Tag: mountains

Just breathe

.Reading time 4 minutes.

I don’t have any words this week. Except to say that when the world becomes too much for me, I like to escape into created worlds. Those of film, television and books. I can also easily lose myself in my photography, so today I’ve taken photographs from my recent trip to the Canadian Rockies and put them with inspirational words from artists whose creative works I’ve loved, at one time or another. If I could, I would head out into the wilderness right now – without a television, without a phone, without any access to news – and just breathe.

Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park

“Keep close to Nature’s heart … and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” ~ John Muir

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Riding the trails

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Great Southern Rail Trail

Recently, I was asked to write an article for Ride On magazine – which is the membership magazine for Bicycle Network Victoria. I’ve been published by them previously, but not for a while as my writing has taken a bit of a back seat to my editing in recent years. But I’ve always been a huge supporter of Bicycle Network Victoria and the advocacy work they do for cyclists. So I was very happy to get this opportunity to write another article for them. I also love cycling the rail trails and this got me in the mood for a weekend to Bright and a ride on the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail. So here is the link to the Ride On article… and later this year I’ll have some more blogs about bike rides I’m planning to do. 

Source: Riding the trails

Three Capes Track

.Reading time 2 minutes.

“We ought to take outdoor walks, to refresh and raise our spirits by deep breathing in the open air.” Lucius Annaeus Seneca, On Tranquillity of Mind

The Three Capes Track was dubbed by Lonely Planet as the world’s hottest new travel experience – even before being officially unveiled on Monday 21 December 2015. This multi-day, 46-kilometre, walk leads hikers through some of Tasmania’s most spectacular natural landscapes, including incredible clifftop views from Cape Pillar and Cape Hauy. There are also stunning views of Cape Raoul – the third cape of the track’s name – however, this section is still under development.

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Memorable travel moments: Mountain Gorillas in Uganda

.Reading time 4 minutes.

“It was their individuality combined with the shyness of their behavior that remained the most captivating impression of this first encounter with the greatest of the great apes.” Dian Fossey

On the evening prior to my gorilla trek in Uganda’s Bwindi National Park, I checked my camera and realised that the battery was dying. I reached into my camera bag for the spare that I’d purchased before my trip and tried to put it in my camera. But it wouldn’t fit; the battery was too big.

I have no recollection of buying this battery; I just remember grabbing it when I packed and thinking great, I don’t need to get a spare battery. Perhaps it was for an old camera. But, in that moment of sinking realisation, I was devastated. For years, I’d dreamt of returning to Africa specifically to see the mountain gorillas. I wanted to take amazing photographs of these incredible animals and now I was faced with using a tiny digital camera without a zoom lens.

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The Grampians: MacKenzie Falls

.Reading time 4 minutes.

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” William Shakespeare

In July this year, I spent a long weekend in the Grampians, along with my sister and her children. We did a couple of short walks to Venus Baths and the Pinnacle, saw heaps of kangaroos, and, in general, felt the stress of everyday living evaporate because we’d found time to get out into nature.

So, when my niece – who lives in Pomonal, near the tourist town of Halls Gap – suggested that she and her partner host Christmas this year, I was thrilled.

The Grampians are situated in western Victoria, Australia, about a three hour drive from Melbourne – and I love going there. Like the Great Ocean Road and Wilsons Promontory, it’s a destination that is firmly entrenched in my heart.

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Memorable travel moments: Dead Woman’s Pass

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“The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for.” Louis L’Amour 1908 – 1988

A procession of hikers winding their way up to Dead Woman’s Pass

I took this photograph when I was almost at the top of Dead Woman’s Pass (Warmiwanusqa), which is the highest point on the Inca Trail (at 4215 metres above sea level). You can see the procession of hikers winding their way slowly up the mountain. The air is thin, it’s difficult to breathe, it’s fairly steep, and you feel like you’re never going to make it.

But for me, this was such a memorable moment, because I’d contemplated quitting at 3000 metres above sea level. I had been struggling with the altitude, to the point where our porter gave me oxygen. So, those last hundred or so steps to the top of the pass gave me a great sense of satisfaction and it was one of the happiest moments of my life; standing with my sister at the top of Dead Woman’s Pass.

Reaching the highest point of the Inca Trail in Peru

If you’d like to read the full story on my Inca Trail trek, click on the links below:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Machu Picchu

Great Victorian Bike Ride

.Reading time 20 minutes.

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.
Ernest Hemingway

In 2008, I participated on the Great Victorian Bike Ride and wrote the following article. As I mentioned in my previous blog (When opportunity knocks), this article led to many other great opportunities in my writing, photography and editing. I have fond memories of the ride and all the people I met.

Great Victorian Bike Ride

Squinting through the swirling dust I could barely make out the direction of the road as it turned to rise above the drought-stricken lakes. Atop the hill I saw cyclists lying on the ground, exhausted. But I forced myself to peddle on. After cycling 50km into a relentless headwind I was in no mood for these desolate lakes, which seemed intent on joining forces as one gigantic dust storm. I was desperate to get out of the wind and silently cursing anyone that had ever uttered the word ‘holiday’ in reference to this bike ride.

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Vancouver: Cabin Lake

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“It is a great art to saunter.” Henry David Thoreau

On my most recent trip to Vancouver, I managed to fit in a couple of short hikes including Cabin Lake on Black Mountain. Although I wouldn’t necessarily call this hike ‘a saunter’ – due to the steep ascent via switchbacks – it was relatively easy compared to hikes I’ve done on previous trips.

We parked at the Cypress Bowl downhill skiing area and then headed passed the chairlifts to the trailhead. My friends Jamie and Nathan had their dog Ellie along for the walk and we took our time, getting to the lake in about 45 minutes.

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Vancouver: by boat

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“There’s nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as messing about in boats.” Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

This year, while in Vancouver, I got to see some of my favourite places from a completely different viewpoint. My sister-in-law, Karen, and her brother, Dean, had purchased a sport utility boat (which Karen described as something between a speed boat and a fishing boat). So, one sunny afternoon, we boarded the boat and set ‘sail’ for English Bay, Burrard Inlet and Vancouver Bay.

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Vancouver: Horseshoe Bay

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“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.” Pascal Mercier, Writer

My brother and his family have lived in Horseshoe Bay in Canada since the late 1980s … and I’ve landed on their doorstep on numerous occasions over the last 30 years. Sometimes I’ve arrived tired and broke – after extended travel in Africa, Europe or South America – or I’ve used Horseshoe Bay as a base to travel further afield in Alaska or the Canadian Rockies. This is my home away from home, a place where I’m always welcome, a place that I often long for, and a place that I love.

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