Mishaps and misadventures that were more fun than enduring a global pandemic

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

In Australia, our lockdown measures landed hard and fast in March. Campgrounds and most high-visitation areas in NSW National parks were closed. Similarly, in NSW state forests, all camping areas and high-use day use areas were closed. Most walking tracks and low-traffic open spaces stayed open (for essential exercise only), but places that encouraged the gathering of large numbers of people (e.g. visitor centres, cafes, picnic grounds and barbeque areas), were off limits. Since then, restrictions have eased. Then they were tightened again (sorry, Victorians). State and Territory borders across Australia have opened and closed more often than a hungry hiker’s bag of trail mix, and you can’t leave the country unless you apply to the Department of Home Affairs for a travel exemption.

Now, with Christmas just days away and the residents of New South Wales locked out of every other state and territory again, thanks to an outbreak in Sydney’s northern beaches, it’s hard to imagine a time when we will be able to make any sort of plans to travel. Thousands of families hoping spend Christmas together after a long year separated by harsh restrictions have had their hopes dashed, myself included. My own sister, a resident of Melbourne who I haven’t seen since since March, had to make a mad dash back to Victoria to beat their sudden border closure, just days after arriving in Sydney. Christmas 2020 has not panned out as any of us had hoped.

So, to avoid getting sucked into the Great (covid-induced) Depression, I’ve been recounting other challenging times that have come to pass. These days, I would trade my left arm to be out in the mountains, realising I’d taken the wrong fork in a trail two hours ago. Or to be stopping for morning tea on a hike, and discovering a leaking water bottle had soaked through the entire contents of my pack. Or to be trudging through knee-deep mud in a torrential downpour on blistered, swollen feet. Now, in times of actual hardship, such campsite calamities and mountaintop mishaps seem nothing more than minor inconveniences.

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Boulders, bacon and bizarre bird calls in Bungonia Gorge

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

The Australian bush is full of curiosities, and never more so than at night.  A lot of our native animals are nocturnal; sheltering during the day in tree hollows, burrows, dens or hollow logs,  and venturing out at night under the veil of darkness in search of food, water and mates. While you might need to look hard to see them, you won’t have to try very hard to hear them. On a warm summer’s evening, the bush comes alive with the friendly yapping of Sugar gliders, the bizarre warbling of Owlet-nightjars, the haunting hoots of Powerful owls and the eerie wails of Bush Stone-curlews. Yet, in the middle of winter, as we camped by Bungonia Creek in the depths of Bungonia National Park, the silence of the freezing night was deafening. Until it was broken by the agonised scream of a tortured woman.

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The great (heatwave) escape: a leisurely lilo down the Wollangambe River

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

Summer in Sydney this year has been akin to being locked inside Satan’s sauna, and two weekends ago was no exception. The news headlines screamed of scorching, record-breaking temperatures, the NSW Rural Fire Service warned of catastrophic bushfire conditions, and energy providers pleaded with residents to reduce their electricity usage to prevent total blackouts. We had intended to spend the weekend exploring the gorges and canyons of Bungonia National Park, but with temperatures forecast to reach a toasty 39 degrees in nearby Goulburn, we were forced to re-evaluate our plans. Having just spent a weekend hiking in 37-degree heat, I wasn’t looking to repeat that (sweaty and exhausting) experience any time soon.

So we brainstormed cooler (and predominantly water-based) options: hiking into Marley Beach or one of the many other pristine beaches of Royal National Park; seeking refuge in the Colo River via Bob Turners Track, or making a beeline for West Head for a dip at the secluded Flint and Steel beach. The most enticing option however, was embarking on an entry-level canyoning adventure; floating our way down an easily accessible section of the Wollangambe River, known as Wollangambe One.

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Feeling hot hot hot: a summer sojourn at Gentlemans Halt

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

Of the seven tips on how to avoid being attacked by a shark, as recommended by a research scientist at Australian Institute of Marine Science, not swimming at dusk is tip number one. Not swimming in murky waters is tip number five. But now that we’re standing on the banks of the Hawkesbury River (known bull shark territory), having spent the afternoon labouring under a scorching sun to get here (which is now setting), even the thought of losing a limb (or life) is not enough of a deterrent to keep us out of the water. We plunge into the river’s muddy depths and pray the sweat and filth radiating from our bodies is enough of a repellent for any hungry sharks.

“Here” is  Gentlemans Halt campground in Marramarra National Park, believed to be the last point and campsite reached by Governor Arthur Phillip during his exploration and subsequent naming of the Hawkesbury River in 1789.  Located on a narrow peninsular near the confluence of the Hawkesbury River and Mangrove Creek, Gentlemans Halt campground is most commonly accessed from the river by kayak, canoe or boat.  Not being possession of any sort of seafaring vessel, we hiked in via the Canoelands Ridge Track, setting out at 4pm on a very hot Saturday afternoon.

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Whether to weather the storm: when hiking dreams are washed away

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

Unzipping my tent in the morning and letting the gloriously warm sunshine stream in. Laying back on lush green alpine grass and watching clouds race across the sky. Perching atop a mountain peak and watching a blazing setting sun.  Gazing up at the milky way, seeking out shooting stars and satellites. These are just a few moments of pure weather brilliance I’ve treasured from many of my hiking trips.

Unfortunately, the weather gods don’t always play nice. Even the most eagerly anticipated and carefully laid plans can be derailed by a contrary weather forecast. Which is exactly what happened this week. Just 24 hours before we were about to board a flight to Queenstown, to set out on a 9-day hike in Mount Aspiring National Park, a “weather bomb” struck New Zealand’s South Island. A low pressure system swept across the country, bringing with it gale-force winds, torrential rain, flooding, landslips and falling trees.  MetService issued severe weather warnings, and suddenly we were forced to consider how sensible it was to head into the mountains in such conditions.

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A year of new adventures

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

A new year, a new and improved me. And so the resolution goes every year. In addition to trying to be a healthier, fitter and all-round better person, one of my biggest resolutions heading into 2016 was to get out more: more camping, more hiking and more adventures. And it’s the one resolution I managed to keep.

Somewhere in between working full-time, travelling to interstate projects, looking for and buying a new house,  and undertaking some half-hearted home renovations (my attitude of “why paint the house when you can go hiking” isn’t very productive), I managed to fit in some fantastic travels in 2016. I finally made it out to Australia’s red centre, and spent an incredible eight days taking in Uluru, the Olgas, the West Macdonnell Ranges and Kings Canyon.

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Campsites don’t get much better than this; red sand, red wine and a big red rock

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Giles Track (Kings Canyon) traverses a spectacular, martian-like landscape

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A jaunt in the Julian Alps: hiking the Triglav Circuit, Slovenia

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

“Hiking” and “Slovenia” were two words I had never thought to put together until I started thumbing through my copy of Walking in the Alps (Lonely Planet). In the midst of finalising our hiking itinerary, we had to make some tough but realistic calls about which hikes were going to fit together best in our short five-week trip. So while hikes in Sweden, Iceland and Norway had to be scrapped (too far away, too expensive), we were able to keep Slovenia in the mix, mostly due to it’s proximity to other hikes we were undertaking in Austria. The appeal of Slovenia lay in the novelty of neither of us having ever visited the country before, or in fact not even having heard of it as a hiking destination. We researched a few possible hikes in the Julian Alps and finally settled on a three-day circuit in Triglav National Park, named after Triglav, the highest mountain in the park and in all of Slovenia (2864 metres).

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Recollections of an alpine adventure: five favourite moments in the mountains

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

“Collect moments, not things”, or so the saying goes. And after two months of hiking in the alps, I have collected A LOT of moments. Moments that spanned four countries, six hiking trails and almost 500 kilometres of walking. I returned home a few weeks ago but to be honest, I have found the pages and pages of handwritten notes and thousands of photos documenting my trip completely overwhelming and I’m not sure where to start.

I managed to write up the first hike of the trip, the Gosaukamm Circuit in Austria, but writing up subsequent hikes proved too tedious on an tiny iPhone and too time consuming for precious rest days between hikes, which were quickly filled with washing and drying grubby hiking clothes, airing tents and sleeping bags, shopping for food supplies and fine-tuning logistics for the next hike.

So it would be fair to say that while I got into the habit of hiking, I fell out of the habit of writing. While I’m sorting though all my material so that I can once again put pen to paper (or finger to keys, rather),  I’ll start with my top five favourite moments in the mountains.

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An almost perfect introduction to the Alps: Gosaukamm Circuit, Austria

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

Standing on top of Steiglpass, 2016m above sea level, with the warm Austrian sun on my back and a cool alpine breeze on my face, I felt utterly jubilant. For this moment epitomised everything I had hoped to feel on this hiking adventure: the sense of accomplishment of having climbed up to this vantage point under my own steam, the elation of being rewarded with an awe-inspiring view, and the joy of sharing this experience with one of my closest friends.

Just hours earlier, Elise and I had set off from the car park at Hofalm, near Filzmoos (an hour south of Salzburg), fresh-faced and eager. But within minutes, the trail started climbing, first gradually, then quite steeply, leaving me with sweat dripping from my brow, a pounding heart and gasping for breath. I was fully expecting our first alpine climb to be a struggle, but to struggle this much, this early in the trail, was a bit of a shock. There was nothing else to do but to slowly and steadily take step after step, until all those steps carried us up past the tree line and to our first landmark: Hopfurgl Hut.

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Almost browning my pants on Browning Pass

Posted on by Laura Hoffman

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January 2008: The ascent of Browning Pass, the third pass of the Three Passes Route in Arthurs Pass, is a heart-pounding, near-vertical 400 metre climb up loose scree and rock. Every step of this terrifying ascent was carefully considered to avoid tumbling into the Wilberforce River hundreds metres below. I can still recall the shaking of my legs and racing of my heart as I clung to a lone tussock of grass mid-climb, and peered down to the valley floor so far, far below me. It was abundantly clear that a fall here wouldn’t end well for anyone. It took a good 20 minutes for me to stop trembling once we reached the top,  before we could take this photo.