Preparing for the next walk

After a glorious 2 weeks of skiing powder, deep glorious powder, I returned to warm sunny Sydney and jumped straight on a bus down to Canberra. Waiting over half an hour for our ski bags to be produced at the oversize baggage pickup counter, a rush through customs and out the door, over to "Express Pickup" to retrieve my bag of camping gear that I'd left in Coledale - Kathy's partner Graham had brought it up with him - then back around to the bus bays to catch my 10:25am shuttle to Canberra..... needless to say I was a wreck! Luckily the bus was running late due to luggage issues, and so I didn't miss it. Then surprise surprise, the bus driver happens to be someone I'd been skiing with a week before in Niseko! Small world...

I hadn't actually told mum I was coming, and had only just told my brother, so he could come pick me up from the bus station. Doing the school pickup of my nieces also caused a little surprise! It's been a year since I've been back in Canberra and this time I had a little time on my hands. I needed it.

It's coming up to the anniversary of our first section walking the Australian Alps Walking Track. You can read about that here. We decided back then that we would do the next section this year, so the three of us have been communicating a little over email sharing maps and discussing the itinerary. This time we will be walking from Thredbo to Kiandra, officially a distance of 108 km.

The official route avoids the NSW main range, veering off it after visiting Mt Kosckiusko, and detouring along roadways. Why being in the NSW High Country would have unacceptable risks doesn't make sense, as the Victorian High Country walking is even more remote and just as inclement. Needless to say, we will be following the unofficial route across the tops, as detailed in the actual guidebook. And the weather forecasts are looking good....

We'll also be detouring off the fire trails further north through The Kerries and Jagungal Wilderness. Staying in the high country offers more views and the option to climb more summits as we head north, but it's also more exposed to high winds and other unpleasant meteorologic phenomena. We just have to hope the weather obliges.

Because I've been overseas I hadn't done any food preparation, and with a week to burn before we leave, I offered to prepare the lunches and dinners for Matt and myself, he's organising his own breakfasts. Mum has a food dehydrator lurking on a top cupboard (thanks Uncle Mel), so all I needed to do was purchase a vacuum sealing machine, buy some food, and cook up a storm. Poor mum lost the use of her kitchen for the week, got to smell awesome food being prepared, but then didn't get to try them out. Meany aren't I? I shall cook some of the meals for her when I get back.

This trip I tried something new, which was to prepare full meals beforehand, dehydrate them, then vacuum pack them. My mate Bill did this on his Bibbulmum Track walk, with great success, so I am emboldened to do it myself. I've also made a big stash of beef jerky. Yum!!

Our evening meals will be: Spaghetti Bolognese, Mongolian Chicken, Green Chicken Curry, Beef Stew, Palak Paneer and Creamy Salmon Pasta. Don't worry, there are lots of vegetables amongst the protein!

For lunch there's beef jerky, dried tomatoes, hummus, cheese, salami, tuna, and pesto. Any combination of above on crackers or wraps. A girl has to eat well on the trail! Aside from salami and cheese, all the others are dehydrated for reconstitution on the trail. We will be taking 10 days worth of meals, so reducing our carrying weight is essential. And in case you didn't realise, I've done this before!

I'm taking pretty well the same things as my last trip, with a couple of new additions: the you beaut dunny-roll holder, and down trousers. I shall be toasty, and so will my toilet tissue!

Even though Matt and I will be sharing meals I'll still be bringing along my stove and pot, because neither takes up much space or room, and the extra pot actually comes in handy. Plus I don't fancy waiting around for hot water for my morning coffee! Grumpy morning me: not nice...

Getting 10 days worth of food into my 44L backpack has been an accomplishment. Matt has a 55L bag so he has a little more room, but he also has a few more bulky items of camping gear than me.

So I'm all packed and ready to go. We are off to Thredbo tonight, and begin walking in the morning. You can follow our walk here.

Ciao....

2 weeks in the east

After my trip to NZ I planned to spend a couple of weeks over in the east of Australia catching up with family and friends. In the past, with the pressures of getting home to start work, or just the sheer annoyance of having to stopover and schlepp around all my ski gear, I usually just flew straight home. But now I'm retired I can take things a bit slower and easier.

I'd managed to find some good flights ( Christchurch to Sydney for $250, and Sydney to Perth for $185) by keeping an eye on the specials. Yes it can be cheaper to not fly straight through, but you've got to be flexible, and there's a good 18 days between those 2 flights. The domestic flight was originally much cheaper, but I needed to add 35 kg of baggage, plus I purchased the Qantas points for $20, as it was with Jetstar. They aren't my favourite airline, but at that price I was willing to suck it up.

I'd prebooked my car hire at a reasonable rate of $25 a day, and again took advantage of my corporate travel insurance which covers me for interstate domestic travel as well as for international trips up to six months duration. But first I had to get my luggage and self to the car hire pickup bay at the airport. I smilingly squeezed past the aggro stares of fellow passengers queuing for the park and pay buses and found my bay right up the end. I'd forgotten that smiling is a criminal offence in Sydney...

Just as my minibus drove up, a strapping young man, presumably an airport employee passing by, turned up out of nowhere and helped me load my heavy ski bag into the back of the van. I thanked him and went to load my other bag, by which time he'd promptly disappeared. My faith in humanity restored!!

At the car hire place I signed the forms and handed over my credit card, and then we had fun loading a 1.7m long ski bag into a Hyundai i20! Through the gap between the driver and passenger seat seemed the safest option, and then it was off through the night time streets of Sydney to Wollongong. Not much has changed, I've driven that road so many times over the years it came as second nature.

In Wollongong I stayed at my friend Mary's house. I met Mary in my first year as a doctor, and we became firm friends after she sold me her old windsurfer and threw in some lessons as well. We'd lost touch over the years as she'd moved away and had a very controlling (ex) husband who isolated her from her friends and family. Now she's a single mum with just one more child to finish school and getting on with her life. It was so good to catch up with her and it didn't feel like it had been 20 years since we'd last seen each other.

After a day in Wollongong I drove down to Canberra to visit family. Originally I had planned to spend a few days there catching up with mum and teaching her how to use the iPad I'd bought her for her birthday a year ago. But whilst I was in New Zealand she had become critically ill, and before I had a chance to jump on a plane she'd gone from almost dead to rapid recovery. So I'd put off returning immediately, and stuck to my original plan, allowing my brother to take a holiday with his young family and for my older sister and I to do shifts at the hospital with mum whilst she slowly recuperated.

Needless to say, I stayed a lot longer than originally planned, but I did manage to achieve my main objective, which was to teach mum how to use her iPad. There is nothing quite like being bed bound to wear down the resistance of an octogenarian to embracing new technology!! She got to read all the blog posts she'd missed out on whilst being seriously ill, and had a good chuckle at Lambie and Rammy's Grand Adventure. She even got to meet Lambie!

It was also awesome to attend a school reunion. Only a small group of us met up at the old "Boot and Flogger", now renamed and refurbished, our old drinking haunt back in the day. So nice to reconnect and reminisce. Some of the stories....

Having all the family around supporting mum was great. We rarely get to see each other as we are all geographically dispersed, so it was a real treat to spend time with siblings as well as mum. Inputting mum's address book onto the iPad became a grand discussion about all the people in there and who was still around. Lots of crossed out names as mum's friends fall off the perch...

After 10 days with mum it was time to head back to Wollongong, as I had an appointment with my accountant in Sydney. It's been over 10 years since I've visited Peter and Maureen in person as we usually do my tax over the internet. I got some good news and some slightly bad news, discovering I'd made a capital gain on the albatross sale (more tax to pay), but my capital gains tax bill on selling my Sydney property will be a lot less than I was expecting. So, overall, damn fine news indeed!

Then that evening back in the 'gong Mary arranged a surprise dinner for me with 2 other of my Wollongong friends. So good to catch up with Kath and Neen after all, as I'd thought my prolonged trip to Canberra had left me no time to see them.

Then I flew back to Perth, had a couple of days with my awesome little friends in Scarborough then drove home to Geraldton.

It was a wonderful 18 days. Seeing family and reconnecting with old friends and schoolmates, spending some really quality time with mum, and a bonus good piece of news from my accountant.

The garden looks great, nurtured by my wonderful house sitters Jill and Perry, so it's back to eating organic food from the patch.

That's next.