MLC Grade 1 Dads & Daughters

This weekend was a great weekend.

My grade 1 daughter and I decided to invite her class to come camping with us so that we can further get to know the children and their parents.

We had made up some invitations and put them in all the school bags the last day before Easter in an attempt to give people lots of notice.  We had lots of families with plans already but are looking forward to us inviting them again.

We had 6 father/daughter teams which was a great size for the hike.  We looked for a local place to take them and felt Cathedral Ranges would be the best spot.  Last year Bailey & I did the Wells Cave track which is the areas hardest trail and Bailey got a lot of confidence from it.


So Saturday May 5, 2012 we arrived and started setting up camp.  I have recently acquired a new family sized tent which would accommodate a majority of the group.  It is made by the same brand as my Backpack and tent "Black Wolf" and so far I have found the tent to be very reliable as well as well thought out.  Plenty of storage pockets, room dividers etc.



You could see as the families showed up that the girls were chomping at the bit to be outside and have an adventure.  Surprisingly the fire was the centre of attention for a fair part of the afternoon.  Little fire bugs, I'd expect this from grade 1 boys but was surprised with these girls being so excited by flames.  Dads and daughters set about setting up camp through out the afternoon and even had time to get a small hike in before dinner.

We had 2 options for dinner.  I had brought my cast iron cooking gear and had the roast slow cooking in the dutch oven with carrots, corn and potatoes (all with a little butter included) wrapped in aluminium foil on the hot coals.

We also had a home made lasagne which sat on the grill over the fire slowly warming up.

Both dinners we gobbled up in no time and the girls soon started to chant for their marsh mellows.  We had eaten dinner about 6:30pm in the dark so around 7pm it was fairly reasonable to break out the goodies.  Marsh Mellows, jelly snakes, cookies and chocolate bananas all made an appearance and stimulated the girls into more fire play!  Writing in the air seemed to be the favourite.  I'm happy to report we had no incidents/accidents!

The dads broke out the cheeses and crackers once the girls were in bed and stayed up by the fire having a great chin wag.

The next morning as we packed up camp we had a traditional hot breakfast by the fire, eggs, bacon, beans and toast.  We were ready to hit the mountain.  About 9:45am we car pooled to Sugarloaf Peak car park and made our way up SugarLoaf peak.

This was no easy hike.  Dads were often spread across gaps passing kids up to each other so the girls felt safe in what we were attempting.  Sure there were times when there was tears from one or two children but thats expected when they have not been up this high before.



The cave was a real treat for the girls.

We stopped on the summit to gather out thoughts and rally the girls for the descent and luckily the cloud cover had cleared not 20 minutes earlier.

The way down had more tears or terror and Dads were even more involved but we all made it down safe and sound.

This will be the last camping for the year as the winter comes in, I'm really glad Bailey & I were able to share this with her school mates and their fathers.  We'll do these camps twice a year now for her class and hopefully keep getting more and more attendees.

                           

                              

                          

Mt Donna Buang

In my previous post "Come on honey its only a 2 hr drive" I mentioned we had come across another hiker who had already done most of the AAWT and were able to get some advice from him.  Allan Gamble.

Well this weekend past I caught up with Allan for a 24 hour hike of a local peak.  Although it does not form part of the Australian Alps Walking track I was still happy to get out for some fresh air, training, and to see how my hiking form stacked up against someone who had done most of the Track already.

Allans wife and kids were nice enough to drive us out to Fenshaw Car park Sunday morning and see us on our way about 9:30am.  The first 4km was flat and straight forward but man did Allan push the pace.  I probably should have jogged to keep up.  He assured me this was not an AAWT pace but purely due to todays late start he wanted to be conscious of the time and distance and make pace while things were easy.

Then we started to climb.  About 1000 meters of ascending that afternoon.  It was hard yakka!  I had done the Melbourne Tough Mudder event the day before and with Allan pushing the pace I was dead.  I had stopped a number of times on the incline, it was just hard work for my tired legs to push a 22 kilo pack up those hills.  I wondered to myself if this is how I will feel on some of the days on the AAWT.  Would I get leg weary? Would my body let me down like this on the trail?  Have I not put enough
work in?

On arriving home I looked up our schedule, we have some big days where we will be covering big kilometres but usually in areas that won't be peaks like Mt Donna Buang.  That being said I am feeling maybe we should make a back up schedule so we can prepare ourselves and our families back home for the scenario where we take a couple extra days because maybe we have bit off more than we can chew.

What I can say about todays hike was it was different, literally.  Ever 2 hours or so today I would look around and nature had changed.  It physically was completely different then the areas we were in 2 hours previous.  From tall gums with some minor ground cover to scattered old growth tree with long grass the size of hay fields and then tall gums trees again but this time old thick ferns and under growth that would have been there for decades.  Was a real visual feast.

So Sunday about 3pm we decided to finish up a kilometre or so short of where we were wanting to reach because we found a good enough camping spot.  We were alternatively going to just plop ourselves on the walking track just ahead so here was just as good.  We were just to the side of the 4x4 track we were following ( which was actually closed to vehicles)

We set up camp, ate up our hot meals and had a good chin wag.  As it got cold & dark the mosquitos finally gave up on us but the leaches didn't.  Both Allan and I dispatch a couple little suckers before they latched on but the next morning we realised we couldn't fight them all off.  Allan scored a couple on his legs and upon my arrival back home I found I had a lovely love bite mark on my lower back from a leach that I was unaware had attached to me.  I was itching the spot all day but just thought it was a part of my pack rubbing my clothes or something!

Of course my phone has gone dead during the night so no picture of the summit of Mt Donna Buang or the intense 4.5 - 5km descent which did not snake its was down like the 17km road does.  But we walked in a straight line right down the side of this peak and man the legs were screaming.  Although unsafe, at one point I was running full pace down the mountain with my 20 kilo pack just so my legs could feel a different strain.

Did I mention we started our day at 5:30am so the muscles were just loving me!

We made it down the wet descent without either of us stacking it on the way down and we happy to get  on the bus in Warburton to head back to Melbourne.

Thanks heap to Allan Gamble for inviting me along for the ride.

I can here the call!

Sure, I have been working hard to stay fit or those close to me would know I've become a little more fit lately.

Sure I have been out on family camping trips.  We all know the trips I'm talking about.  you pull up the car unpack while the kids watch DVD's in the backseat and in the middle of the night if the kids aren't warm enough you send them to the car & turn on the heater.  These are great family memories that the whole family is involved in.

Then it happens, maybe a week or even a month later.  your sleeping sound in your bed and you toss and turn a couple times.  You hear it.  You think to yourself my shoulders aren't sore.  My back is confident and supple.  My mouth is well hydrated and my skin lilly white.  You hear it again.

Its the call....... of the bush!

I haven't had a full pack on since Novembers attack of Mt Shillinglaw.  I've trained like mad since then so I don't have to carry so much weigh in November up & down the Australian Alps Walking Track.  But does that count.  Am I bush hardened.  Have I confirmed the exact weights of everything I'm taking...have I completed the list of everything to take!

Now I'm anxious.  The answers are no.

I have to get out.  I have to get some fresh air.  I need to get out into the fresh air and only hear my thoughts  and the voice of the person or two that I'm walking with.

But its a thursday night & I have appointments.  I know in a couple weeks I'll be out for a couple over nighters, what can I do now.  I'll just walk around doing some gardening around the house in my hiking boots.  That will do.  okay no it didn't.

So I took Judd for a walk.  We do live around some great parklands, lets see what we have in our backyard.  I packed Judd up into the pram and put on the boots.  We walked down a couple side street that we've not been down before and before we know it Judd has a small collection of special sticks and leaves he has collected.  He has also brought a rope that he found in our garage a couple days ago and he says its his mountain rope.  He's caught the bug.

I then see an interesting sign, "Walk through to Burke Rd North".  Walk through, I've never seen a walk through around here....  I take a look and the night glow of the sunset comes glaring down this secret walkway completely tree'd on both sides.  I've not been hiking for a while so this has hit me in the teeth!  Wow - how cool is this.  It has a wonderful damp smell from the early rain and all the plant are vibrant and healthy.  Judd loves it, I love it.  The entry starts with about 12 steps of blue stone stairway then uphill back to....our street.  What.  It comes out at the entry to our street & I've never seen it.  Next time I hear the call but am trapped in the house I'll be heading down to my secret pathway to just soak up the smells.

I'm looking forward to March & April with a couple outdoor evens planned.  Stay tuned.

Preparation Part 2

So what will April bring for me.


My strength and fitness should be much improved by now as it will have been more than 12 months of training.  My physique is already drastically changed so I can see myself having to get some smaller gear before I leave.  What will I do in April to keep the fire burning without burning myself out.

I think I will be itching to hike!

Another 4 day trek will be in order before the snow comes.



So I will keep my training up and get a couple days hiking in.  On this trip we will try out some new gear we have bought since our last trek.  I know Tim Marsden is hanging out to try a Hiking hammock he has bought which will drastically reduce his pack weight and get him off the ground during the rainy nights of November.

We will also hope to redefine our food requirements.  Last trip we had too much volume for dinners, this is another area we hope to reduce our pack weight and really work to get right before we leave.



MAY 2012

With the change of month should come the change in weather.  May and June are going to be cooking months.  Megan & I have been looking into hiking recipes but it has just been to hot during the summer to get the dehydrator running all day and night working out recipes.  So with the cooler weather I really want to work out a schedule of food between what Megan & I have discovered and what Tim & I are willing to eat, that will provide us with enough energy to get through the big days/weeks without having to carry volumes of food.

From a fitness point of view I think that it will be much of the same for May & June.  Not going to change things too much.  Will keep my eye out for a race or contest or something challenging to set my sights on.


JULY 2012

Bring on the snow.  Although we do not expect snow during our November 2012 Trek of the AAWT it has been known to snow and we will need to be prepared for it if so.  I have been speaking to some friends who run the local ski mountain outside Melbourne and they are asking around on the mountain to see if anyone of their staff is interested in doing a 3 day- 2 night winter trek.  This will really test out my gear and give me some understanding of what emergency measure I may need to think about.



August 2012

Well we will be really set by now to get out there.  By August I will want to be a my goal body fat percentage & fitness level.  What I will start to think about is maintaining those levels but improving my pack fitness.  At this stage I know I can run to my office in 34minutes so it should only take 1hr or so to walk with full pack.  I plan to do a full pack walk to and from my office per week through August to make sure my back and shoulders build up some resistance and also to play around with my packing methods.  I noticed last years hike of the AAWT sections that I did better on day 2 & 3 because I had packed my bag much better.

September 2012

September I will turn 33 - I will post detailed lists of the gear I will need you all to buy me so that I can do my November AAWT end to ender! Kidding but I do expect to update some of the gear or changeover some of the gear in my pack with Birthday gifts, new socks & jocks at a minimum.....

Again, all the time maintaining my fitness.

I will also experiment with food drop containers - size, construction method etc..... I don't want us to get to our drops and find that the bugs have eaten our next 7 days worth of food.  So I plan on putting a bucket out on the trail where our first drop will be and going back at the end of September to see how it all faired.  Is the cheese too sweaty for our liking, has the containers held up... has moisture got in etc.   Just a little test run.

October 2012

Well, maintaining my goal fitness as per the last couple months but also spending a lot of time with my wife & kids.  By October I want everything to be organised.  Evert "T" crossed and accounted for.  We will be away from each other for 38 days except for the 1 day at Mt Hotham when we meet on the track for a rest day.  I expect there will be daddy daughter nights with my Bailey and maybe Juddy Boy as well.  There will have to be a couple diners with Megan to make sure she feels loved and appreciated..... Andie will be a baby still so she will tag along but nothing special planned with her.

October I will also be completing tasks at work to make sure my absence has minimal impact on our project & cash flows.



November 2012

Hello the Australian Alps Walking Track.

Build up - Preparation

With the New Year has come a mix of thoughts and emotions.  I have not made an New Years resolutions as I have so many goals already in place that there really is little room for more.

Being 2012 I now feel like I need to really prepare for the hike more seriously, more diligently, more thoroughly.  I need to be fitter, smarter, and healthier then 2011, I need to be more focused on my goals.

Speaking with my personal trainer - Marcus Bourne of M power Personal Fitness - Marcus suggested that I create a calendar of goals so that I can map out what objectives I need to achieve in preparation for my departure.

For those of you who are local, I invite you as often as possible to join me in training.  Receiving your encouragement and support through your participation in some training has to this point been motivating and I look forward to having fun training with you all at some stage this year.

Here is the "Game plan"

February

We will welcome our 3rd child this week so training and personal goals will take a back seat to being a father.  We look forward to welcoming "Andie Grace Belanger" on February 1 via C-section surgery.
February really becomes a month of maintaining my current condition.

This will consist of 3 gym sessions a week to continue to build a solid core strength and muscle conditioning.  Although "big"muscles aren't required for hiking I do believe in having an overall strong physique as you never know when it will come in handy.  In my trip with Dad "Wow! What an Eye opener" see past article.  We came to a section which had our weight sliding downward left across a small cliff.  Unfortunately for Dad, the humidity had got to him and he fell upside down pack and all and was perched in a couple branches inches from falling 10 metres down a cliff into a fairly dry creek bed.  Knowing that I am able to pull him & his pack up quickly and safely if worth carrying a couple extra kilos of muscle.

I will continue to ride my bicycle about 100km each week which has become easier now that I have sold my car..... I partially sold it so that I am forced to ride or run to work or other venues and force myself to train more during a standard business day.

I want to increase my running kilometres from about 15km per week up to about 25km per week.

And of course as always I need to watch my food.  It seems every week I learn something new about the food I'm eating.  Whether its a new tasty recipe, or that a certain food no longer agrees with my digestive process.  I guess I'm more aware these days.

In 3 weeks I have a weigh in and body fat test with Marcus Bourne and my goal is to for the first time in my life have less than 11% body fat.  Let me say that at 11% that is still the healthiest I have ever been.
My goal before my departure is to get down to about 8 or 9 % body fat.

I will also mention that this month as part of training I will be running the "Richard Rancie memorial run" around the "Tan" in Melbourne.  This is an annual event to remember a friend who died about 4 Christmas' ago.  See you local fellas there!

March

I do not plan on changing much about my personal fitness through the coming months.  I will still continue with 3 gym sessions per week of which 1 every 2 weeks with be a tough session with Marcus Bourne.  He always gets 110% out of me each work out.  I physically cannot do anymore by the time the session is over.

I will continue with my 100km approximately of bike riding per week but I will increase my running kilometres from 25km to 40km per week.

Part of preparation which I haven't really touched on but is a given for anyone doing this much exercise and planning on achieving any athletic achievement is the "mental toughness" required to succeed.  Tim Marsden & I know the Australian Alps Walking Track will throw up some challenges & we will have to be mentally fit to take them on and sort them out if we want to complete the track and do so with little errors.  In order to push my mental intensity and plan to participate in 2 fun events that will also be great endurance training for me mentally & physically.  First is the "Tough Bloke Challenge" which is an obstacle course with 15 obstacles set over a 6km trail.  This will be a light hit out early March in preparation for "Tough Mudder" which is 18 more difficult obstacles set over 20km and will no doubt test my mental & physical endurance.

These are the goals I have set for the next 2 months.  It would take people all day to ready the blog if I did the whole years goals in one segment so stay tuned for the rest of the goal setting schedule.

The itinerary for the AAWT

Well last night Tim Marsden & I sat down with the 50 or so maps that cover the entire Australian Alps Walking Track and the official trail book to work make a schedule for our adventure.

We also used Karen Cody's log sheets as a reference for the trip.

Some of the things we discussed were length of days, difficulty of days, what types of days do we have ahead of us or had just done.  Also at what stage of the journey we were at, are we concerned about starting off too hard before our bodies got into a grove or are we happy to push from day 1.  How many rest days do we want to have and where?  How do we feel about track conditions and how they may effect us.


The following is what we came up with as an itinerary for our adventure....

Camp to Camp	Distance	Difficulty of terrain
Day 01 Walhalla-Talbots Hut site	24.8	4
Day 02 Talbots Hut - Stronachs Camp	21.5	3
Day 03 Stronachs - Red Jacket	21.8	2
Day 04 Red Jacket - Black River	26	2
Day 05 Black R - Rumpff Saddle	14.9	1
Day 06 Rumpff Saddle - Low Saddle	17.5	2
Day 07 Low Saddle - E Barkly Rd	12.4	3
Day 08 E Barkly Rd - Chester Yd	15.3	2
Day 9 Chester Yd - Mt Speculation	17.7	3
Day 10 Mt Spec  - Viking Saddle	9.7	3
Day 11 Viking Saddle - Barry Saddle	6	1
Day 12 Barry Saddle - twins track	23.9	4
Day 13 Twins -  Diamatina's Hut	23	4
REST DAY WT FAMILIES AT HOTHAM	0	0
Day 15 Diamantina H - Cope H	23.3	4
Day 16 Cope H - Tspur River junction	19.7	5
Day 17 Tspur - Mt Bogong -Cleve Cole	12.1	4
Day 18 Cleve Cole H - Mt Willis H	18.6	3
Day 19 Mt Wills H - Gill Creek Camp	12.3	1
Day 20 Gill Creek Camp - Mitta Mitta R	13.8	5
Day 21 Mitta Mitta R - Beloka R	16.2	2
Day 22 Beloka R - Buenba Ck	19.6	3
Day 23 Buenba Ck - Buckwong Ck	18.3	3
Day 24 Buckwong Ck - Limestone Ck	15.9	3
Day 25 Limestone Ck - Cowombat Flat	21.9	2
Day 26 Cowombat Flat - Cascade FT	21.6	5
Day 27 Cascade FT - Dead Horse Gap	20.7	5
Day 28 DHG - N Mt Twynum	20.2	4
Day 29 N Mt Twynum - Whites R H	14.5	2
Day 30 Whites R H - O'Keefe H	30.6	5
Day 31 O'Keefe H - Happy H	26.4	5
Day 32 Happy H - 4 Mile H	14.5	3
Day 33 4 Mile H - Witses H	20.3	4
Day 34 Witses H - Hainsorth H	22.3	4
Day 35 Hainsworth H - Dunn's Flat	23.7	4
Day 36 Dunn's Flat - Orroral R	22.4	3
Day 37 Orroral R - Namadgi Info Centre	21.9	4

We do expect to have one other day of rest for either recovery or poor weather so we are actually allocating 38 days for the journey.

We are going to try and find a way so that everyone can follow our progress online.  We have a couple products to look into so will keep you all posted.

Product review - OR Sunrunner cap

So my last article was about Christmas and how it is useful to top up your pack.  I haven't done  product review really at all so here goes my first attempt at one......


Outdoor Research Sun runner cap




This versatile hat has a removable, adjustable skirt that gives shelter from harsh rays or can be removed when you just need ball cap coverage.  The lightweight fabric provides a UPF 30+ sun protection.  Mesh side panels let air flow over the sides of your head.


I am not a big fan of wearing head gear when hiking, I like to feel the air on my head.  Having a hat on my head seems to be a barrier between me an nature, I feel cheated like I am unable to breath in the full freshness of the air around me with one on.  But of course there is the practical side of wearing a hat that it keeps sweat from dripping down into my face, protects my face and in this case neck from the elements which on hot days will no doubt make the trek less pleasurable.

I've been wearing my new outdoor research sun runner not only on my morning 4.2km runs but for much of my physical training and really any outdoor activity, cutting grass and washing the car included.  Its really lightweight which makes it almost unnoticeable.  The brim is not thick and heavy but instead very lightweight and pliable.

During my first couple runs I put the breathability to the test.  In the past I have found wearing a hat has increased the amount I sweat.  I could take my old caps off and I would feel a rush of cool air hitting my heated head.  This was not the case when I took of the sun runner.  There was no temperature change when removing the cap which to me says the vents are keeping my cool not adding to my temperature and sweat.

The featured removable neck and face protection are easy to attach and remove while on the move but does increase the heat retention around my face when clipped up.  That being said when hiking I do not believe it will have such a noticeable increase as I will not be working as hard as when I do my runs.

Take a moment to hear direct from the staff at Outdoor research about their product.

Christmas is great for gear

With time off work for the holidays its been great to spend time with the family but its also been great to spend some time training.  How often is the holiday season a time for excessive eating, sweets and drinks.

This year has been different.  We all got gastro! So we have not been eating like made but that being said I have taken the opportunity to do a lot of cardiovascular training.  Everyday has been a good day for a run and 8-10km has made my holiday training not excessive but very fulfilling.

Of course with Christmas comes the opportunity to ask for stuff, and what a score this year.  I received 2 items which I'm very excited to get out and use.

On returning last month from the 4 day hike from Red Jacket to Rumpff Saddle I was able to reflect on what changes I could make in my gear.  Weights, quantities, packaging.  On reflecting on some of the reasons we got lost coming out of Black River I feel like one of the reasons we did get lost was our fear of taking off our packs to get out our assets, maps, compass, GPS etc.  I feel like we avoided for as long as possible getting these items out because of the hassle of taking off our 20kilo packs and knowing we'd have to put them back on a couple minutes later.  So gift 1 will address this.

The Black Wolf Oasis II bum bag (fanny pack) is going to be great for our adventure across the Australian Alps walking track.  






Product specs are as follows.

• Bungee System
• Padded Waist Strap
• Waterproof zip

With sufficient room for maps, compass, GPS and even some snacks & first aid I have no doubt this is going to complement the rest of my pack gear really well.




I may replace the 2 plastic water bottles included for my metal purifying lid bottles but beyond that its just perfect.  Will have to get out in the new year for a couple days with Tim and the boys and test the new addition.






My second gift that will be coming with me on the Australian Alps Walking Track is from Outdoor research.  This to me looks like the bast headwear I could have asked for for the trail.

This versatile hat has a removable. adjustable skirt that gives you shelter from harsh rays or can be removed when you just need ball-cap coverage.  The lightweight fabric provides UPF 30+ sun protection.  Mesh side panels let air flow over the sides of your head.

I'm not a fan of hats when on the trail due to the heat retention but I'm confident this will be a lightweight option that will protect me without adding to trail issues.  Again, can't wait to get out and try it on the trail.





Christmas only comes once a year and man have I used it to my best advantage.  Thank you to family that located and presented the gifts to me and thank you for supporting my adventures.