Blogs from Mount Buller, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

I was cold last night, but the camp looks good in the morning sun. I don’t need to start too early, but the 1st 7.5 km today are uphill all the way to the Eight Mile Gap (1150m) and I want to do this before the day gets too hot. The walk is a steady climb but not too steep so I find I can keep walking without needing too many breaks. It takes me about 3 hours to the gap where I stop to rest and check to see if I have phone reception. While I’m sending my messages 2 couples arrive in 4wds towing caravans. I talk to one couple, they are off to Refrigerator Gap and are volunteers for the Oscar 100 event that is on this weekend. From now it is all ... read more

I slept Ok and there were no storms during the night. I am getting quicker at breaking camp and today I'm off walking at 7:30am. The initial 2km are slightly uphill but on a good track. From there it is a short ascent up to The Nobs which is probably my first real viewpoint of the hike. The track down to the High Cone campsite and saddle is quite steep in places but I reach there at 10am and stop for a rest. I also go looking for the nearby water source but as I expected there is evidence of moisture but no actual water that I can find. The next section of the track is hard work as it is very overgrown with numerous trees down across it as result of bushfires. Though it is ... read more

We left Heyfield shortly after 9am and found the road from Licola to Jamieson was a good 2 wd track so had no problems reaching Mt Skene, but still took 90 minutes reminding me that we were already in quite remote country. At the junction with the Barkly River Jeep track, we pulled over. I shouldered my pack, and with my full water bottles it felt heavy. By the start of the track we found a food drop container, which made me think I might meet some others on the AAWT, though this container was dated for pickup at the end of January. After a photo and J’s best wishes I plodded off up the track. The weather looked good, clear and perhaps a little too hot, but the forecast was for cooler days ahead. The ... read more

If all of you are wondering why there has been a lack of bungy-jump/sky dive filled blogs lately that's simply because we have been living rather normal lives. We've been working 7 days a week and not doing anything too interesting!! Anyway, Hols and I have sufficiently topped up the bank accounts and are heading off tomorrow in a WICKED CAMPER. we're hiring a van and setting first out to the Great Ocean Road then back through Melb and up towards Carines. We are going to expereince distances that english people cannot compute. it we were to drive directly non-stop from Melbourne to Cairnes it would take 36hours. Don't worry though, we've got 2 months to do it and an ipod full of tunes so we should be fine and dandy! Work has been pretty mundane ... read more

Day 1-3: I'd say a great holiday wouldn’t be as great without the occasional mishaps and disasters. Our luggage got stolen on day 1 of our road trip to Melbourne and it still turned out to be the best trip ever. We left at 6am in the morning trying to make it to Newcastle before dark. We’ve experienced 4 seasons within 11 and a half hours of our trip to Newcastle. The nice and cool sunny day turned into a scorching weather as we reached New South Wales. We then drove into a wind storm and torrential rain just past Port Macquirie. We had to put on our thick jackets when we stopped over for lunch in some town in NSW as it was freezing cold. We arrived at our accommodation in Newcastle around 5.30pm just ... read more