How’s that for the title to a blog post. The most impressive thing I have ever done in my life.. Still, won’t start with that, will leave you in suspense for just a little while longer.

So, there was a slight mishap on the Walls of Jerusalem trip. I was innocently eating into a jelly jet-plane… when one of my two (yes, I drank too much Jolt Cola as a kid) crowns came off. Not at all a pleasant sensation.. and not something I was expecting to go through for at least 10 years. This necessitated getting to a dentist ASAP.. so off to Launceston we went.

Checking email on my nifty smartphone was a delight I admit, made even better when I got an utterly random (kinda) email from my friend Mike Carrigan saying “If you happen to pass through Launceston then you must visit my cousin Alan). So we did. I’d met Alan before at Mike’s wedding.. and it was funny to walk into his hotel and see the “Where have I seen that guy before” face register.

He was an excellent host and showed us around his place, and we had a very nice dinner and a couple of well deserved pints there. One of the themed bars was entirely made up from all of his racing equipment. Very cool.

After that it was off to the coast where I was leaving Maaike to head back to Hobart to catch up with Domhnall for his stag night. It was in, I think, the coastal town of Swansea that the most impressive thing I’ve ever done happened. Out for a quite yum seafood takeaway and then back to our oh-so-unlovely camping site (I had to get a bus the next day, and there was little choice). Decided to see whether the table tennis room was still open. It was. Unfortunately, while the bats had no rubber on them (to be expected), there was also no ball (slightly less to be expected). There was, however, one of those grabber game thingys. Best described by a picture.

Feeling lucky, and pooling our coin resources (a single dollar coin) I had a go at the game. Maaike chose Ernie as the toy she wanted (there was only one accessibly Ernie, and that was in the back right hand corner). Anyway, you can see where this is going, one coin, one shot, one MONUMENTAL VICTORY AGAINST THE MACHINE.

Perfect.

Right – so after that it was off to Hobart on an early bus and met up with Domhnall for the stag night. Some of the Irish posse (Carole & Andrew, Eoin) had arrived, and we met up with some more of Domhnalls friends and had an entirely excellent stag. It was far too enjoyable for Domhnall ;) There was climbing…

Some coffee’s (Domhnall is _seriously_ into his coffee now.. the coffee machine costs more than the entire rent on my flat for about 3 years combined.. but it does make excellent coffee (when used well)).

Then it was off to an unmarked hut for the evening – which I’d been to before (but not stayed at) the last time I was in Tassie. Unfortunately I was having too much fun chatting to actually take many pictures, so I’d highly recommend looking at Domhnall’s pictures and Carole’s post on Australia

Lots and lots of fun, a really great night.

After Cradle NP we headed on around the corner (so to speak) to The Walls of Jerusalem National Park, for a couple of days of tramping. It’s a lovely walk in, lakes everywhere and some decent hills around. I think I was expecting just a vertical canyon about, say, 3km high on every side. It wasn’t quite that, but definitely a good place to get to.

I forget the original reason why, but someone named the hill “Mt Jerusalem” and after that, every stream, hill and other landmark became similarly named. This picture is from the top of the Temple Mount (I think)

Also. there were alien pods all over the place.

The stars at night were simply spectacular, and my little camera (and astro-photography skills) definitely don’t do the place justice. We had to camp on these little wooden platforms, specially designed so that the hordes of trampers who are there won’t destroy the place. There were wire tie-downs at each corner, and you basically just strapped yourself in.

Definitely Australia though.. the trees (and wildlife) were a dead giveaway.

And a video (no sound)

updated with High Resolution image

After Frenchmans cap it was time to retire to the beach town of Strahan (population 700 odd) where we got a text from Mike who had kindly housed us in Christchurch after we’d been forced to move out. His text, unfortunately, said that while he’d been away from Christchurch after the quake the house had been looted.

I think that post-earthquake looters should be put into stocks and subjected to taunts preferably with a large supply of rotten tomatoes to be flung at them. That’d be good. Not sure what it says about the rule of law, but hey.

Anyway.. dried our stuff, ate food, drank wine, and then headed off to Cradle Mountain national park.

It was formed through glacial action (I think) and is a fairly stunning, if touristy park. There were some nice loops to be tramped. We spent two days there, and on the second hiked to the top of the mountain. It was quite snowy on the way up which was exciting.

Absolutely stunning view from the top – well worth the hike up.

Twas lovely flying out of ChCh. As we were about to leave a lovely aftershock rattled through the airport. It was akin to having been in a massive fight, been pummelled and generally abused – and then when you admit you’ve had enough and decide to back out of said fight, that your attacker gives you one last thump – just to show you who’s boss.

That’s what a big earthquake is like, psychologically. At least to me. It’s not so much the massive hit, it’s the continual aftershocks.

Anyway, flew out (hurrah!) and via a shortish stop in Melbourne (hot water from the taps in the bathroom – luxury untold), it was onto Hobart (Tasmania) where we picked up our hire car.

Tip for loyal readers
When you hire a car they will always try to up-sell you on the insurance (this is where they make their money). MOST travel insurance that you take out will have a clause which limits your liability on the excess payable if you crash. Worth checking – saved us $700 or so.

Anyway, went to Domhnall & Jill’s to crash for the night (they were off in Melbourne). Hot showers. Ice Cream. Happy happy times. We tried to formulate a plan of attack for Tasmania. Decided to try and tick off Domhnalls top pick – a 5 day walk to a peak called Frenchmans Cap. We were aiming to do it in 3 days.

They have posh wire bridges in Tassie.

And very very changable weather. We knew that conditions were likely to be mixed.. but at least the walk in was dry enough. Domhnall had warned us about the “Sodden Loddens”. A 3km stretch of really really muddy non-track.

Doesn’t really seem to bad does it. But after 2km or so I’d come to the firm conclusion that

1. Domhnall is a masochist
2. Domhnall has long legs

The other thing that you get is leeches. Well, ok, I didn’t get any, but Maaike had 3 (or was it 4?). I suspect I’m just cleaner than she is.

You can see a leech on the plastic in the above picture. I actually had no idea what a leech looks like. I thought it was a sort of leaf-shape.. but no, basically a really flexible (and strong) tube. Very very strong. And hungry. Oh – just in case you come across them ..

1. Leeches are clean (i.e. you won’t get a disease from them)
2. Salt / burning them is the way to go
3. Prefer Dutch to Irish

Anyway, on through the wetlands to the hut at Lake Mavis. I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures of it, but it was a really lovely hut. Very very well supplied and looked after. Also, once you’ve paid for your park pass all the huts are free. It’s quite groovy really.

The next day was supposed to be our (long) day ~11hours + walking. However, it bucketed rain, woke up in a deep puddle and with the low soothing rumbling of thunder. Perfect. So, didn’t go to the summit. However, at about 11am we headed off for a walk – to see what we could see.

We saw some interesting fungi.

But eventually we did get to the top of a pass where we could see over to Frenchmans Cap. It would be fair to say that this was an excellent tramp – and it would have been extra amazing if the weather had been a little kinder. Next time.

Still, beats earthquakes hands down.

Slightly late on the posting, but then having been forced to move house (and having a two week holiday! – less of the forcing there) there has been quite a bit going on.

So, we had a fairly massive, destructive, scary, violent and altogether nasty earthquake. There have been lots of pictures and video’s – some of my friends (Veronica and Richard have written good accounts which are worth a read.

My own story – well, I was on the 6th floor of a city centre building when the 6.3 happened. Apparently we’re pretty unlucky that it was as destructive as it was.

Violent, unprecedented ground-shaking, unusually high levels of energy release, a fault pointing at the city like a loaded gun and trampoline-like bouncing of ground layers under the city combined over about 20 seconds on February 22 to cause the disaster.

I knew it was bad straight away because all of the car alarms were going off and the dust. Looking out the window there was just dust clouds rising all over the place. There was some screaming, but by-enlarge everyone was shocked and calmish. It’s very interesting the responses that humans have in these situations. I’m more of the “indecisive/fight” rather than “flight” response. One of the guys was out of the office and down the stairs *instantly*. Didn’t take keys/wallet or anything.

So, after some condiseration about a dozen of us decided to stay upstairs for about 40 minutes. This was a *good idea* as there were aftershocks which brought down more buildings. I figured that as our office was still standing that at least it was probably a safe place to be. We gathered up laptops and other belongings which we knew would be useful and got ready to leave (also a good idea as the CBD is likely to be closed until December).

During this time I was trying to text Maaike – but hadn’t actually managed to get through.

Then walked out with colleagues and headed to a local square (no buildings to fall on you). Reports were coming through of collapsed buildings – but I don’t think it had quite registered how bad things were. I met Paul – Shelly’s fiancee and together we walked to CPIT to join our girlfriends. Cars were everywhere and pedestrians walking about pretty shell shocked. It was a mess.

Met up with Maaike and by then – about 2 hours after the quake had happened, we decided to try and drive home. Pointless exercise – traffic was totally jammed so ditched the van and walked home. It was great mentally to be walking rather than stuck in traffic. Scary though with decent aftershocks happening at regular intervals.

People everywhere – just a mess. My initial gut response was “lets get the hell outa town and not come back for 5 years”. Part of me still thinks that’s an entirely appropriate and sensible response. It is going to take *years* before there’s any semblance of normality.

Somewhere along the way Steve & Michelle from the house had texted to say the “house was in bad shape”. That wasn’t good to hear. It was one of the saddest moments coming home and seeing the home that wasn’t going to be home any more. I loved 39 Fendalton road. I really loved it. It was community, family, friends, safe and very very happy (if cold). I don’t think I will ever find a place like that again… and of course, I am just happy to have had such great times – and at least the place went out with a bang.

That’s what the old place used to look like – 40 odd years ago. Hasn’t had a lick of paint since. I will take another picture sometime and update this – not that it’s too obvious from outside what the destruction is like.

This is what it’s like on the inside now.

The second picture is after we’d mostly packed up.

It was a lovely evening – at least as much as these things could be. I had a phone call from my friend Maeve. Hadn’t talked to her in ages.. it was.. lovely.. to get that call. Thank you! Also, we had a massive BBQ and a few beers. It was sociable – but sad – we all knew it was the end.

It really was a blur for those few days. A blur of boiled water, hand sanitisers, helicopters and heavy planes flying overhead constantly and alarms. Maaike and I had 3 days to get everything packed and also get ready to leave for Tasmania. We would have had a hard time without Maaike’s friend Annique who was staying. Some holiday for her! I also had to go into work – which I found really hard mentally. The scary thing for businesses is what happens next. I’m sure Egressive will be fine, but its definitely a stressful time for all.

Still, I count myself blessed that none of my immediate friends have been hurt though relations of friends have died, and some hurt badly. Yeah, this one was just so much more serious.

I don’t think I’ve really done the whole thing justice.. it was a very scary time – and I still feel unsettled and tired. Still, I’m happy to be here now even if I have to cycle a mountain bike to get to work

(that pic was taken this morning on the way to work).

So, sorry for the slightly rambly post – I’m still not quite in the best mood for blogging… especially as I don’t have internet at home (yet). Still, alive and whole and well – so have to be happy about that!

Finally, a video of the house