough but the day seemed quite nice

Unfortunately a lot of the track as we went up was becoming ice encrusted, so we just figured that it would be too slow to go any distance which would make the hike back a bit later than what we would be comfortable with

We were unsure of what the conditions would be like that day so erred on the side of caution

Bit disappointed of course. Would be nice to eventually actually SEE the Walls when going up there!!

Love the streams running through the mossy terrain

So… back to camp to finish packing our gear, getting the right clothes on and head on back.

The day was much clearer than the day before

We took our time walking across the boardwalk and taking photos and topping up the water. I just ran the stream water through my sawyer mini to filter it (eyeroll… probably filtering some of the cleanest water on the planet)

There are taps at the campsite but they were all frozen that morning

Pretty odd through the fisheye lens…

More mossy streams

And of course my favourite pincushion plants!

I love them so much, weird little creatures haha

Time to get a wriggle on

And looking back to the campsite area (Well hidden)

I like how this stretch of rock is incorporated into the hiking path

And thanks to Leonie… another Lisa-Action-Shot

I really love the area through here, paths, tarns, ice and plants

Its just so beautiful!

And I know I posted this one earlier, but I think its my fav of the trip so I am putting it up again!

And onward we go!

(After another photo of course)

Back to our icecapades…

Cute little stand of Pencil Pines!

And gosh… is that a bit of blue sky?

Thats a bit exciting!

Here is a blatant cut and paste from Wikipedia about Pencil Pines:

Athrotaxis cupressoides, is also known as pencil pine, despite being a species of the family Cupressaceae, and not a member of the pine family. Found either as an erect shrub or as a tree, this species is endemic to Tasmania Australia. Trees can live for upwards of 1000 years, sustaining a very slow growth rate of approximately 12 mm in diameter per year.

There you go!!

More blue sky

Getting better views this day so we could see the lakes and tarns etc a lot better

And for something different… more icy paths

We were actually starting to warm up a bit much by this point so we stopped and shed some layers. Always nice to put the packs down for a few minutes too

Selfie!

OK… not the best lens for this… waaaaaay in the distance is Cradle Mt and surrounding mountains.. snow capped.
So I made Leonie do some zooming on her phone…

Trekking on

Time for a short stop, a snack and packs down

We started coming across those ice over rock waterfalls….

The ice had retreated a bit on some of them, but they were still a bit hairy going up. I think I went bush for this one while Leonie went straight up!

The above photo shows it a bit better… no wrong steps should be made here!

Once we got down to a certain level, it was much easier going as the ice was gone and it was all downhill.
It still took us 4 hours to return. (Better than 6 I suppose!!!)

I am sure we will plan more hikes, but perhaps sticking to the summer months.
I like the challenge of winter but I’d like to update gear a bit for the cold and ice to make things a little safer and a bit more comfortable at night!

Thanks for soldiering through all the photos!!
Cheers!

(Thanks to Leonie for this photo!)