Hello!! I am back, showered warm, enjoying the fire and looking at the time feeling odd that I haven’t hiked for 5 hours today!
Well… we started in epic conditions. I think there was a bushwalkers alert out. 100km/hr (62mph) wind gusts along with rain, hail & snow!
Jeff walked with us up to Kitchen Hut where we ate some lunch before parting company – Fiona and I heading on and Jeff hiking back to the car and home (and a fire sob sob)
I am so glad we left early that first day. Its a bit over 10km with a lot of uphill parts along with some very exposed areas that were challenging in those winds! It also meant we reached the first hut in good time to change and recover a bit!
What we didn’t expect was to wake up to see snow a foot or so deep the next day!!
It was stunningly beautiful and I always wanted to have a go at snow hiking!! That was a tough day though as the path was hard to keep, the deeper snow was tricky to traverse (we fell down a lot) and we got hit with a decent blizzard while on the exposed plains part of the track (of course)
There were moments of concern, especially when the track route wasn’t obvious and the snow quite deep. But we, along with the other shell-shocked people who started on our day – all made it to the second hut in one piece!
From there on the weather grew steadily better! The long day three (nearly 17km) was rain and wind off and on, but a superbly beautiful walk.
Mud was unavoidable – I tended to plough right through as it was less energy than trying to rock hop. In the end, you were going to end up in a mud puddle!
Sometimes the track was covered in water.
Ok… I think 85% of the time the track looked more like a creek course, but sometimes there were exciting waterfalls to walk across!
No choice here about paddling. The boardwalk was about half a foot under water!
I have just added about 1500 images to the backlog of photographic post processing to wade through (Although that kind of wading will be more comfortable!!)
We have no immediate guests arriving so looking forward to some quiet days to get gardening and photos attended to, then I can return to share more of the recent adventures!
Hope you have all had a great week too – but perhaps hope you were all a little drier, less smelly and had more toilet paper!! 😀
AWESOME!!! Well done! Xx
Thanks Sam!! xx
Well done you two!! What an adventure!!! Glad you’re back and warmed up!! Thanks for sharing with us!! Looking forward to your next post.
Thanks Pat! Another quiet day for me I think. Maybe play with a few more photos. Feel I should be going out for a walk though! 😀
Impressive. Glad you survived. I have missed your posts.
Thanks Pamela! It was so great! Hopefully things are a bit slower paced for a while so I can keep up with things!
Wow, so happy you had good adventure and that you are home warm and dry.
Thanks Janet! One of the best weeks! But I am loving the fire! 🙂
Welcome Home! So impressive! What a fantastic accomplishment!
Thanks Teri! We feel a bit pleased with ourselves getting through it all!
Congratulations on finishing your hike! Looks like you had quite the adventure and I can’t wait to see and hear more!
Thanks Pam! It was an amazing week! Nice to slow down for a day or two thats for sure!
Welcome back! I have missed your posts. Get warm and get some good sleep. We’ll be here when you’re ready.
Thanks Janet! Its lovely to be home but I enjoyed every second up there! Crazy weather, uphills and all!!
You are certifiably crazy!! I’ll stick to my comfy chair by the woodstove and enjoy your travelogues on my iPad!
Seriously admire your spirit of adventure! Congratulations on sticking with it in spite of the gale force winds and snow.
hahaha – you may be quite right! But as comfortable as I am with the fire going and a warm Pip on my lap, once you are out there in that environment, you just embrace it and love it! Seems weird huh? I am glad we had some challenging weather. Seems to make us feel a bit prouder for getting through it! 🙂 (I must admit, if it had been 7 days of howling wind and rain my sense of optimism might have wavered)
Wow! It looks amazing. I look forward to seeing some more of the photos but well done both of you!
Thanks Hazel! Was quite the week!!
Hi Lisa! I read your 7-day journey to Overland Track as promised and Im feeling pure happiness!! Priceless!!
*I was the one you were talking to yesterday on the phone about your wordpress problems and told you about my hiking here in the Philippines 🙂 hope you’re feeling better now. Cheers!
Hello Janine! So great you came back to read it and I am glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much
Also a BIG thank-you for your help yesterday! Would you believe that I followed on from your suggestions and found a different settings page where my own email had been blocked! I just ‘unticked’ the box and everything is working perfectly!
Let me know if you continue blogging about hiking in the Philippines! Sounds wonderful!
I will have to get myself together and finish writing up the Overland Hike story!
Thanks for writing!! 🙂 🙂