That's a big wave

Been getting back into the water recently. Plenty of cheeky little waves to get my confidence up. Then you see people doing this. I can't even comprehend how big this is.

The friendly people of Cape Liptrap

Bouncing from winter to winter over the last few years I haven't had a whole lot of time for camping. I sometimes got in a few days now and again, but nothing significant. This break in the seasons has seen a reversal of that trend - three camping trips in less than a month has seen adventures to Cumberland River, Aire River and, most recently Cape Liptrap. Setting up camp at Cape Liptrap in particular has reminded me of the wonderful people you can meet while you're camping.

Cape Liptrap

Friendly people

Being Melbourne Cup weekend, most people had the similar idea that camping would be a great thing to do for a few days. This meant that limited camping spots and the need to share fires. The fire we chose to cook on and warm by was also used by an older couple, Tony and Sue, who helped us cook damper, lent us there toasting fork so we could cook perfect marshmallows and generally entertained us with stories of "when we were your age."

Nearby Walkerville South

Even friendlier people

Camped on our other side were Todd and Porno (who actually preferred to be called by his name, Sean-o). We first met Todd after we sang/screamed along to Bon Jovi's 'Livin On A Prayer', which was wailing out the back of their lime green vintage station wagon while we were doing our dishes after dinner. He duly invited us over to listen to more Bon Jovi with him and Porno. (At that stage we didn't know he preferred the name Sean-o). Soon after we politely declined his generous offer Todd appeared at our fire, guitar in hand. We were serenaded with several renditions of 'In The Jungle', his version of 'ABC' written for his two young kids and a truly original song written during Todd's angsty teenage years about being lazy and his mum. That last song was clearly written during a rough patch in Todd and his mother's relationship. I'm omitting the lyrics for a reason.

I'm not sure if we would have stuck so fondly in Tony and Sue's and Todd and Sean-o's memories. I need to get old and wise or learn to play guitar. 

(I like what you've done with your h)Aire River

I know the pun in the title is awful, but I'm not apologising for it. Embrace it with joy!

The Cultural Learnings have fallen by the way side of late (read: last three months), but after a few camping adventures down the Great Ocean Road it's time to get back into it.

Aire River with Bre and her magnificent van, Joan. A fine place to camp indeed.

Bre and Joan.

"Watch out for the copperhead snake a bit further down the track," the Ranger told us.
Didn't tell us how much further down the track.

    

FYI: Bre has always wanted to be an explorer.
Bre can choose to deny that this statement is true. 

Windy.

Frisbee! 

Mad frisbee skills.

Yesterday's trickle, today's torrent.

Stuck in the middle of the raging torrent.

Meet Felix Bennett

It’s the rare skier whose favourite part of skiing is dealing with bumps. But for Felix Bennett, a nineteen-year-old bi-skier from Sydney, the bumps are where it’s at. You may have seen Felix, who has cerebral palsy, shredding Falls Creek last week. Cruising around in a royal blue Mountain Man bi-ski, he was hard to miss. And that’s the way he likes it. “I like all the attention I get,” he says cheekily. Everywhere he went, Felix left a trail of “Wow, look at that!” and “Aww, I want a go in one of those!” in his powder smoke.

It wasn’t just the general public giving Felix attention either; Falls Creek’s lifties kept him well looked after, helping him load and unload chairlifts all over the mountain. “The lift attendants are so friendly and helpful here,” Felix enthused on more than one lift ride. Having skied since he was three years old, Felix has experience with lifties the world over, from Grindelwald in Switzerland to Thredbo and Perisher. It’s Falls Creek’s lifties though, who he’s most impressed with. “They’re always ready for me and know what to do.”

Skiing isn’t Felix’s only sporting pursuit. When he’s not working at Packforce, a Cerebral Palsy Alliance business, Felix can be found at the swimming pool four times a week. In the S5 classification he holds state and Australian records in freestyle and backstroke. Despite Felix’s prowess in the pool, it’s skiing that tops his list of favourite sports. “I only get to go skiing once a year, for one week. I go swimming all the time. So skiing is better,” Felix asserts, to the dismay of his parents, Dimity and Nicholas. Felix also rides a specially adapted trike from Canada and plays indoor cricket. According to his dad, Felix has quite the impressive sweep shot. He’s tried his hand at golf and is keen to play more, but they’re still working out a way he can sit down and still swing a club.

After six days of skiing Felix is already looking forward to Season 2012. The low cloud sitting over the mountain and dumping snow last week kept him mainly around the Towers area. A brief visit to Ruined Castle on one of the sunny mornings only whetted Felix’s appetite for more adventure. If the sun shines next time, Felix is excited about exploring the rest of the mountain and checking out the terrain on the Summit. It seems Falls Creek has worked its magic on him. When given the option of where in the world he would like to ski next, Felix, without missing a beat, unequivocally responds with the most patriotic answer possible: “Australia.”

Photo: Dimity Bennett

Purple haze

The Summit at Falls Creek is lighting up purple. Frying ham, eggs and onion in our room, we have the best view of the lightning show going on outside our window. After being pelted in the face all day by hail shaped snow, I feel we've earned this. Surprisingly, the painful pellets caused only one of my kids to cry today. I count that as a win.

And to make life even sweeter, 75cm of snow is expected to fall over the next three days. Soon, we won't have to just admire the terrain from afar. Bring it!

Excitement allowed

Two weeks ago I got excited. It was the opening weekend of the ski season and, just outside Buchan, I passed a sign that said ‘Mt Hotham 157km’. I was driving amidst intimidating mountain ash trees, making my heart beat a little bit faster. Next to me though, was not a pair of skis, but a surfboard. Buchan was as close as I got to the mountains as I had to start heading back towards the coast and Marlo. (Which made me even more excited because I was on my way to see my ace friends Tim, Wally and Sonja.)

Since then I’ve had one cheeky afternoon slide at Mt Buller: a delicious tease for the season to come. But now I’m going to allow myself to reach maximum excitement. Everything’s white at Falls Creek and tomorrow night is the time to hit the Hume Freeway and head for the hills. Yeeeeeeeehaaaaa!!!!!!!!  

Our walk in the woods

Setting off from the Newfound Gap car park towards Icewater Spring Shelter, a measly 2.7 miles down the Appalachian Trail, Lachie and I were both worried we wouldn’t fulfill our dream. We wanted to meet someone battling their way 2181 miles along the Appalachian Trail, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. One of the reasons we’d come to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was to meet Bill Bryson, author of the hilarious book, A Walk in the Woods, and his companion, Katz. Or, failing that, meet someone as funny and foolhardy as Bill was in his attempt to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail.

The day before, Lachie and I were eager to explore the area surrounding our campsite at Cades Cove. We were also keen to avoid battling other tourists. Most seemed determined to only leave their car to get a Kodak moment in front of National Park signs, simply to prove they were there. Before heading out on the Rich Mountain Loop Trail we took a vow not to have a Katz moment and throw the water bottle away because it was too heavy. Water bottles in hand, we ambled along the trail discussing where we would find the ingredients to make smores that night. “But did you see a supermarket in Gatlinburg? Maybe we could look in Pige- argh, a bear!”

A safe place to hide from bears.

It stood thirty feet off the side of the trail, one paw poised in mid air, staring intently at our panicked faces. Frantically, we scrambled back past each other to what appeared to be a safe distance.

“Are we supposed to keep eye contact with a black bear or try and be big and scary?”

“Black bear? It’s got a brown stripe across its back.”

“Are there even brown bears in the Smoky Mountains?”

“I dunno. You read the National Park brochure this morning.”

“Yeah, I read it out to you. What did I say?”

“Wait, wait. It’s walking away. I think we’re OK. Quick, get your camera out!”

From then on, large sticks and rocks accompanied our water bottles as we continued along the trail, glancing furtively over our shoulders every few minutes to check we weren’t being stalked. 

“Bill Bryson saw a bear, didn’t he?”

“Yep. But we handled it so much better.”

Back on the Appalachian Trail, in the first five hundred feet of our paltry hike, all we’d seen were half a dozen dawdlers, already further from their cars than they probably should have been, and a fit family of four, far too clean and cheery to have been through-hikers. Oddly, five hundred feet seemed to be most people’s limit – we had the trail to ourselves after that, until we reached the shelter.

 “It’s April now,” mused the through-hiker, standing outside Icewater Spring Shelter, his home for the night in the park. “I have to be in Chicago on September 10th. Not sure if we’ll have enough time to make it all the way to Mt. Katahdin.”

The Appalachian Trail at Newfound Gap.

Lachie and I frowned, both doing the maths in our heads, but still excited about happening upon a through-hiker. For the next five months he had no other plans but to walk another 1972 miles? The longest I’d ever hiked was three weeks. The furthest I’d ever driven was Melbourne to Byron Bay, a grand total of 1053 miles. I pulled out my phone and saved “Appalachian Trail through-hiker finishes” into September 10 in my calendar.

“We stayed in Gatlinburg last night,” our through-hiker continued, pushing his drooping wide brimmed hat out of his eyes and picking at the melted hole in his Polartec windcheater sleeve. “Can’t say we ever expected to visit a place like that on the Appalachian Trail.”

Lachie and I nodded vigorously, remembering the carnival-like town we’d driven through a few days before. The dense, green and brown patterns that formed the Smoky Mountains sat in stark contrast to the disposability of Gatlinburg. Multi-storey minigolf courses and go-kart tracks lined the main street. Glowing fast food vendor signs reached up between buildings. Ye olde candy stores and gift shops vied for our attention. It didn’t exactly feel like the gateway town to one of the most popular National Parks in the United States.

“Yeah, it wasn’t until we were driving through Gatlinburg that we realised this was the town Bill Bryson was so disappointed with,” I enthused.

“‘Disappointed’ is putting it kindly, I think,” said our through-hiker, smiling.

A blue tarpaulin covering the front of Icewater Spring Shelter rustled and a second, worn looking through-hiker staggered out, half-eaten Snickers Bar in hand. “We also found some locals in Gatlinburg last night who enjoy their whiskey,” through-hiker number one grimly informed us.

“Ermpf,” through-hiker number two offered, as he headed towards the privy.

Realising our new idols’ need for peace and quiet, Lachie and I wished them good luck and headed back towards our car at Newfound Gap, back to the world where people don’t walk 2000 miles.

It turns out black bears are the only bears that live in the Smoky Mountains. Bear and other wildlife information can be found at www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/animals.htm

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the Tennessee and North Carolina border. It can be reached by car via US-441 or by foot on the Appalachian Trail.

Camping at Cades Cove costs $17-$20 per night, depending on the time of year. 

There are nine other car camping grounds around the National Park. Bookings can be made at www.recreation.gov

Permits are required to stay at backcountry campsites.

Park entry is free.

Maps and other information can be found online atwww.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit or at the many Ranger Stations within the National Park.