The Joys of Redundancy

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The Joys of Redundancy

Postby adventurescape » Tue 04 Aug, 2009 10:35 pm

Aaaah, after many months of researching and purchasing gear and a few walks (never enough), I was made redundant last week. The weekend just gone was a planned overnighter into New Pelion along the Arm River Track and up to Pelion Gap or Ossa if conditions allowed.

I realised that I had no need to be back by Monday, so stocked up with some extra food last minute before leaving town and left my group at Pelion Gap and continued on my merry lonesome south along the Overland. I spent the next night alone perched on benches above the lake next to the insufficient heater in Windy Ridge hut whilst a fairly impressive weather system raged through. The storm subsided during the night allowing me to finally sleep (I'm a shockingly light sleeper). I awoke at 8.30 from a very deep sleep, i.e.NO IDEA WHERE I WAS for a few seconds. That hardly happens these days. Anyhoo, there was a fantastic cover of about 4 inches of snow outside and plenty more on the mountains above, it was magic. More snow gently fell in small flurries for the next few hours while I made porridge and coffee and just enjoyed my surrounds with no rush to be anywhere.

The pleasure of being on my own and experiencing snow falling from the sky for the first time was amazing. My childhood dreams of experiencing snowfall coming to reality at the age of 32 was quite profound and absurdly beautiful.

There is something about eucalypts and snow in the same landscape that makes my brain short-circuit in the most fantastic way.

I left the hut at about 12.30 bound for Echo Pt through the thaw. The slowly dissolving patches of white that were in my immediate surrounds lent a different touch to a portion of the Overland that I have become quite accustomed to over the course of this year in my discovery of the joy of bushwalking. Having already done the stretch between pine valley and Narcissus 3 times so recently, the white frosting of Winter's touch heavy upon the mountains was a very welcome and magnificent accent on what is a spectacular landscape already.

The weather that came through Saturday night must have been rough. There was several young healthy gum trees toppled across the track between Ducane and Narcissus and two huge old dead trees freshly toppled across the path alongside Lake St Claire.

It was great to be in a hut for the storm, especially after walking thru Pelion Gap for the first time earlier in the day and feeling a real sense of exposure in a wilderness setting.

All my shell wear worked as it should in testing conditions. The amount of water around was unbelievable. I was walking through calf deep streams in sections of track. Needless to say my feet were constantly wet, but always warm. I didn't get to sleep in my new tent, it seemed like such hard work when the huts were right there. I'll use it very soon, I'm sure. I have time to enjoy the fruits of my labour for a while, I intend to make the most of it.

Tassie is awesome and I love snow. I am the big kid in the outdoors lolly shop!
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby dee_legg » Tue 04 Aug, 2009 10:38 pm

Apart from the losing the job issue, you're a very very lucky man!
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby the_camera_poser » Tue 04 Aug, 2009 10:52 pm

Sucks to be out of work, but oh man can it be fun too, if you play the dole-check-game well.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby tasadam » Tue 04 Aug, 2009 11:23 pm

experiencing snow falling from the sky for the first time was amazing.
I remember that. I was 19. Fantastic!
Congratulations on your experience - one I am sure will be held high on your life experiences list for a long time.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby stu » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 8:11 am

Nice work Sam, now you can work on that outdoors business that you mentioned?
(Sam & I met on the Lake St. Clair ferry a few months back, I was off to Horizontal Hill & he was off to Pine Valley).
Sounds like you have been enjoying Tassies fantastic 'adventurescapes';
wait until you get into the South West, you're heads gonna pop from the sensory overload :D
Very jealous sitting here at my stinking work station (read cell).
Cheers mate, keep up the adventures.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby frank_in_oz » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 8:16 am

Great story, make me want to make myself redundant.....

Took my 45yo brother in law down there 3 years ago into Scott Kilvett etc in late October. Got a nice lot of snow and he was pumped! Had never seen snow before, that, and a few rums had him acting like a 12 yo. Great to be part of.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby alliecat » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 9:23 am

Terrific story - great to see you took being made redundant and turned it into an amazing outdoor experience.

I loved your comment about eucalypts and snow. I remember seeing wattles in bloom covered in snow and my brain just kept going "what? what?". The aussie (and especially tassie :D ) bush is special anytime, but with snow around it's just magical. Glad you had such a great experience on the OT.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby adventurescape » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 1:45 pm

Every walk I go on I return with the feeling that its the best thing I've ever done! No matter the weather or the depth of mud or water trudged through, its all great. Having the right gear definitely determines comfort and safety in the bush.

I have returned from this trip with a real sense of renewal and looking forward to change and a fresh start in different areas of life. I have 5 metres of Tyvek to play with, metho stove cooking systems to tinker with, and gear to clean and dry. I get to spend some quality time with my son and partner and hopefully we get to do some shorter overnighters together over the next few weeks.

I'm contemplating doing some temp/casual work as a postie for a while. Sounds like a fun change from full-time boilermaking and a harsh industrial environment.

If anyone is keen for 3-4 nights to do Lee's Paddocks Track to Pelion and then north thru to Cradle, please pm me. I would love to go thru this way, but would like to do it with someone who is familiar with the area and is confident in winter conditions.

Also, can any one suggest worthwhile and relatively easy walks (with good overnight camping) around Ben Lomond? I want to take my family up Ragged Jack to the paddock for a night, but other suggestions would be appreciated! I have been thru the Ragged Jack track on my motorbike and it looks like a perfect walk.

Thanks all for the replies! It was a really special trip and nature never fails to amaze and humble me. Does anyone recall a few summer's ago the bushfires near Melbourne and snowfall around Christmas??? I remember seeing the snow on fire-blackened trees on the news reports and being totally blown away at such dire contrasts in an Australian environment, and at a very unlikely time of year.

I just want to say again what an amazing place we live in (Tassie/Australia) to have such great natural assets and the confidence to know that we aren't going to become homeless or starve if we lose our job. Our medical system is pretty great too, compared to many other places. We are all lucky and so much of what we have is taken for granted, be it our freedom, or our environment. The fact that we have both should be cherished and celebrated. Those who exploit our natural resources for the gain of a few have a lot to answer for. Greed and materialism defies our nature and the human condition. Adventure is an expression of the soul. It starts to define our sense of belonging to our surroundings, its ego that seeks to conquer nature.

Thats my thoughts anyway,
Sam.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby north-north-west » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 7:52 pm

adventurescape wrote:Does anyone recall a few summer's ago the bushfires near Melbourne and snowfall around Christmas??? I remember seeing the snow on fire-blackened trees on the news reports and being totally blown away at such dire contrasts in an Australian environment, and at a very unlikely time of year.

I was up in Wonnongatta-Moroka the weekend the fires started, wandering around over Mt Reynard. Driven away by the smoke coming over from the Catherine River fire, which was spreading as fast as I've ever seen a fire go. There were spot fires down in the valley as I was driving up, but they were all under control.
And I was up on the Main Range Christmas Eve, camped under Abbott Peak. Woke to the start of the snowstorm.

And then the flash floods in January, which closed the roads for a little while - and they'd only just finished clearing up after that when the really bad floods hit the Wellington and MacAllister Rivers . . . hard times.

I love her far horizons, I love her jewel seas
Her beauty and her terror . . .


Like your attitude, mate. Make the most of the opportunity. I almost envy you (apart from the financial insecurity . . . )
"Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens."
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby the_camera_poser » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 10:03 pm

Fires huh?

The 2003 Bushfires started 5 km behind our house (Those were the ones that burned all the way to Canberra). They dropped hot embers and ash on us for 6 weeks. We were actually on Mt Buffalo the day the fires started- we watched it just smoulder all day as a spot fire while NPS ignored it (they later admitted that they left it as they felt that it was a natural event, and they wanted to study it. I was present at the meeting where the NP Ranger stated this.) Actually, in a completely pointless aside- that's when I blew my knee out rock scrambling on Mahomet's Tomb.

The 2006 Bushfires started 17km from our house, and burned to within 3 km. The CFA guy told us that our whole valley was going to burn, and that there was nothing they could do about it, so we should leave. Not that I'm complaining that he was wrong....but...... That was when we put the house on the market....

The 2009 Bushfires killed a family 10km from our former house, and very nearly destroyed the town nearest to us, which is literally cloaked in pine plantation.

We're very glad to be living in lovely, wet Tasmania now.

I've lived with fire my entire life- first as a child in Southern California, then as an adult in the pine forests and dried-out swamps of Georgia, and then in Southeast Queensland, and finally in NE Victoria. They ain't like they used to be. You shouldn't get 3 fires in 6 years like that.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby Taurë-rana » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 10:18 pm

Exactly how long have you been in Tassie TCP? We get them pretty bad here too at times, though not so much in the NW. The East Coast burnt pretty badly a couple of years ago, and of course Hobart burnt in the 1967 bushfires.
On another note, I was put off at the end of May, and thought I'd have plenty of time for walking but every time I start thinking about it I get work (not that I'm complaining, it's useful for things like being able to eat, and to buy gear).
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby north-north-west » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 10:26 pm

Don't start about the '67 fires, Annie - that'll bring all the old-timers out o the woodwork.

*shudder* Still gives me nightmares, that day.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby Taurë-rana » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 10:52 pm

I wasn't here, but when we moved to Tassie in '73 it was still very fresh in people's minds and a healthy respect for bushfires was instilled into us very early.

My Mum and Dad had a bushfire go through bush on their place behind Margate a few years ago, and they found it terrifying - they thought that their house had plenty of clear space around it already but after that they cleared it much further back. It also trapped them here in a way every summer - they wouldn't go away for fear of a fire coming through that they would need to fight. It was a big part in them deciding to move a few months ago.
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Re: The Joys of Redundancy

Postby the_camera_poser » Fri 07 Aug, 2009 1:03 pm

Annie- 1 year. But I'm pretty sure the NW isn't going to burn quite like NE Victoria...... You just have to take a good look at the bush and the land usage patterns. I wouldn't be too keen on living around Hobart or on the East Coast. I'm just sick of having to wonder if this is the year we'd get burnt out or not. There's no bush near enough to us in Sheffield to be a risk.
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