Happy New Year: One Week to GO!

 

I now have less than one week to go before I hit the trail. The weather at Cradle Mountain at this stage is warm days and cool nights, however, this can change at any time. Today, my goal is to pack my gear and be ready to go. When I arrive in Launceston I’ll pick up the fresh food that I’ll take with me and rest up before my 7am pick-up next Saturday. It has cost me $180 to be dropped off at Cradle Mountain. I’m staying in a dorm at the Discovery Holiday Park and I will also set up my tent a few times and see how that feels. It’s getting exciting, truly can’t wait! 

I have also decided to hire a Mont 700 sleeping bag from Paddy Pallin in Launceston, so I will be extra toasty! 

Packing List: The Overland Track

 

Bedding

💤Sea to Summit Ether Light women’s large sleeping map. R value: 3.5 - insulated for Spring temperatures. Cost: $237.56

💤Sea to Summit Large Ultralight pillow Cost: $38:00

Sea to Summit thermolite sleeping bag liner - extreme Cost: $110:00

Clothing

🌲Mont long sleeve shirt

⛺️Mont long sleeve zip off hiking pants

🐑Icebreaker merino tank

🐑Mons Royale merino t shirt

🐑Icebreaker merino track pants

🐑Icebreaker 260 thermal merino top

🦆Macpac down jacket with hood

♥️ Mont Jacket

☔️Xtm rain jacket with hood and Rainbird waterproof pants

🧢 Macpac bucket hat, Xtm beanie and No snood

🧤Gloves

🧦 x 2 pairs- Smart Wool, merino and possum.

🩱Swimmers and Sea to summit ultra light towel.

🩲3 x underpants

🥾 Scarpa boots and Gaiters - protection from mud, bushes and 🐍

🩴 Thongs for camp

🕶️ Maui Jim sunnies

Equipment

⛺️- One Planet Goondie 1 one person tent - hired through Wild Island Adventures $119 7 days

💈Masters hiking poles

📕 Kobo e- reader

🧻 Trowel, Kula wee cloth, toilet paper, hand sanitiser,

🎒Small Osprey backpack for side trips

🔥 Fuel Stove Burner - pick up gas in Tassie, Pot and collapsible cup

🧽 Small scourer, chuk’s doubles as a tea towel

🪢 Rope for tent platforms

🪝Pack of hooks

🥄 Spoon, fork, knife all in one

🛌 Mont Sleeping bag -  to minus 10 degrees hired from Paqddy Pallin Launceston

💦 Water bottle and water purifier - from a friend

Toiletries

🌞 Sunscreen, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, hash wash, fisocreme, deep heat, body wash. I decanted these all down into small tubes and containers from Kmart, what an awesome idea that was!

Food

Interestingly, my pack has about 8kg of food! I kid you not!

Freeze dried meals from Strive Foods - a Hobart based business. Radix meals - Nz company. These meals just need boiling water added to them.

Breakfast: oat bars, porridge, muesli. Lunches:- tuna and rice etc - these are heavy but figure they need to be nutrient dense for the amount of km’s each day. Wraps, salami, cheese, crackers, baby cucumbers, Babeybel cheeses, baby tomatoes, some snow peas and baby spinach. Snacks: Scroggin, gummy bears, peanut the m&m’s, muesli bars and protein shakes. Extras: Hydralyte, Powerade

Training: Lennox Head to Ballina - 11kms

 My very dear friend volunteered to walk with me with my full weighted pack to Ballina. We set off at 6:30am and made it to the Ballina Lighthouse after 2hrs 30min. The weather was cool and we got caught in a patch of rain. We didn’t stop that long for a rest to be fair, I’d probably rest longer on the track. Still, it was a great morning, we talked the whole way.

My biggest complaint from my walk is sore feet and legs. Once I got home though, I stretched out for thirty minutes and rubbed my legs with Fisocream. That helped a great deal. Amazing to think some stretches would help with my recovery the next day too! I am wearing full orthotics in my boots. They are really quite stiff and these add to more sore feet! 

I am so truly grateful to Thi-Anh and her dear Husband Mickey. They have been a constant team of support for me. We try to solve the problems of the world and always have a good laugh along the way. Truly blessed.

3 Weeks till the Overland Track

 

Feels like Christmas 🎄

Not long to go now! Just need to finish work so I can knuckle down and get a few more multi day walks in and really test the waters! Bring it on!

SNOW! on the Overland Track in December 2022!!!!!

 

Since this summer hasn’t been incredibly warm, it’s little wonder that it’s snowing on the track! Insert a few farks here! Needless to say I’m now doubting my sleeping kit. I’ve decided to hire a down sleeping bag, as I feel the cold. I’ve also decided after weeks of research to buy a Sea to Summit Ether lite sleeping mat in the post-Christmas sales, as has an insulated bottom, so fingers crossed I won’t feel the cold!

Legs like lead

The view across to Wollumbin and Mt Chincogan.

Big week of training this week. I tackled the CrossFit hero wod ‘Chad’, It is a 1000 weighted step ups shared with a partner. The hero workouts are to honour those men and women who served their country. Chad Wilkinson, to whom the workout was named served twenty-two years as a Navy seal in the US and sadly died from suicide. He used to work out in his garage, doing step-ups wearing a backpack. He was training to climb Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America, by doing 1000 step-ups at a time.

Our gym chose to complete Chad as a partner workout, so we would each complete 500 step-ups each. I started out with a 15kg backpack, and for the last 200, I dropped it back to 10kg and finished Chad in just over 33 minutes.

Weighted Pack Training

 

Here I am at the start of my weighted walks. Cape Byron's most easterly point and my dearest friend and training buddy Thi-Anh here with me. 

Follow a few of these walks, which include a horrendous amount of stairs - which are mandatory training for any hiker I went to Wild Earth on the Gold Coast and was professionally fitted for a hiking pack.

I ended up with an Osprey 65 litre pack, which cost me $396! ouch. It weighs about 2kg, but fits my back perfectly and I no longer have a sore lower back.

Highly recommend being professionally fitted for a pack and completing regular weighted pack walks.

One tip: Remember that you have weight on your back. You can't go as quickly as you normally would, so just remember that!