Head to the Hills

All I did was make a casual comment about a beautiful mountain whilst skiing and the next thing I knew I was signed up for a 3 day hike up Feathertop. But when the hills call you've gotta answer. So with my Dad's time off pass clutched in my hand we set of for Harrietville in the Victorian Alps to establish base camp in the luxurious accommodation of the local motel. The first day's hiking got off to a bad start when the path disappeared and our search to find it again led us up the wrong spur. However, once we were 500 m of altitiude up the wrong spur it suddenly became the 'right' spur and the route was quickly re-planned as a circular walk taking in the delights of the razor back ridge. A not altogether bad outcome. The first day got us up to the ridge and a decent camp site with a good patch of snow for water. The sun set was exquisite and the al la carte supper of pasta with curried sausages tasted magnificent due to the exertions of the day. Day 2 was a hike to the summit at 1926 m through the remains of the snow - we couldn't have had a better day for it, with blue sky and light winds - and down the northwest spur to the Melbourne Uni hut. The Hut was great and the snow melt spring water especially invigorating for the morning ablutions. Day 3 was the rapid and thigh busting descent into the valley. I found the old adage to be particularly true: Descend Feathertop in haste, struggle to walk for the next 4 days.

Happy holidays

We did a very spontaneous thing last week and went off on holiday at 4 days notice. We booked to fly up to Queensland where the weather is currently warmer than down here in Victoria, and headed to a place called Noosa which is very popular with Melburnians this time of year, situated on a beautiful network of rivers at the coast. We booked on the Tuesday, and on Wednesday Noosa experienced a one in a hundred year rain event (almost a metre of rain, can you imagine) and got flooded. We had a worried few days, but took some advice and in the end headed up as planned. In the event, a few of the roads were closed when we arrived, but most things were functioning as normal.

We stayed at some very swanky apartments, with gorgeous pool and roof terrace with bbq, TV the size of a radiator etc. Unfortunately they were renovating the apartment below us but the builders were very very nice and at our request didn't do any noisy work when the kids had their lunchtime rests. It sounds like a recipe for holiday disaster doesn't it, inundation and brick dust, but actually we all had the most wonderfully relaxing time. We spent most of our time on the beach or in cafes, and Mummy and Daddy took turns to have a surf lesson each: both managed to stand up a couple of times by the end of their sessions, how proud were we? There was also a stunning national park which we strolled round, and a sunset river cruise where we drank bubbly and rubber necked at the multi million dollar properties. The girlies were completely delightful, although Thea is currently scared of big waves so wouldn't go in the sea at all, and Dulcie consumed quite a lot of the beach. On the way back to the airport we dropped into Australia Zoo (once home to Steve Irwin). It's a little odd how Steve Irwin is now regarded as some sort of national saint now (they've renamed the highway near the zoo after him), and also how the zoo functions as if he'd never died. There are huge pictures of him everywhere, and he's refered to in all the literature as if he's still around. Mummy got to stroke a wombat while we there. Well, when in Rome...