Maybe We Should Retire

All I can say is wow. You see today we had a few dives that made us wonder why if we should ever go diving ever again. No dive we ever go on will ever compare to today. Well, we can compare them to today, but it'll lose. Our first dive was a drift dive, where we started a bit away from the boat and gradually made our way back to it. To get to the starting point they put us on tenders (dinghies) and then dropped us off. We were the third boat to leave, which is a pain in the ass because it means that we need to wait around for a while as the boat loads up, leaves, goes to start point, drops off the first load, and then comes back for us, and once I have my wet suit on I get a bit impatient to be in the water. After what felt like an eternity we got dropped off and started to descend. Within a minute this happened (full screen the video)

For those who are curious, the second person you see in the video is Isabel and the third is me. Yes, we saw a WHALE SHARK. It was only a little guy, just 20 feet or so and it was amazing. For those who don't dive, this is pretty much the Holy Grail of diving. It was beyond amazing. I spent most of the rest of the dive in a daze thinking, "whale shark, whale shark. whale shark whale shark. whale shark."
Most people would be pretty content with this dive, but as they say on infomercials, but wait, there's more. AJ (dive leader and first person in the video) started gesticulating wildly and yelling "look." (He was pretty good at speaking understandably underwater). We look, BOOM HAMMERHEAD. I have never seen a hammerhead before, so this was the icing on the Holy Grail Cake! But now I'm left wondering, should we just call it quits for the rest of trip?
Here are some whale shark pics

The next dive was a shark feed. For this the dive masters sat us in a natural underwater amphitheater to watch. They had a cage with tuna heads in it. This got the sharks attention. They swarmed over, but realized they couldn't get through the cage so they called down, but still stayed close by.

Cage in Bottom Left

Once they were back under control, Rins released the chain that held the chain shut, and the sharks went at it. Apparently they like tuna heads

 

There were a couple more dives that day, and awesome food, etc etc, but who can even remember those? We saw all the sharks. I have explained to Isabel that this is not typical for dive trips. She has gone diving a few times before, but never to this degree and never seen anything like this. Now she's spoiled and will expect whale sharks and feeds and everything else imaginable. (Though we haven't seen any turtles yet. A few other people some one, but alas not us. Also, I've never scuba dove, scuba dived? scubad? with mammals before, so I still have a few things left).
One thing of note is the remoras. Remoras are fish that hang on to the sharks. They're tiny and thin, and you can see one just below the middle of the last photo. They like to hitch free rides and draft off bigger fish (and turtles). Because there had been so many sharks frantically swimming around, they detached some of their own remoras who got lonely. When we were diving later on in the day, the lonely guys decided that we would perfectly serve as surrogate sharks. It was cool to me, but I think other people found it rather irritating. Fish are funny.

About Last Night

Last night was a long one, and potentially the least pleasant double date I've ever been on. The boat started getting extremely rocky around 9 pm, just as we were trying to go sleep. It got to Isabel and we spent the next three hours at the back of the boat as she was seasick. One consolation was that she was not the only one, there was another girl, Bew, who had it just as bad. He boyfriend Carl was out there with her, thus a double date. Also, Estelle, one of the hostesses (crew member) was out there too. She was a saint for putting up with them. Anyway, that's enough said about that.
Let's talk about diving. There were five planned dives today, which is a lot for those who don't know. Isabel took a miss on the first one, as did Bew. Rins the trip director did wouldn't even entertain the idea of them going on that dive. As was to be expected, I didn't really get enough sleep last night, but a pretty effective way to wake up is to jump into the ocean with a bunch of weight on your back. Sink or swim takes a different, and more confusing meaning. It should be sink or maintain buoyancy...
That dive we saw a few little black tip reef sharks, but nothing too outlandish. Sharks are cool though

Sharks are not scary underwater. They do their thing, you do yours, and no one gets upset
In the words of Shark Hulk, you wont like me when I'm angry

Some idiot swimming around with his reg out

Honestly, I can even remember much of the next dive. Isabel was back and the entire group had to go up before the divemaster and I due to air concerns. We saw a few more sharks once everyone was gone, but yeah, it was mainly the usual suspects. This does mark two dives in a row that there have been sharks but Isabel didn't see them. One day she'll see a shark. 

Third dive had a massive barracuda and some reef fish and a lionfish.

They're not evil in the Pacific, but if you see them in the Atlantic, kill them. Or get someone
who knows what they're doing to kill them as they're extremely venomous. Then you can fry
the meat and they're quite tasty. See more in my cooking blog speargun sushi

The fourth dive, finally something that can be exciting to explain to others. We were checking out a site with a lot of caves, which I hate because it's claustrophobic and terrifying, but I'm too self concious to ever admit that. I can write it here safely because no one actually reads the words. I whacked my head on the first, my tank on the second and just didn't go into the other ones. I swam over the caves and followed the bubbles. So the group we've been traveling with a fair amount I will refer to as team bro. There are two Kiwis who I'd put in their late twenties, Tom and Andrew. I'm betting they were partiers in college, but not have settled into their careers and while they like to have fun, have nothing to prove. Then there is also Bobby, who is a American doing a semester abroad in Australia. He plays lacrosse...enough said. He's adorable in an I-think-I'm-very-cool-but-come-off-as-an-eight-year-old kind of way. He learned how to dive last week, so he's a bit inexperienced, but someone gave him a GoPro. This means rather than trying to improve his skills he tries to get pictures of everything. It's a bit irritating, but after a few dives you figure out just to give him a wide berth. The last group members are me, diver extraordinaire (unbiased opinion of course), and Isabel, who is awesome and great and don't hurt me. So the other three guys guzzle down air, probably a bit due to being a little comfortable underwater and probably due to being larger me. So they got sent up and then AJ (leader of that dive) brought us over to some anemone fish.

This would have been much more romantic Isabel hadn't been floating just above my shoulder

The reason the fish were completely fearless is that they were protecting their eggs, so pretty much we harassed them and made faces at them until Isabel ran low on air.

Sushi with roe for dinner anyone?

Then AJ and I swam around for a while, saw a giant Wrasse and then called it a dive. We each had about 50 bar left, not bad for an hour underwater.
The last dive was a night dive that took place in the same site as where we we're pissing off the anemone fish. The site was named Admiralty because there was a large, old school anchor hanging out in a cave. Rins asked us if we knew how it got there, because he didn't. Big heavy anchor, with no easy way for it to have gotten there. We'll never know

Anchor

The highlight of the night dive were two fold. Firstly we saw flashlight fish. They're pretty cool. Secondly I found a black and white banded eel that looked a lot like a seasnake (it wasn't). So I'm having my flashlight wildly to get the attention of a nearby group, but they had seen something and were doing the exact same thing. I swam close to see what they found. It could have been the twin to my eel. They found the exact same thing at the exact same time and we all wanted to show each other something they'd found by themselves...typical.
We finished the dive and then it was bed time. The journey will be much less rocky tonight, so that's a relief. Hopefully I'll get more than 5 hours of sleep.
Anyway, here's a picture of the Spirit of Freedom for fun

Hitting the Water

The last few days have been memorable in their own ways, but not really worth writing a post of about. One day we traveled from Northern Tasmania to Hobart. The next we got on a plane and flew from Hobart to Cairns. Ta da!
Here are a few quick stories from the travels. We drove back from the Cradle Mountain Area to Hobart and on the way stopped at a Crepe place. This was my request as I just wanted to eat lots of crepes, who wouldn't? It was made for old people, as in I think I started to develop arthritis just by walking in. In retrospect, what did I expect from a crepe place, not a wafflehouse or a pancake palace, crepes. There was a threesome (yes, elderly) sitting at the next table over who were enjoying themselves and as we were just about ready to leave they started a conversation with us. It was nice, but right off the bat they misinterpreted me when I said we'd be in Australia for another 2 weeks as we'd be in Tassie for another two weeks. They then proceeded to tell us every place to in Tasmania mainly to find good food (the OLT was not included). Then it got very uncomfortable when they mentioned that they used to be a foursome, but the husband of one of the women had died a few months ago and she started to tear up. We'd never even met these people before, but they love sharing apparently. They were sweet and well meaning, but eventually we were able to get back on the road.
We went to a sushi place for dinner where the sushi moves around on a conveyer belt and you grab what you want. They then charge you by plate. We kicked ass, totaling 15 plates between the two of us.
Next day we flew to Cairns. Funny story on the plane. Isabel had a window seat with no window. It was hilarious. A window should have been there, but it was just a blank wall. She was not amused.
We went grocery shopping, not really worth writing a post about, so I didn't.
The next day we got picked up and brought to a little domestic terminal on they had us weigh our luggage to make sure it wasn't too heavy. Procedure was: put carry-on on baggage scale and step on person scale. Isabel had no carry-on so they just had her step onto the baggage scale.
Then we got in this tiny little airplane

Which had an ipad as a steering wheel

And we flew for about an hour to Lizard Island, getting some awesome views on the way

Then we boarded the Spirit of Freedom and did the necessary orientation. What to do for emergencies, where we lived and ate and did things, who the crew were, what daily life would be like, and what expected in terms of diving. The usual stuff. They also figured out our dive histories and ranked as either red, yellow, or green based on experience. (Red is the highest level. They never told us this, but you sign in after every dive and you can see whose what color and do the math). There are a total of 26 passengers on the ship and 11 crew members. We'll likely get to know all of them rather well

Then we did two dives just to kind of get a feel for things and make sure we were all on similar pages. Darling Isabel was my Dive Buddy of course. I think they're making an effort to keep you with the person or people you're traveling with. They also put your fins on for you which is kind of hilarious, but convenient. In other words, they're babying us.

On the first dive we saw a cuttlefish! We got to watch it swim around and change color almost instantaneously. When it was over reef it was reddish, and over sand it turned grayish. It was amazing, and just so crazy for to comprehend. Imagine being able to change your skin color and texture simply by thinking.

Mr Cuttlefish

The second dive was also pretty exciting. We were in a group which is nice because it means that just because someone is out of air does not mean their buddy needs to go up too. The buddy can stay with the group and everyone is happy. Isabel went up a bit before me on this dive, but got to see an octopus. She missed out on the moray and octopus though.

I did not take any of the underwater photos as I don't have a $15,000 camera

A great first day on the reef. Now we're heading to bed and hoping it's not too rocky. We've let the main reef so nothing is acting as a barrier to the ocean waves any longer, meaning it can be a bumpy night.

End of the Road

Today was our last day on the Track, and alas, the return to reality and responsibility will soon occur. Well, not really, we're still on holiday for another two weeks. I had arranged for a shuttle to pick us up at 2:30, giving us a fair bit of time to finish. We had 17 km to hike today, but allegedly none of it was uphill, so it would be pretty quick compared to other days. We packed up the tent and left by right around 7, giving us a solid 7 hours to hike. The boys and Iris asked if they could hitch a ride with us on the shuttle and we were stoked. This would save us a significant amount of money, so as long as there was space we'd be down. What was more shocking that the request was that the boys were awake in time to ask us.

They had planned to stop at Burt Nichols yesterday and then make it to Narcissus today, but after stopping at Burt Nichols in the early afternoon, they realized it was still pretty early and that they had absolutely nothing to do. They were so bored they decided to pack up and hike another three hours to hang out with everyone.

We started the hike with our raincoats at the the ready because it looked pretty cloudy. Our weather luck just wouldn't quite make it

misty morning view from one the beaches of Lake St. Clair

Today's ecosystem was another total shift from what we'd seen on previous days. We spent the entire day walking besides a lake and so it allowed for plants requiring more water to prosper. One of the coolest parts was a giant fern forest (note, the forest was that big, but the ferns were). There are no pictures as the camera hates me.

There was a light drizzle off and on for most of the way, but it fit the mood of the day; we were a bit more pensive and lost in thought. Brooding, but without the negative connotation. By the way, remember how there wasn't supposed to be any uphill. That was a lie. You see, the guide described today as "undulating." That's code for hilly. There were also a lot of downed branches and tree bits to climb over.

The boys passed us on the way to Echo Hut (about a third of the way) where they planned to have lunch. We got there a few minutes after they did and they asked Isabel the time (she's the only one of the five of us that had a watch). It was 9:10 am. They were shocked. Normally they had barely gotten out of bed let alone have already hiked at this time of day.

We continued as the boys relaxed at the hut and things were uneventful until I realized by packcover had fallen off (packcover keeps the pack dry). I dropped my bag and ran back to find it. I got to the cover at the same time as Mark and Craig were getting it. They said they would have gotten it for me and we had a nice little chat, before I sprinted back to my waiting lady (Isabel).

We continued and eventually made it to signs for the visitor center, meaning the Track was officially over. It was only revealed to us by following the signs that the visitor center was still 2 km away from the end of the Track. On the way to the visitor center we heard a couple noisy birds that I shushed. Then I realized they were black cockatoos, which are awesome! Of course I apologized and told them to be as noisy as they wanted.

Side note, Isabel pointed out that at the end of each day of hiking we saw an animal. Day 1: Wombay up close, pademelon, wallaby. Day 2: Wallaby with joey. Day 3: Echidna. Day 4: Platypus. Day 5: Black Cockatoos
Finally we made it to the end. The bathroom was the first stop, then officially de-registering from the hike. Then it was picture time.

She loves when I take pictures of her when she's not paying attention

We made it! Also, we definitely aren't wearing the same clothes as the first day just without the top layer

James arrived a bit after, finally having tired of waiting for Ben and Riley. Mark and Craig were next, proudly finishing in their ever stoic manner. Then Ben and Riley limped to the finish where Riley crumpled into a heap on the ground.
Then it was it was time for real food and more importantly beers. Isabel and I got burgers and shared our chips (fries) making us the more popular people in the group. As we ate, drank, and made merry, Iris arrived and received a welcoming party from Mark and I. Then she joined us and got some ice cream coffee drink of which I am very jealous. Mark and Craig headed off for their ride to Hobart a little after, and then it was time for us to grab the shuttle.
The shuttle was a few minutes late, but it came, phew. At first most of what we did was nap, but then we got to talking about many things. The highlight was James explaining that Aussie dramas suck because no one in an Aussie accent can sound dramatic.
We arrived back at the Cradle Mountain Visitor Center and parted ways. On our drive out of the park we saw another echidna, just in case we didn't see one hiking.
We got to the Cradle Chalet at 6:02 to find reception ended at 6. We rang the doorbell until the same woman as last week came down and checked us in. She had no recollection of us despite us having been there only a few days ago in the offseason no less. We got situated and drove back to Cradle for dinner as we knew there was no chance of getting any where we were staying. We learned that Entres here are apps, and Mains are Entres. The food was great, and we even ate wallaby. Also, one doesn't tip in Australia, which is fantastic and stops meals from getting too out of hand.
The drive back to the chalet was uneventful except a few very stupid possums. There was one sitting in the middle of the road completely unconcerned about cars. To get it to move we actually had to stop the car and I ran and chased it. We made it without hitting any animals and basically passed out the moment we hit the bed.

Splash

Setting out, today was going to be another longer day. Again we were combining two theoretically separate days of hiking. The first portion would take us to the Burt Nichols/Windy Ridge Hut, and the second would get us to the Lake St. Clair Hut. Again we were the first ones out the door, what can I say, we're just very efficient in the morning. And of course it was another beautiful day for us to travel through.

It did end up being a long day, with about 20km (12 miles) total of walking. Our first stop was the historic Du Cane Hut, and more importantly it's toilet, which was a hole carved into a stump along with two carved pieces of wood to hold onto (and also cover the hole when not in use). Mark told us about it (of course). Definitely worth a look.

Du Cane Hut Toilet (camera sucks right now)

Then we walked and walked some more through forests and scrub land until we reached a turn to go see a waterfall. It was nice little side trip which led to nothing. Seriously it wasn't even worth wrestling with the camera over. Apparently in days of yore (last year) you could get much closer, but nowadays they're concerned about safety and that nonsense. So we continued and reached one of the stranger formations you'll find. It was called "The Bowling Green," because lawn bowling is a thing in Australia. Don't ask me why, I think it's just as weird as you do.

Bowling Green

The reason it's called that is because the grass is short as though it's maintained for a bowling green. There is no intervention by man to create this environment or keep it as it is. The guide book had a fancy explanation for it that Isabel read to me and I cannot longer find it. I now suspect she made up the explanation. She's a crafty one. Soon after we reached Du Cane Gap, which isn't significant except it marked the end of our uphill for the entire rest of the hike.

Hooray, it's all down hill from here

By the way, whoever told us that Du Cane Gap meant no more uphill was a liar and an asshole. There was plenty of uphill after that.
We saw a ranger and he checked to make sure we actually belonged on the trail (we did), and then made it to the Burt Nichols Hut for lunch. Rather than having a fun animal on the door it had Burt Nichols who has a hunter/ranger of old.
After lunch we continued on our merry way through the forest and back into moorland. On the way we managed to have our first fight of the trip.  Honestly, that's pretty impressive considering that we traveled halfway across the world and within a few days embarked on a rather stressful and strenuous hike. As to what it was a bout, that's not so important. It was mostly just poor communication on both our parts. We talked it out, and where far enough ahead of everyone else that we had some privacy to do it. We kept going until we made it to the only suspension bridge on the Track, about a kilometer from the hut.

"Now smile and pretend you're not mad at me."

Then there was the typical mad dash to the hut in order to get to the bathroom. After that I decided to check out the jetty. 4/5 people end their hike here and take a ferry across Lake St. Clair. We're not wimps so we were planning to walk it tomorrow. So I walked over to the jetty and Isabel joined me a little later. We're chatting, doing nothing in particular, and I happen to be facing the water when I see a small brown thing swimming in the water. "Platypus!" I cry. Isabel turns, we see it, it disappears. So funny story, at the beginning of the trip I specifically Isabel we would not see a platypus in Australia, it just doesn't happen. Thanks for proving me wrong nature, you jerk. 

I decided to jump in the water in part because the sunscreen we'd been using is disgusting, just horrible, and I wanted to wash it off. I hit the water and had two options. Die or get out. I opted for the second with Isabel nearly falling in from laughing so hard. All previous arguments were forgiven, we saw a platypus.

We headed back to the hut (which had a platypus on the door), hopping over a snake on the way (it had disappeared, but we sprinted over where it had been). The rest of the crew filed in and everyone else went on a successful pilgrimage to see the platypus. Iris got an amazing photo that I will forever be jealous of. Sigh. Everyone also said they got to see it much better than we did, so I grabbed the camera and went back, Isabel humoring me. Nothing. We were looking and looking and couldn't find anything. Then I sneezed and we heard this splash from a cove 20 feet behind us. We look and see a platypus swimming. Then it dove. But we saw its bubbles and could follow it! We watched it swim around for a little and then it got a little too far away, so we called it a night. The pictures were awful and have been deleted.

Tomorrow's the last day of hiking, and it may rain, but we've set up the rent and hope it's going to be a little warmer (it has been every morning other than the first night).

Riding a High

Today was, in my mind, going to be the either the toughest or second toughest day of hiking (yesterday was pretty hard). Isabel and I got up and out pretty early, which is much easier to do when there's no nonsense of dealing with a igloo masquerading as a tent. Isabel did have breakfast, but her wont is to do so while I am still in bed. Then it was walking time. We were the first ones to leave the hut, though Mark and Craig and Iris were all up, as was James. He checked with his traveling companions and they told him to wake them in three hours.

You can't just up and a hug a tree, you need to get to know it first, shake its hand, etc

The morning was misty, but much warmer than yesterday, and so we found ourselves shedding layers rapidly. Usually we start by wearing just about all the clothing that we brought, and gradually getting down to tshirt and shorts (and yes shoes smart ass, we keep those on as well). Again we made awesome, arriving at Pelion Gap (where the side track to Mt. Ossa is and the halfway point to the next hut) in under 2 hours. 

There was a funny sign about currawongs getting into peoples packs, that we laughed about. We took a bit of a break and left our bags by the sign pictured above. Then we started climbing the tallest peak in Tasmania (I thought this was pretty impressive, but I did some research and realized that this peak is barely in the top 50 highest mountains in Australia, sigh). It's 5305, about 40 ft higher than Katahdin and thus the tallest mountain I've ever gone up. 

We didn't no what to expect because it was impossible to compare it Cradle Mountain before started the climb. You see, our guide rated Cradle as Moderate to Difficult. Osaa was rated Medium to Hard. They use different scales within the same book. Sigh. The answer, for those who are curious, is that it was easier. It was higher and more distance. It also took more time, but there was a lot less rock scrambling. There was much more snow, too but only one part was particularly sketchy, and less so that the sketchy Cradle part.

I did manage to get my first war wound of the Track. As we were the first ones up the mountain for the day and because there are no people around now that we're past Cradle, the snow was mostly untouched. There were some very faint tracks from where someone had been a few days ago, but for the most part I was breaking trail. This meant using my feet as shovels, really kicking my toe in to make good holds. At one point I got just a little too close to a rock and my foot fell through the snow and shin got a little scraped on the rock. Luckily I didn't need to find an icepack for it. It was just a scratch so we continued. It was fun breaking trail and made me feel like a badass. Also that first bit was on the sketchy snow with a drop. There was a very long snow bit, but it felt much safer and easier to manage.

Lots of Snow (this probably two thirds up the long snowy bit(

Some of this longer bit was actually pretty steep, so I got annoyed and just ran up it to get it over with. Isabel took her time and thus didn't look like an idiot flailing his way up to the rocks. Finally we hit the top...and there was no marker. We climbed on all the largest rocks and looked everywhere for a sign that said we made it. Nothing. Well, we did, and we made it to the end of the trail trail and not because we got lost.

View of/from the Top of Tasmania

After some searching and lazing we headed back down

We Thought This was Mark and Craig...it wasn't, two day hikers, but it's still a nice photo of them on the easy long snow

To my left is the sketchy snow. Right in the center is Mark and Craig

We made it back down without incident, passing all our companions and two strangers on their way up. Everyone thanked us for breaking trail and thus making it much easier for them to climb than us. Basically I'm saying Isabel and I had it the toughest and are the toughest. The two strangers said they didn't want to go down the sketchy part so they were going to make their own trail down the front of the mountain. Because that's totally safer than following an already made path...
We got down to the bottom and found that the currawongs had raided our bags. They got most of my peanuts and banana chips (luckily they didn't get the chocolate chips I was going to add). They also threw a pair of my boxers on the ground just to add insult to injury. I may have spent the rest of the day swearing at every currawong we saw.
After lunch we started the trek the rest of the way to Kia Ora Hut (our stop for the night) and that part was pretty, but uneventful. There are no pictures because as of last night the camera has started misbehaving as well as having low battery. We made it to the final sprint to the hut (for the bathroom) when we see an echidna! I think Tasmanian echidnas are my favorite Australian animal, they're just so cute (other than their puggles) with their funny nose and shambling gait. I tried to take a picture but the camera just laughed at me.
We managed to get to the hut just before 3pm, and Mark had told us about a stream maybe 100 meters past the hut to wash off in. It was nice and warm out, so I went to wash off my cut and Isabel wanted to clean off too. Here's the problem, The stream was glacier melt. I put a foot in and nearly lost it, Isabel put a foot in and let out the most girlish shriek I've ever heard her make. It was cleansing in an ice bath sort of way, but we only ever put our feet in and then cupped water onto the rest of ourselves.
A little while later the boys got in and we told them about the stream. We warned them about the temperature as well, but they were unfazed. We heard their screams from the hut. Meanwhile when Mark and Craig got in they went swimming with no yells of anguish, as one would expect from the stoic bushmen they are. It turns out this is Mark's fourth time doing the OLT, but the first time he'd made it up Mount Ossa. The previous times there had been weather issues stopping him. He called his wife from the top and her response was, "finally, now you've made it up there you can stop doing the bloody Track."
We spent the rest of the day hanging out with everyone and having the boys educate us on Australian politics. Apparently Abbot is an example of what to expect if Trump became president. He appointed actually himself the Women's Minister. Sigh. But they booted him out hooray!
Another note, apparently my trail blazing is now obsolete. Isabel butt slid down some of it rather than kind of jogging down it as I did, and apparently everyone else did the same, pretty much obliterating any evidence that it ever existed. Good luck to whoever is next.
All in all it was a really fun day and much less difficult than anticipated. It was especially nice that so much of the active day was spent without a pack on. We've had outrageously gorgeous weather so far, and I hope it continues for the next two days. Then it can rain all it wants.

The Longest Day

"If I didn't have such a big pack I'd pat myself on the back."-Me

Before I do anything else, I must address a grievous error in the previous post. I referred to the backpack I've brought here from the United States as "my pack." This is false, the backpack belongs to my dear vet student brother. In return for using it, I am expected to tutor him on the hibernation patterns of echidnas. All he, or you, needs to know about is this: they sleep and they sleep around (true story I wrote that on an exam when I was studying Tasmanian fuana. For more information on echidnas please see the post from a few years ago). Two other facts for fun: 1, spell check thought echidna was actually a misspelling of enchilada; 2, baby echidnas are called puggles and they are not cute.

Second thing to address is my other horrible mistake. Isabel and I were both pretty tired so we went to sleep immediately last night. Then we woke up about halfway through the night because it was so horribly, cripplingly cold. We each put on lots of layers in our sleeping bags, but I'm not sure if we really got much sleep for the rest of the night. We were just waiting for it to be light enough so that we could start moving around and warm up.
It turns out that all the dew froze because it still below freezing, and we thus found little ice pellets sticking to our tent and especially on the metal poles.

the shiny bits are ice and the not dark black on the pole is also frost

I am smart and threw on my gloves to take care of disassembling the tent. The gloves were cheap and not waterproof so all the frost melted in my hands and soon I had to take the gloves off in order to keep my fingers. Honestly the gloves had only made things worse. This meant during the beginning of the morning I had to resort to (wool) sock gloves, a trick I picked up running in Maine. It was shocking that it was this cold. Why would it be the same temperature as yesterday morning? How could we have predicted that? Estimates are that at the coldest it got down to -7 C (19 F) (no one got up to look at the thermometer during the night. I did try to take a picture of it in the morning, but my hands were shaking to much). Finally we got the tent packed and my hands almost warm again, and then it was travel time.

Our view for much of yesterday and today: Barn Bluff. We passed it yesterday and lost sight of it today

Today was tough, possibly the hardest day we'll have out here. We combined two days into one, and hiked from Waterfall Valley to Pelion Hut, passing the Windemere Hut on the way. Getting to Windemere was a breeze. We opted not to do a side trip to Lake Will because we had enough distance to travel already today, but I still took a picture of it

Lake Will

Anyway, we cruised to Windemere, stopping for lunch a little bit before it because we figured it was still an hour away. We were wrong, Windemere Lake appeared maybe 10 minutes later and then we made it to the hut (it had a crayfish drawing on the door). We hung out there for a little while despite having just stopped for lunch. It was a pretty hut and the lake was beautiful.

She loves all the pictures I take of her

Isabel stuck her feet in, but I was not so brave, and took pictures of her instead.

Part one of the day had been a rousing success, and it was time to press on. We then spent the longest four hours of our lives muddily slogging  another 12km or so to Pelion Hut. Part of the problem is that we probably saw the next Pelion after 4k, but rather than heading towards it, we had to skirt a huge vale through muddy and indistinct forests.

Why go straight (which includes a kind of canyon that you can't see from this picture) when you can go around instead?

Adding to the feeling that it was taking forever was the fact that once we were in the forest, there were no landmarks. The one alledged place to keep an eye out for was never marked, only adding to our confusion. Once we started going uphill we knew we things would be fine, as our map also gave us a good idea of where the elevation changes were. Still, for a while we were a bit worried we were lost. There just weren't many trail markers in the forest (probably in part because it was impossible to miss the trail. Here's how to find it: you see the only trail in the forest, stay on it).

I also want to break here to talk about the rangers. They maintained the trail amazingly and made sure the huts were clean and really did a great job making our lives a little easier. Here's an example

It doesn't need to be bigger, it's starts to look worse when expanded

We met another guy part way in. He had forgotten a camera at a little bridge that we had passed a moment before. He grabbed the camera and started running back towards Pelion Hut. I offered to let him carry my pack for me, but he demurred. Apparently he had his own 3km up the path and didn't feel like being generous. Jerk. We limped our way into camp and all but collapsed in the doorway. This was a much bigger hut than Waterfall Valley, able to sleep probably thirty people. On top of that it had four separate sleeping rooms off of the dining area. Privacy! The guy we met before and his two companions had one room, and a Taiwanese girl had another. We claimed a third. Mark and Craig got there a little after us and claimed the fourth. Let's introduce the new characters. The three guys were from SA (South Australia) and kind of doing a gap year/no money for Uni year. They were named James, Riley, and Ben. James being the one we met before, and arguably responsible for forgetting the camera. They will hereafter be referred to as "the boys." The young woman from Thaiwan was named Iris, and is considered by all to be a total badass. She was hiking solo, which we all agree is impressive. Finally there are still Mark and Craig, who actually have an identical Track itinerary to us, so we'll be seeing them a few more times. As for tomorrow, we're all going to the same place, the Kia Orra hut via Mount Ossa (sidetrip up the tallest mountain in Tasmania). 

I almost forgot what made the day worth it. When we got to camp we saw a wallaby! Why does no one seem excited about this? I forgot to mention the wallaby also had a joey, does that help?

Honestly it's a little cuter in concept than in reality, but that's ok

An important update on food. Mark had extra cutlery and took pity on me, especially when Isabel's fancy travel spork broke (we fixed it with tape).

And a final note. the chooks did calm last night, it was probably too cold to strut around after dark. I'm also wondering if their yelling at us was in fact a warning about how cold it was going to get. Maybe they were trying to look out for us and we just didn't listen. Sigh. Tonight we're inside and warm.