Monthly Archives: March 2021

March 18, 2021

Getting fit on Table Top Mountain

Author of this blog post: Lucas

Me standing on the Paledote trail on the way to Table Top

My Mum and I tackled Table Top Mountain and it was a challenging but spectacular hike! Here is some information if you would like tackle it yourself!

Description

The Table Top Mountain walk is a great walk for adventurous families. You can either start at the base of the mountain and walk up to the top and ends up being around 2km or you can choose to start at Picnic Point and it will be around 11km.

 

This is the route that my mum’s watch mapped.

 

Directions  

Picnic Point is a great place to start from because there is a spectacular view of Mt Table Top and the surrounding Mountains. There are also lots of car parks and many other walks start from there too. There is also a restaurant so after your walk you can go and get a cold drink and a meal if you want too. When you start your walk, head to where the restaurant is and find the sign that says Pardalote trail. Then follow that dirt trail till you get to South Rd. Then take a left turn and it will go down hill for the next 2km till you reach the base of Table Top Mountain. Then its a HARD rock scrambling big gravel and tough rock climbing till you reach the top. You can decide to go back the South Rd way or you can go back through a wide trail that goes through private farm land. It is a bit longer but it was cooler and it also hooks up with the Bridle trail and Fan trail walk that takes you back up the hill to Picnic Point.

 

 Overall perspective

This was a great hike. I did it with my Mum while my sister and my Dad were volunteer working  at a multi-cultural sport festival in Toowoomba. When we were dropped off at Picnic Point we first didn’t know where to go so we had to ask some people for directions, but still they didn’t know where it was, so we had to figure it out ourselves. The killer bit is when you go down South Rd, it really kills your quads. The actual mountain bit was slow going and requires a lot of rock scrambling. Before the summit is really hard because there is this really steep rock face you have to climb up and there is no avoiding it.

But the view is definitely worth it on a clear day. You can actually walk around the top of it but we didn’t because we didn’t know how long it was, and we wanted to get back for lunch. It is a bit easier on the way down too. When you get back down the base of the mountain I would go the new way where it goes through private property, it is a bit longer but it would be hot going up South Rd  on black tarmac in the middle of summer. Although it was a bit scary going past them big cows.

If you go from Picnic point then you will have to go down a hill to get to the base of the mountain, then climb up the mountain,  then back down again to then have to climb back up to Picnic Point again (Hahahaha) so it is a HARD strenuous walk. But we didn’t stop at the restaurant we met my sister and my Dad at the Wendland Deli for a big Guinness pie!

View from Table Top Mountain.

The Table Top Mountain was a great walk and would defiantly do it again.

 

March 16, 2021

Our Walkabout On Palawa Country

Author of this blog post: Aurora.

It’s official! We are finally on a path to… Our Walkabout On Palawa Country: Three months of wild and woolly hiking in the rugged Tasmanian wilderness.

We have six months to plan, prepare, research, and get fit. But first things first… We needed to make a team emblem.

 

 

We brainstormed everything that came to our mind about Tasmania and researched some symbols. We wanted something visual that represented our strength as a team and our own learning and growth.

We came up with our team’s name: Our Walkabout On Palawa Country.

We learned that a walkabout is a transformation. The goal is to walk and survive in the wilderness, but also to discover yourself and a time for self-evaluation and reflection. Just as Aboriginal people used songlines as spoken maps, we need to learn how to learn modern instruments like a compass and a PLB. Our walkabout will give us the skills, resilience, and strength, for our learning and growth in the future.

We also want to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Palawa Country and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture, and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

The colours we chose for our team’s name are the same colours as a new proposed Tasmanian flag.

 

 

The green represents the Tasmanian wilderness, the red represents the land, and the gold represents the blue gum which is native to Tasmania.

This is why we used the Tasmanian tiger and the blue gum to hold our emblem together. The Tasmanian tiger is a symbol of strength and bravery. Unfortunately, they are extinct because the settlers shot them all because they were a pest to their farmlands. Today the symbol serves as a reminder for us to look after our land and our wildlife.

The four feet represent our family, going on our walkabout around Tasmania and reminding us to stay grounded and connected to the land. The colours represent the four elements of life: water, fire, earth and air.

The centre dot of each circle in the map of Tasmania, are the locations of the thru-hikes that we will be tackling. We will be doing lots of day walks in between but below is the table of our thru-hikes.

Trail Name Kilometres Days
Freycinet Peninsula Circuit 27 KM 3 Days
Maria Island 48 KM 4 Days
Cape Pillar 29 KM 3 Days
Frenchmans Cap 54 KM 5 Days
Walls Of Jerusalem 43 KM 3 Days
The Overland Track 80 KM 7 Days
South Coast Track 85 KM 8 Days

 

This walkabout is six months away, but the journey has started.  Looking at the terrain of the South Coast Track, we’d better get moving. 😊

References:
Flags For Australia
Walkabout – The Aboriginal Australian Hike That Serves As A Rite Of Passage