Lyrebird

Gallery: Northern Territory, Australia

lyrebird — Thu, 2 Oct 2008 22:36:00 GMT

Gallery: Tasmania

lyrebird — Sat, 9 Aug 2008 22:10:00 GMT

The Overland Track

The Devil's Marbles

lyrebird — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 06:00:00 GMT

What a weird but wonderful sight.....driving for hours along wide, flat featureless red desert plains then bang! a huge pile of reddish brown marbles (really huge granite stones) jump right out of the plains and stun you into silence. These awesome marbles are scattered over about an acre or two (a hectare)and must number in the hundreds. Some of the most famous marbles, featured in so many photographs are awesome when seen it the deep red of a typical central Australian sunset. Even without the sun glowing late or early in the day, the marbles are stills stunning. Standing under or beside them, I felt such a strong feeling of being part of an ancient landscape. Is it worth driving so far across so much remote country to see these wonders? absolutely!

The Overland Track - Dove Lake (to Scott - Kilvert Hut)

lyrebird — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:28:00 GMT

After a pretty cruisy 4 hour coach ride from Launceston through gorgeous emerald green valleys dotted with sheep and horses, tiny towns, quaint little villages and increasingly mountainous scenery, we arrived at the Cradle Mountain National Park visitor centre. As this was our last chance to eat 'bad' food for a week or more, we gorged ourselves on hot pies, steak sandwiches, salty chips, reasonable coffee and an assortment of junk! Time was getting away and we were keen to get ourselves to Scott-Kilvert Hut before dark so we jumped the shuttle down to the Tasmanian Parks office, handed over $178 for the privelege, read the rules, checked our maps, collected our (compulsory) track passes, signed the walkers register and arrived at Dove Lake in time for the obligatory photos at the historic boatshed. As the area we were about to enter is wilderness, we made sure we only relied on official topographic survey maps, even though the route is well marked.

Under a stunning clear azure blue sky, we began our long planned odyssey and headed off, skirting the left shore of a sublimely beautiful Dove Lake. The walk at this point is busy with day trippers and 'car park tourists' and we attracted a few looks of what may have been envy from some as they took in our trekking gear and huge packs. I suspect there were equally as many people thinking these guys have to be crazy to launch themselves into a wilderness with the next contact with the forms of civilisation we take for granted (cars, restaurants, electricity) some 80 or more kilometres away.

Before too long we'd left the tourists behind and began the hard, steeply uphill slog to Hansons Lake.....stunningly spectacular. In more than one or two places, we had no choice but to haul ourselves up the rocky slopes with the aid of chain links placed there by Tassie Parks Rangers. The reward for making the somewhat difficult climb from the lake was more than we'd hoped for.....this is a gorgeous lake with views out to the Walls of Jerusalem in the distance. We'd heard of the legendary beauty of this part of the walk and were far from disappointed. As the sun was on its descent behind Cradle Mountain, around which our track skirted the base, we stepped up the pace and headed off through gorgeous forests, tarns and down through creeks and rugged sections of track.

Eventually, we walked into a clearing and there was our home for the first night, Scott-Kilvert Hut. Such a sad story behind the creation of the hut which was to shelter us for the night though. A teacher and high school student tragically lost their lives in a blizzard here many years ago so the school community constructed the hut to commemorate the guys and ensure that such loss of life in such a harsh and remote place would be prevented into the future. We were very grateful as the weather had become quite damp not long after we arrived. The hut filled quickly as night took hold and a spirit of camaraderie soon developed as trekkers unpacked and sorted gear, laid out bedding and got their fuel stoves pumped up and meals underway. The hut soon filled with a curious and tantalising mix of smells as dinners cooked, filling the small space downstairs. Scott-Kilvert is one of the very few huts built with two levels...living spaces downstairs with sleeping confined to the upstairs level. The hut became quite crowded and space to put down your mat was soon at a premium.

I suffered my first Overland Track disaster as I found my sleeping mat had de-laminated and held not a skerrick of air in its nylon cells. As I had 6 more nights in the huts or my tent ahead of me, this was really bad news. Placing what few clothes I had under me for padding and warmth had little effect and I had perhaps the worst sleep in many years that first night.....no solution or options except to grin and bear it.

One of the more interesting aspect of staying at Scott-Kilvert was seeing what some people bring with them when they trek. We were amazed when a young guy and his girlfriend pulled out 6 bottles (glass!) of beer and a few steel cans of baked beans...amongst other heavy things. Maybe they'd limited experience as long distance trekkers or perhaps were simply doing Scott-Kilvert as an overnighter? Whatever their reason, we hope they remembered the trekkers code and took all that outrageously heavy packaging out with them. Tomorrow we tackle the rumoured tough slog uphill to the main track junction, backtrack a couple of kilometeres, then climb the tors to the Cradle Mountain summit....lets hope the fabulous weather holds good.

Tasmania's Overland Track......

lyrebird — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:30:00 GMT

The long held dream of tackling Australia's best and one of the world's most renowned wilderness treks was finally to become reality. A small group, seven of us in total, met a couple of times over the summer to plan the trek which we wanted to fit in just before the weather got too cold down in the southern extremes of Australia. The group was made up of four 16 year old guys, our guides Jim & Jedda in their early 30's who'd walked the track in 2004, and me...ancient at almost 50. The plan was to fly from Port Macquarie to Sydney, change to a Virgin flight to Melbourne the change to another short Virgin flight to Launceston. So far so good with not a single delay, drama or hassle. We arrived pretty late and by the time we found the shuttle and got to the Hostel it was close to midnight, which would be OK if we didn't need to be up and packed by 6am! We made our way down to the bus terminal, got a pretty good coffee for the road then at 7am picked up the coach that would take us to Cradle Mountain....the real journey had begun. As it turned out, today would be a very long and tiring one.

The Overland Track - Scott-Kilvert Hut to Waterfall Hut

lyrebird — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:55:00 GMT

Woke up to a damp sky and soggy track but seemed like we'd eventually be blessed with the fantastic clear skies of yesterday. Starting out through tall closed rain forest, we quickly emerged to a vista of steep mountainsides clothed with low herbaceous shrubs. The higher we climbed, the lower and more windblown the shrub cover became. No surprise given we'd turned onto the very exposed slopes of the Cradle. The track became very, very steep and seemed to follow watercourses for much of the second half. The track was so steep in parts that there was no option other than to drop the pack, throw it up and forward, haul yourself up then start the uphill slog again. after what seemed like an age, we reached the top and dropped our packs at the junction of the main track south. It was here that we would head back a few km's to climb to the summit of Cradle Mountain. As we'd have to backtrack to this point to get to Waterfall Valley hut that evening, we secured our packs on the side of the track. We weren't securing our gear from humans, we were trying to protect out food from the famously marauding crows that frequent the Overland. He headed north skirting the mountain through spectacular scenery. you have to walk this track to fully appreciate the truly sublime scenery, vegetation and challenge.

Blink and you'd miss it.....Liechtenstein

lyrebird — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:02:00 GMT

About 30 minutes...if you drive slowly; Leichtenstein is pretty, interesting, um....trying to think of other nice things to say about it but lets just say if you blink you'll miss it. Maybe a good thing but it was just a quick way to get to Austria. Still haven't been able to fathom why it is an independant nation; looks like Switzerland or Austria depending on whether you approach from the east or west. Otherwise it's just a rather featureless if not vaguely quaint little town struggling with an identity crisis. Having said that, the people seemed really friendly and it does have a few attractive buildings. Oh, one last thing. Liechtenstien has an impressive border.....uniformed border guards, lots of impressive traffic and big gates! But I had to wonder why all the fuss when you don't even have to stop? and I was so looking forward to this particular stamp in my passport!

London...welcome to a heatwave!

lyrebird — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:58:00 GMT

The picture many travellers have of London is of a cold, dark, drab & dreary city shrounded in mist and fog.....eternally dank. Nothing could've been further from the truth as we emerged from 20,000 feet, touched down and walked into what was a London heatwave. Having just come from Hong Kong we were somewhat aclimatised; way more so than most Brits we saw who were struggling under the enormous weight of 'uncomon conditions' as quaintly put by at least one reporter on the BBC Radio. Heathrow for the uninitiated is daunting. Fortunately, this wasn't my first time through this massiv, sprawling monument to rather poor planning. Whilst this was a new experience for the rest of the tribe, we managed to clear customs, find the Tube station and lug our two bags aboard a train for the hour trip into St Pancras Station. Out on the street for the first taste of London, we faced the eternal travelers dilemna....left or right? Made the right decision and turned right, trudged 200 metres up the road to our home for the next 4 days. St Pancras YHA appeared like a haven on the horizon and was more than we had hoped for. I've got to say it....YHA's are a great place for families; generally safe A room of our own, ensuite, breakfast included; not too bad for 70 pound. We even had a view so made the most of it as we unpacked and settled in; just long enough to get our bearings, find our London maps, pack our little daypacks and hit the high street. And yeah....it was damned hot! So much to see but was tickled by the Bag 'o Nails pub just up the street.....so quaintly British.

Sleepy Hong Kong Cabbies

lyrebird — Tue, 29 May 2007 08:08:00 GMT

Hadn't imagined our trip could possibly end in Hong Kong just a few days after it had begun! We were leaving HK heading to London.......early in the morning and just after dawn. Had a close call with our cabbie but due to Liz being ever vigilant, managed to survive a potentially dangerous trip from Kowloon to the fabulous airport.....seemed like a good idea at the time so we hopped in the first cab we saw outside our hotel. Little did we know that this guy had been up all night and we were to be his last(literally!)ride for the night. All was going pretty well until we were within a few kilomteres of the airport when we started the weave...one side to the other and we both relaised this guy was asleep. A quick loud exclamation by us and he snapped back, rubbed his eyes and soldiered on without even a smile or a comment! Crikey, it was a close call but we made it unscathed. I wonder if he made it home?

Hong Kong

lyrebird — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:46:00 GMT

After a not too shabby flight we arrived in Hong Kong in a not too shabby state. Having been in HK before, it was stright onto the Airport Express and into Hong Kong to North Point where for simple budgetary reasons we stayed at the Ibis. In retrospect, Kowloon would have been better but we made good use of the old style Star Ferries (a bargain) and criss crossed the harbour day and night. Jumped onboard the rattly, rickety old style trams to the ferry terminal, over the chop of a busy harbour to Kowloon and up to the Ladies Markets for a comprehensive sensory assault. Designer watch mister? Rolex Sir? Yeah, and I'm Prince Charles. Mind you, these fakes are first class. But you'll still feel ripped off when you realise you could've got the same fake just a little further up Nathan Street for $HK1000 less. To be continued......

Out the door and on the road....Sydney to Hong Kong

lyrebird — Sun, 27 May 2007 15:18:00 GMT

At last.....after months of rushed preparations and last minute panic, we're off. Finally leaving behind so many unfinished tasks, missed phone calls, fogotten bits and peices of luggage......Like restless cattle, we crowd into the already crowded Customs crush and dispense with the formalities of leaving Australia for 10 weeks. So much effort to leave; hope its easier to get back in! So this is the last time for almost 10 weeks that we'll get to breath the relatively clean sweet air of Australia? Whilst I'd love to say this is the beginning of the adventure, we have a 10 hour flight to Hong Kong ahead. Oh well...off to the QClub to make the most of the remaining time before we squeeze into our seats in Row 31.

Alaska......wild, fabulous and different

lyrebird — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 22:47:00 GMT

This is our second trip to Alaska.....the first was an adventure up the Inside Passage from Vancouver Island by ship to Skagway, then over the Klondike pass to Whitehorse in the Yukon. We had to wait a few days for the bus to take us up the Alcan Highway to Fairbanks via Beaver Creek, the western most 'place' of any consequence in Canada. After an overnight in the only hotel, we jumped back on the bus towards Fairbanks via Tok. Fairbanks is as you'd expect of a far north Alaskan town /city....rough, dirty but friendly and interesting. After a quick drive up to the Arctic Circle along the Alaskan oil pipeline, we caught the train to Denali...anyway, that trip was in 1990 so I'll get to the details of this trip.

After having stayed down at Point Montaro YHA for a couple of nights (a great hostel right on the coast; used to be a fog signal station and lighthouse) we flew into Anchorage from San Francisco (via Seattle) arriving at midnight...why is that about the only time of day you can get to Anchorage from Seattle? The next morning we took our rental and headed down Turnagain Arm along the spectacularly beautiful Seward Highway