Aha, finally I get to see some action! I just spent the last week touring around Tasmania. Some lovely peaks out in the South West, but we just didn’t get the time to go and bag them. But I did get to go to the summit on Ben Lomond. Tasmania really is a very agreeable place. Anyway, here is a photo of me at the summit cairn of Ben Lomond, one cold and windy morning.
I’ve been in Tasmania, where everything is scenic, the rock is plentiful and the climbers scarce. I saw a haybale version of stonehenge, I got a flat tyre in a national park (while camping at the end of 3km of 4WD track, and broke my nut wrench trying to get the wheel off), was offered copious amounts of delicious wines by a biker couple from Canberra who were touring around Tasmania visiting wineries, watched the sunrise most mornings, visited a cheese factory, and a chocolate factory, and even climbed some rocks.
The light of the setting sun over Ben Lomond
Early morning light at Bluestone Bay, Freycinet National Park
The view of the rising sun from Whitewater Wall campground, Freycinet National Park
High seas at the Tasman Peninsula
It looks like they’re getting a second PhD student in at work – she’ll be sitting on the desk next to me. Being the only female in a section full of male engineers who all have a good 15 years on me… well, I feel a bit like I’m the pet bird they got on a whim. And they’ve since realised it’s a bit lonely, so they’ve decided to get a second bird to keep it company. I hope they don’t take away my toys and my mirror.
There aren’t many good photos from the weekend – it was raining on Saturday, and I didn’t think carrying my camera around while mountainbiking was a good idea, given the high likelihood of crashing. But here’s a photo from the Beechworth Course – where it actually looks as if I’m sort of high in the air.
(Oh yes, after looking at the weather forecast, I went mountain-biking instead of climbing this weekend. It was fun. I crashed, and have a sore shoulder and a graze on my face. We went through Yackandandah. And ate at the Beechworth Bakery – overrated? And wandered around the Beechworth Sweet Store, like kids in a thingy.)
Vegas! You evil man, I lived in your country for 9 months, you come from HawaiÊ»i, and yet you neglected to tell me about … spam musubi. It has its own page on wikipedia here. I am continually shocked, astonished, and generally taken-aback at the madcap things people do with spam.
