Tasmania Residency

I camped at the back of Bob Brown's house again the other night in search of a bit of peace and quiet in the country. My friend had suggested I climb Dry's Bluff, the track for which begins at the back of the white cottage. I had a vague idea of what the walk would be like and it sounded achievable. I was at least going to see how far I could get.

I woke up at a reasonable hour, ate some oats and made a coffee on the little gas stove. When I had first visited Bob Brown's a few weeks ago I had looked up to the mountain and thought that there was no way I could get up there. Looking up at it this morning I don't think I had it in my mind whether I could make it up there or not; I think I was just determined to give it a shot and see what would happen.

The first part of the walk through bushland was fairly tame but became quite steep at parts. I stopped quite a few times as I didn't know how long the walk would take and wanted to pace myself. At one point I sat on a log and set my camera on self-timer to take an unflattering self-portrait, then accidentally dropped the camera and watched it roll down the hill for a fair way. It survived though and it took an interesting picture. This 'experimental photographic technique' could have served me well when I was at uni.

I continued walking, filling up my water bottle from a trickle of water along the way. I pulled myself up on a rope and came out to a large section of scree. It was fun to climb up along this part and follow the bushwalking markers, little piles of rocks. Looking out I realised I was getting pretty high at this point; I still had a long way to go though.

I continued climbing and enjoyed the scramble up the rocks in the last part up to the top. There are some ropes along certain steep parts and you have to manoeuvre your feet and pull yourself up.

It was such a relief to reach the top. I went and signed the log book, excited to record my first solo mountain climb. It had taken me quite a few hours to climb up and I was probably even more excited to eat my cheese sandwich by this stage. I followed a path along and up to the trig point. I found a nice rock to sit down on the edge and was just taking my shoes off for a rest when my phone started ringing. It was very funny to have phone reception and take a call whilst sitting all alone up on a mountain. It was probably one of the better locations that I've taken a phone call. I ate my sandwich and then zig-zagged around to look over another side. I was lucky it was a beautiful clear day and I could see quite far.

The walk back down was quite long as well but I managed to make it back to the bottom just before nightfall. I was quite tired towards the end and I began wishing that I had packed the extra banana that I had considered in the morning. It was nice to go and wash my face down at the creek and have something to eat upon my return.

Thinking about the journey the next morning, I was pretty amazed that I had managed to make it up to the top of the mountain.