Tasmania Day 2 The climb to the summit of cradle Mountain

Its 7 am in a pine cabin on Cradle Mountain.
The alarm on my phone is going off telling me its time to get up for the start of the scariest day of my life since 1976 and an Icelandic gunboat starting shooting at us and we returned fire with potatoes that had started to sprout from number 3 veg store on HMS Glamorgan.
My left arm cant find the remote control so the right arm has to be employed but to no avail I had to open one eye to locate the blody thing which is on the far side of the bedside table. Opening both eyes I start to focus in on the digital display. " Something wrong with this, it says its 6 degrees in here" ! Finally managed to locate the button to switch on the gas fire. Theres a welcoming whoosh noise as the gas fire kicks in and roars into life. Now the next decision is when to scurry to the bathroom to switch the lights on as they contain 4 halogen heat lamps which inside ten minutes turn the deep freeze of a bathroom into a sub tropical wetroom. The decision is made easier by the cold beer we had drunk the previous night so a scamper a squirt and a scurry later Im back in bed waiting for the room to get to at least 16 degrees before I venture out again.

Washed and dressed and into the first three layers of the walking gear, its breakfast time and the team assemble in the dining room for breakfast before we set off for the mountain. Its the biggest breakfast I have ever had, but I am assured by my two mountaineering mates James & Ged that I'll be grateful of all this carbohydrate when my muscles are screaming during the climb.

On reflection this was the first warning bell as to what was to follow but in my defence I was still half asleep and thought they were winding me up. They werent.

We loaded the back packs into the car and set off for Dove Lake.
Its a beautifully picturesque spot. Full of lovely walks and really nice postcardy type photo opportunities. But what it doesnt say is ALL YOU WIMPS WHO DO A BIT OF WALKING IN THE LAKE DISTRICT STOP HERE. To be honest if it had I would have ignored it and walked on.About 500 yards later we split into 2 groups. The girls were going on the "loop" round the lake gently climbing up to Marrions Lookout. Us boys were taking the quick route up "The Staircase"

For Staircase read Road To Hell.

The first part is easy, its a semi steep climb in some gravelly rocks, nothing too big, just watch your footing.
The second bit is the steps, about half a meter high and a meter wide, the first three are a breeze the fourth one pisses you off then you stop counting and start grimacing as your abductor muscles start to tighten.
You push on , not wishing to appear weak to your mates, or to slow them down, as it was their stated intention to make the summit. At this stage I couldnt have made my bed. My heart was thumping on the wall of my chest, my head was spinning, I was sucking air in in bucket loads but it was getting to my lungs in thimbles.I was soaked to the skin in sweat and was freezing despite five layers of clothing.

Here was where I made the decision to quit. I was slowing them down, they werent going to make summit before 2pm which was the cut off time as it takes four hours to get down from the top and we had to be on the floor before 5 pm which is dusk to have any chance of making Dove Lake by 6pm and darkness.

James being his usually laid back self told me to sit down and rest. "Snotaraceted,snotarace"
Race ? The only thing that was racing was my pulse.
James and I sat down and had a drink, he chatted and I shut my eyes for about five minutes.

Then he said "Cmon shift , we can do this " , and we set off.

The climb to Marrions Lookout was unrelenting but with James behind me and Walsh a mere speck on the hillside above us we ploughed on.
Well I say ploughed , scrambled , scratched, crawled, rolled , kneeled.
Wasnt exactly text book stuff but we got there.

But Marrions Lookout was where I made the decision.
Im staying here to wait for the girls and I'll go back down with them.

Ged & James decided the best place to wait was the Kitchen Hut.
Basically a shed at the base of the mountain, where you can shelter from the elements and have a brew.

It was here I met Mr & Mrs "Walker" and the 3 little "Walkers" including 3 year old Henry.
I dont know what there name really was, but here was a young mum with three kids and a husband in tow and she was obviously a mountaineer.
She was carrying two enormous back packs. One on her back and one on her front. She was carrying all the equipment for five of them. Food , dry clothes, the works.
She was amazing the way she tended for them all then talked to us about the different walks.
Im sat in the corner shattered, cant move, havent got the where withall to unwrap a sandwich we made before we set off. Im sat staring at it. I know Ive got to eat something but that involves effort and Im not interested at all. Mrs "Walker" wishes us well as she skips off with her brood , her parting shot was "You've done the hard bit enjoy the rest" !!!!! THE LYING BITCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the "Walkers" gone, I give Ged & James my third decision of the day, that this is as far as I go.
I dont know why but for some reason they set off and I followed them.
Purely out of curiousity, as soon as the climb started I was coming back to wait in the hut. BOLLOCKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mistake number whatever.
The first part of the climb was quite easy.
Then the fog rolled in and I couldnt see the floor of the mountain.
No point in standing there, its getting cold, keep moving.
The fog clears and suddenly we are a lot higher than I thought we were.
The Hut is no where to be seen and its snowing.
Worse than that its starting to stick.
Now I cant see Ged at all , and Im regretting convincing James to go past me in his bid to make the summit.

We are on the big rocks now.
When I say big I mean about a metre and a half high and about three metres wide, all shapes and sizes really but they were the small ones. It took about 15 minutes climbing to get past one of them. But its still snowing and the rocks are slippy.

I havent seen Ged for about 40 minutes I dont know where he is.
He's up front somewhere.
But more worrying I cant see or hear James.

Im on my own.

I cant see anything infront of me except more bigger boulders and snow.
I cant see anything below me except the last boulder, and snow , and fog.

I decide to turn back

Then it dawns on me.

Im om my own and I dont know how to do this.

Im shafted

The last boulder looks enormous
It was enormous, it took me nearly 15 minutes climbling to get over it, but for the life of me I cannot work out a route, back down it.

10 minutes later I hear James, not kidding, the sweetest sound was his aussie drawl "stuff this, I've had enough, I'm turning back"

But how ?
Its 1.30pm we are now racing against time to get down before dusk.
We must make the floor in 4 hours or we are stuffed, and we have to climb down in the dark.

The descent was madness.
Never mind One Step Beyond
This was one step at a time , and make sure it stuck, because if it didnt, well I didnt want to think too much about if it didnt, it was giving me a headache making sure that it did.

If you think the concentration levels are high going up a mountain, then they triple on the way down.
And youre tired and youre wet , and the muscles you used on the way up are not the muscles you use on the way down for some stupid reason, but it didnt matter because they are wasted anyway.

Its during this session that full consequences dawn on you.
How long is this going to take ?
How much light is left ?
Who's going to come for you if it goes wrong ?

The answer to the last part is a stomach churning , nobody.

The only people who know where we are , roughly, are also on the mountain.

The people not on the walk are in the hotel on the piss and are expecting us at dinner at 8pm. They're not coming for us ! There are no reps on this holiday.

After an hour and a half of painstakingly careful climbing, the montain floor comes into view out of the fog and glory be its stopped snowing.

We got back to the hut and had a cupasoup, at least thats what Walshy told me it was.
I think it was hot wallpaper paste.

We then had a decision to take , Another one ?

Fastest or shortest route down.

Piece of piss , this decision.

Fastest

Wrong again Ted

The fastest is The Face Trail, which doesnt mean smiley faces all the way down. It means down the face of the mountain at 45 degrees across the front.

For part of it is a chainlink rope.
No path
Just a chainlink rope.

An hour later and my shoulders and arms are aching we make it to the Ballroom Forest, and its a long walk , yomp through the forest, wet and cold to the car park.

We reach Dove Lake just as darkness is falling, we sign out of the book and get in the car.

Its 7km to the lodge and the drive is done in complete silence.

We arrive at the lodge to check in , to tell them we are back and we get ambushed by Paul & Lorraine who want to buy us a drink and hear our tales, but we are shattered and all we want is a quick swallow and then a hot shower.

We are down , we are safe , but we are all chastened.

It will be a couple of days before it sinks in how stupid it was , but hey we've got a party to go to , lets get ready..........

In search of the Tasmanian Devils Breakfast (and lunch)

In complete contrast to how British people used to go to Tasmania a couple of hundred years ago, mines was a tranquil 40 minute flight from Melbourne to Launceston. Not the biggest airport in the world by any means, but big enough for our needs, which was to be the jump off point for Cradle Mountain, some three hours away by car. But nothing is so simple when James is in charge of Logistics and Transport. For a start there are at least two meal breaks to plan and at least one winery. True to form James comes up trumps with our breakfast stop at a restaurant on the outskirts of Launceston called Stillwater.Its here we meet up with some old friends in Paul & Lorraine,who we havent seen for at least 5 years, so theres a lot of gossip to catch up on before the eggs benedict arrive (and that was just me & Paul. Breakfast was a sumptious affair with nobody in the mood to rush as the fresh coffee just kept coming and coming along with warm toast, crumpets and homemaded preserves, but we had to leave sometime as we had a lunch appointment to keep ! James had arranged for us to combine two of our mutual great passions. Great food and stunning wines.We drove to the town of Rosevears to the Strathlynn Vineyard, and the restaurant of Daniel Alps, an Aussie Celeb Chef. It didnt dissappoint, the duck terrine for starter was just pure velvet and the venison main course was sublime. Now I've never been one of those wine snobs that sniffs the cork and such, and I've never given much creedance to those who say " I ordered the 2004 and the 2005 is ok but its just not the same" to me wine is wine and you either like it or you dont. Paul on the other hand is a bit of a wine buff and he was insistant. It was the 2004 Starline Pinot Noir or we were changing the menu. According to the sommelier (posh wine waiter)the 2004 would perfectly compliment the venison. He was right. m not sure how much difference the 2005 would have made but it didnt matter the 2004 was going down like nectar. But we couldnt linger we had a drive up the mountain ahead of us and we wanted to get there before it got dark. We failed. We stopped for beer and supplies for sandwiches for our climb, and we went to .......... Woolworths.
Yes I said Woolworths, and yes its the same brand as the now defunct UK Woolworths. With two major differences. 1) Its solvent and 2) Its a supermarket. Caught me by surprise as well. Apparently over here Woolies and Safeway are the same group. Anyhow we popped in to get a few bits for sandwiches and spent 22 quid. On sandwiches yes! They did last all week however so that was ok. The beer however was a different story, as you buy it from the off licence, and we had no room in the car so it did the journey to Cradle Mountain between my legs.

We arrive at Cradle Mountain Lodge a little after dark, and after registration and getting the luggage into the cabins we all assembled at Geds cabin for drinks and to meet up with the rest of the party in Donna & Andrew, so the gangs all here and we have a few drinks then a few more then a few more before going down to the bar for something to eat but nobodys too hungry so we had some spicy soup and a few more drinks before retiring to our cabins as we have a big day tomorrow.

Its the first climb, and boy what a climb !

Tasmania Update

Here in the mountains , they havent gotten round to spoiling the landscape with mobile phone masts. Hence no signal so no texts or calls. That aside Tasmania is a beautiful island. We are up on Cradle Mountain right now and yesterday was Geds 50th birthday,so we went for a near experience as we attempted to scale the summit. No joking , this was the stupidest thing I have ever done, and the highlight of the day was when James said he was turning back. But by this time I was already way way out of my depth and had no idea how I was getting down. Under prepared under equipped and hopelessly under experienced in the type of climbing we were doing, I have never been so glad to see the base of a mountain. Then we had a four hour trek to get back the car. And by trek I really do mean trek. Not walk not amble it was a mountain trek. Anyhow we are back at base camp safe and sound if not more than a little chastened. I'll put more on about Tasmania later in the week. Great restaurants great wine, really great wine , no really really really great wine !

In the words of Billy Idol........

Its hot in the city , hot in the city tonight, tonight !!!!!
Melbourne nightlife is a fantastic hotchpotch of different styles and different tastes.
Trust me, whatever your particular bag is, then theres a luggage store in the city to cater for it.
From Kylie to Barnsey, from straight to corkscrew, its there and its full on.
My particular favourite is Young & Jackson which is quite handily right outside Flinders Street railway station. A fantastically varied haunt of city types going home and people out on the razz early.
It has great beeer and wine selections and a fantastic food menu.
Music venues abound in the city, and whether is jass/swing (and they swing both ways over here), or its blues or rock , theres no shortage of outlets to cater for you.
Had a great day today,completely on my own, met a mate for lunch , that will tell you when I got up !!!! went into the city and had a good wander round on my own, walked at my own pace, dads pace, !!!!! went where I wanted , spent 30 seconds or 30 minutes depending on my mood or the contents of the shop !!
Anyhow had a great day , and tomorrow its Tasmania.
More when I can , bye for now .

Why Do they call it jet LAG ????????

I have no idea why jet lag is called jet lag, it isnt a lag at all, maybe it should be called jet brick wall , because thats what it feels like when you hit it. And boy have I hit it big style this time round. Second day in a row didnt get out of bed till lunchtime.Tomorrow will be different though I will make a concerted effort to rouse my sorry arse at a reasonable time. We all know that the Aussies are a weird lot. We know this from the standard of the television they send us. But this lot cheer when it rains, and by God are they cheering today. To be fair it is the middle of their winter, and I did know that before I set off on this trek, but it is just like being at home in November, and for the record " Its grim down south", that is south as in Southern Hemisphere. Leaden skys that have just delivered an almighty hail storm, as the locals dancing with delight, and wimps like me reaching for another fleece, and running for shelter.

I am staying in a suburb of Melbourne called Moonee Ponds. Now I used to think this was a made up place, that only existed in the mind of Dame Edna Everage. But no its real. A nice little town, bit like Ball Hill really !!!!!! bars, diners , and charity shops !!!!!!!

Tomorrow I will hit the city and report back

Long Time No See

It seems ages since I posted anything , thats because it is ages. In truth I'd forgotten Id even started this blog. But its holiday time again so I thought Id give it another go. Im off to the land of really bad television and even worse beer. Yes you are correct go to the top of the class its Australia again. Tasmania to be exact. And yes I do know its their winter in June, more of why Im going in June later. Actually the reasom Im going is perfectly summed up by the photo. The good looking bloke on the right is my best mate Mr Gerard Walsh. Gerard is a resident of Melbourne, Australia, I say Australia because some clever clogs is going to pop up with " What the one in Derbyshire ?" So anyway for my 50th birthday last year I decided to go and see a mate who lives in Honolulu, as you do ? Hawaii 5 "O" Okay it was funny at the time. Anyhow Walshy says he'll come over from Oz and we'll have a thrash. Great time was had by all. But you know when you make statements when you've had a few drinkies! Well I did just that. It was the old I really love you man sort of speech. And it continued on in the same drunken vein for some time until I got to the bit about I'll go anywhere for your 50th blah blah drunken blah blah. In my defence the previous few months had all been about castles in Scotland or gites in France and Austrian Mountain Villas. So I felt pretty safe it was a European budget airline hop somewhere and a hire car. However in the meantime Mr & Mrs Walsh splashed out a huge amount of cash on property so foreign holidays got kyboshed for the foreseeable future. So then the search was on for a suitable venue for the boys birthday bash. Walshy being the outdoor type has raved about this place in Tasmania for years so it seemed only logical that that would be where it is. And so we are all off to Cradle Mountain Lodge. But its not all wilderness, mountain walks and white water rafting. After the mountain exertions we are de-camping to Cairns up a the Barrier Reef for a weeks sun sea and sightseeing. So thats it Im off to Melbourne, have a few days to get over the jet lag and set off up a mountain. I'll post more if I remember. Keep safe . Bye for now

Welcome to my Blogspot.
These are the the random ramblings of a random rambler.
One of my biggest interests is travel , but not just tourism I mean meeting the people from the places I travel to, and trying to experience their customs and lifestyles albeit from the comfort of a hotel room somewhere and only for a short time, due to the pressures of having to work for a living in order to fund these jaunts around the world.

And thats what this blogspot is going to be aimed at.
That and my desire for a guest spot on Grumpy Old Men.
My main problem with that is that I dont think its a topical programme at all.
I sit there like a nodding dog going, "your right Rory, too true Tim, tell me about Will.

Anyhow tonights not about me being the guest grumper on GOM, its about travel.
The places I've been, the sights I've seen, the people I have met, and some of the stuff I have ate.
Honestly the bushtucker trials on "I'm a non-entity get me an agent" could do worse than come to some of the so called reataurants I've been to in the last few years.

Its also going to be about places I intend to go to or would like to go to, and with the ever growing availability of budget airlines, unless you live in Scotland, then the list is getting endless.
My mate went to Cracow last week, I said why ?
He said £4.99 out and £0.99 return.
Nuff said I said, fine, how was it ?
Value for money he said !
Now Judith Chalmers he is not, but you's pays your money and you's take your chance.

So thats about the basis of it.
This is the place you can find out where I am and where I've been.
In the words of the terminator ...............................................

I'll be wearing black.