March 2018 – Head in the Clouds

Pre Packing Meeting

Well! I turned 47 today!! How did that happen?
I spent a pretty great afternoon with Jeff up at my cousins place.
Fiona and I got together to start sorting our gear and making lists.

Don’t Fiona and Paul have the most stunning views??
Anyway, we have decided on the slightly heavier two man tent even though we are planning to try to sleep in the huts most nights. The smaller tent isn’t that much difference in weight when considering the comfort factor if we have to sleep in it together!! The two man needs a little patching and TLC, but will be perfect apart from that.

Paul has lent me his pack liner – essential up there!!!

I decided I needed to get into the spirit of things by cooking up a meal to test our gear (and my dehydrating skills)
32gms of dried veggie mix was enough when rehydrated and mixed in with noodles.
Perfect. Even tasted good!!!
Fiona has some other fancy packs of dehydrated food so we won’t get bored at dinner time.

So, we know how the cooking stuff works so we are set!
We have alarmingly long lists and lots of layers of clothes as the weather really has turned cold. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see snow up there while we are trekking!

My lovely practical Nurse bought me a couple of packs of heat patches for my birthday and assured me it would be the best thing EVER while up on the hike! Our friend Ruth gave him some before his trek and apparently they were fabulous!

Really want to keep the weight down this time. I have a few areas where I am cutting back – so much water up there at the moment so will use a smaller capacity drink bottle, (or the full litre one not filled) Jeff used his collapsible cup to scoop water as he hiked. Nice and easy!
Only taking the wide angle lens for my camera. Not worrying about changing lenses so that will cut back a bit on weight too.
I will lay everything out tomorrow now that I have a list!

So excited!!

Cheers!

Crochet Update

Hello!
Keeping pretty low-key the last few days.
We went into Burnie to shop for a few things.
According to one of the local hiking shops, women who have backsides bigger than size 10 don’t hike! No wonder I always find looking for clothes dead depressing and just don’t bother.
On a happier note I got some new bra’s and undies! Time to rummage through my ‘Foundation Garment Drawer’ and throw a LOT away. (I only note this down as its ludicrously seldom I shop for clothes of any sort!)

Moving on to a fun note – I got some yarn at a great price! The above yarn pictured was on clearance at $2/ball!! I was actually looking for different colours so I could finish some berets – but this was all they had left.
BUT the very helpful girl at Spotlight brought me up to the modern times and pointed out they were still available online at that price!
Came home and went madly shopping from the comfort of my computer chair.

While I have used some for presents, I still have a decent collection of berets. Plus I made another one tonight!
I think I mentioned previously I want to make a big lot of them, then I will get out there somewhere to sell them all at once before some other Knitting Nanna pinches my idea. (Currently haven’t seen any beret hats out there for sale locally)

I also need to get on and finish a pair of cozy cuffs – this is going in the prize box for the recent photo challenge that I ran. Its a thicker than normal yarn and I had to pull it apart a couple of times and revamp the pattern to get it right.

And – taaa daaa!
That massive shawl is done.
Its more blanket-like but I still can’t wait for the weather to be cold enough so I can strut about town wearing it!!

Anyway… time for me to put Pip to bed and get some shut eye!
Have a great Easter Weekend everyone!

Cheers

Wednesday…

I think yesterday I made a rash promise to be more exciting today.
Fail.
Oh well…
I did laundry (not exciting) and had to hang it under the veranda as in the time it took to wash, the day went from sunny clear skies to rain.
Of course.
I picked a couple more butternut pumpkins and cut one up to take down to Margie – since I promised to take her some yesterday then promptly forgot.
We were going to do a short hike around the river but Fiona turned up, so we had a cuppa instead and talked about our upcoming hike!! Hopefully we will get together properly over the weekend to part pack and plan.

This is the haul from the couple of self seeded tomato plants behind the hothouse!! Food with no effort!

I did spend a good amount of my time today prepping dinner – koroke, teriyaki chicken and salad. Takes time but ooooohhhhh so worth it!
Feeling full and ready for bed now!

So – what are the Easter Weekend Plans??
I only just realised that it was this weekend! I am so out of touch at times. Yes there are Easter Eggs everywhere in the supermarkets but that doesn’t give me a clue because they have been there since January, so I am immune to their presence! (I really am not one to get completely over excited about events like Christmas and Easter three months before the actual day – the opposite effect happens and I get quite annoyed with the over-hype)

Anyway – so no plans, but I am fully intending to fit some kind of chocolate binge in there somewhere (followed by a guilt shedding hike probably!)

Cheers!

Hiking Food

Hello there!
Got 4 trays of my veggie mix into the dehydrator where it is currently making the kitchen smell rather amazing.
I am still debating about making something different or put up with the same meal daily.

No photos, but finally Margie got to lop my hair off. It has been making her twitch for a couple of months.
I got Kirrily to brush out the dreaddies last night then today Margie took about 6 inches off it. I can still pull it into a band but it feels a lot better now – less to carry up the mountain?

Again – no photos, but I turned the rest of that butternut pumpkin into soup this evening. Bit of salad, slice of fresh baked bread… mmmm

I will attempt to be more interesting tomorrow!
Have a great day
Cheers!

ps – my cat is a little snot. Dead to the world in an upside down twisty cat pose on Jeff’s lap – until I move a muscle towards getting my camera! 😀

In The Kitchen

So… I am sitting down having breakfast and looking out one window to see lovely blue skies and sunshine, then look out the other window and its pouring rain!! Seriously! Tasmania!!
Jeff took things mostly nice and easy today. (apart from an hour pedalling on his stationary trainer!!!!) I enjoyed hearing more about his hike!

Listening to Jeff’s Overland Stories and talking about gear, I got super enthused about my upcoming hike with Fiona. Actually we leave in less than three weeks and I still have to fit in a couple more Japanese visitors just before we leave!! (Of course)
So… among various other things in the kitchen today I put on a big pot of tomatoes & veggies and cooked them up. Tomorrow I will start dehydrating the lot.

I also have the ingredients to make those muesli bars again as well as some beef jerky.

Another batch of apples went through the dehydrator as well today. Plus I picked another bag for the Walnut Man, delivered it and bought a nutcracker. As much fun as it is smashing the walnuts with the butt end of a knife, I can see it ending in stitches.

I picked my first butternut pumpkin today – cut and roasted a few pieces. Its very very nice!! Looking forward to making a pumpkin soup with this too! I have lots out there so I don’t have to skimp!

Of course, I saved some seeds!

As well as baking bread, making an apple slump and doing a million dishes, I also made up some stuffed tomatoes as part of dinner – Those big tomatoes are perfect for it!

Long day on my feet but no practice hiking! I really HAVE to get back out there more often to keep up some sort of fitness.
Hope your week starts well
Cheers!

Jeff Home

Pip and I are thrilled to have our Jeff back!
So proud he made it and did really well over the course of the week which was pretty challenging weather wise alone!

I left about an hour earlier than I originally planned and glad I did as it took 4 hours to get down to Lake St Claire!!
Wow… so many slow vehicles on the road. The caravans and RV’s were excessively slow due to the weather and the narrow steep winding roads. However they all turned out to let me pass as soon as they could. The cars were another matter. One of the last ones I got stuck behind was just an inconsiderate… (looking for a creative non-swear word) (ok… you insert one, too tired to do it myself and all the ones I used on him aren’t polite)
Seriously… 40km seemed to be the fastest he could go around a corner – mostly doing 60 in a 100 zone… but due to the curvy nature of the road and weather not many overtaking possibilities. As soon as a nice long stretch appeared – the miserable worm jumped on the accelerator which made my chances of getting by him impossible. Then he dropped back to 60. Grrrr
I understand people driving extra slow and careful on those roads with the weather. But there were plenty of places to pull over as the caravans did!
I finally got him even though he sped up again – Had to push the poor Triton up to 130!!
I wanted to get to Jeff before nightfall!

I managed to get to Lake St Claire about 5 minutes after Jeff walked in! I got a very emotional hug from a VERY soggy husband!! The poor beggar was cold and wet through. The last day had been a very testing one for him.
A rat got into his day pouch and ate his last days rations, he had to sleep in the tent last night as the last hut he went to was over crowded – and he didn’t sleep. And the rain. So he was low on energy and very ready to be home!

I know he was really happy to see me, but I suspect he was even happier to see dry undies. haha

Most of the days despite the forecast I had been looking at, had been rain free. Jeff was pretty much first into each hut and had changed and eaten and got fairly early nights, then early starts.
He met a lot of nice people too.
Funny thing… the first day?? I pretty much met everyone (and chatted because I am like that) on the hike on the way back to the car on Monday. People kept rolling into Waterfall Valley, meeting Jeff and saying “Oh – you’re Jeff. I met your wife!” So pretty much like a bizarre form of Chinese Whispers Jeff worked out that I had made it back to Ronney Creek safely because the last girl into the camp said she met me for a chat at the end of the boardwalk not so far from the carpark!!

The rangers said on that first day there were sustained 60km/hr winds with 90km/hr gusts! No wonder we got blown off the pathways!! Happily it calmed down a lot after that first day.

The rivers and waterfalls were spectacular with all the rain. I can’t wait to see them in a few weeks!
No chance of running out of water up there at the moment!

Anyway – Jeff took my ’emergency husband rescue bag’ and got changed into clean dry clothes and felt a million dollars better. He said goodbye to some of his walking mates and we got into the car. I had a thermos of hot water, so made him a coffee, then he fanged through a few sandwiches and washed them down with chocolate chip bikkies!

It was a great trip home – swapping stories of the past week. It was still slow but just nice to be together (and warm and dry!)

Sorry no extra photos! You’ll have to wait until its my turn on the mountain!
Off to bed… ridiculously tired tonight!
Cheers
xx

Apples to Walnuts

Steady solid soaking rain pretty much all of today!
I picked a number of apples to deliver out to Ruby & Shirley – got Shirley stocked up on her parsley. (I have forbidden her to buy it at the supermarket since I generally have massive amounts of it)(I think they now charge almost $3/bunch)
Most of the apples I swapped for a bag of fresh walnuts!! How lucky am I?? Although I think I didn’t hand over enough apples for the amount of walnuts I got! I did hurry the apple picking because it was so wet standing out there!

They are so good!

Then in a fit of being a good wife, I baked a batch of choc chip biscuits (cookies) so I can take them down to Lake St Claire tomorrow. My planned trip to collect the soggy tired husband!
Its slightly worrying – because there has been no contact all week, I just have to hope nothing untoward has happened between Cradle and Lake St Claire!
Hoping to leave early as its a 3 hour drive.
I have clean dry clothes and a towel packed for Jeff in case he arrives wet through (very possible) as well as some sandwiches, something nice to drink (although I am sure he will be heading straight for coffee) and some fresh apples.

Best start working on another early night. Be a bit embarrassing to sleep in tomorrow wouldn’t it??

Hope your weekend is going along well!
Cheers!

Garden Achievements

Hello! Friday it is!
Since we have apples upon apples I put another batch into the dehydrator. Small challenge to self to get one through every day or so.

I think I will also make an apple slump so I have something nice for dessert when Jeff gets home.

Today was pretty gloomy and cool, but thankfully the wind had dropped considerably, so no real excuses not to go outside and tick a few more things off my list.

I started by separating and laying out the cabbage seedlings to plant.
I put them in and went to water them but not a drop came out the watering can spout!!
Upon closer inspection –

Cracked me up.
Once I had fished out the happy frog I was able to finish my planting, mulch the area with seaweed and net it all.

They look cosy don’t they?
Anyway, the wind remained very mild, so I took the chance and got in to cover all the area that David and Ruth had weeded for me.

Lots of cardboard and newspaper underneath should slow the weeds considerably.

And it looks 100% better than a couple of weeks ago!

Four miscreant chooks squeezed themselves into the main veggie patch the other day. Happily since they are so well fed they didn’t do too much damage. Someone enjoyed this lettuce though!
They have also been pecking at a pumpkin that has grown on the wrong side of the fence.

But I love them anyway and they still get plenty of treats

A few late ears of corn still coming along.

Anyway – I have a few things on my list to achieve tomorrow so best be off to bed soon!
Enjoy the last bit of your week and have a super weekend!
Cheers!

Apples and Chillies

Hello!
All a bit mundane here (so nice!)
I took Pip off to the vet for another injection – the lovely vet comes out and tells me “Well, we are never going to be friends” (Meaning Pip)
He was not pleased with her and vocalised that a lot, but happily there was no shredding of vet involved.
He got lots of cuddles back at home and is now happily buried under the doona snoozing.

Another wild windy day. Can’t help thinking of Jeff often!
I mostly parked myself inside.
One of the items on my list is to get apples through the dehydrator.
Made a start today.

I whizzed up all the scraps and threw those together with a bunch of other scraps and made a couple of chicken cakes. The girls were huddled down the back, their feathers all being blown every which way, but seemed pleased with their warm treat!

While I had no plan to cook anything with chillies, I needed to cut and deseed the ones I picked yesterday. I have had to throw lots in the freezer whole – something I don’t like doing as its so much easier to take them out ready to go! But… time!!! (as in lack of it)

No lack of time excuses this week, so on with it!
Saving a bunch of seeds from all the biggest ones.
I really do need to hunt out what bottles I have kicking about and get on and make a double batch of the sweet chilli sauce.

Friday is around the corner!!
Cheers

Windy

Hello all!
Crazy windy day out there! Hasn’t let up tonight either. Thinking of Jeff out there in the wilderness!! As long as he managed to get to the hut and is snugged up warm in his sleeping bag!

I went and stocked up on seaweed and was lucky enough to find lots of kelp too!

I noticed a lot of it as we drove past the other day – I had to hunt for it today as most had been covered by the seaweed grass. Still – I got three bags full (great – now I have a nursery rhyme running about in my head)
One I gave to Ruby and the others went into a barrel of water to make kelp juice

I filled a good number of bags with the seaweed grass – a painful job today with the wind. I had planned to put it out on the area that David and Ruth weeded for me with a newspaper underlay, but with the howling gale I could only imagine that ending badly.

Since I wasn’t spreading seaweed around I thought I might prep an area for the cabbage seedlings I have that are more than ready to go out.

And no matter how many people you have digging potatoes – you never get them all!! I think I managed to stab half of these! Most annoying.

I put a generous amount of mushroom compost on top of the area and put the arches in ready for the netting to go over.

I use the fine mesh netting on brassicas while the weather is still warm to stop the cabbage moths getting to the plants.

I uncovered a lot of massive worms today! Clearly the soil is doing well

With no help from me this patch has started to produce a nice amount of tomatoes. Yay for the self seeded plants!

I picked a few cucumbers, but left some of the really big ones which I will collect some seed from

Now that I have a little time, I figured I should pick the chillies as I can probably squeeze in some chopping/deseeding time!

And a stroll throughout the whole garden got me another swag full of tomatoes. I did make the new batch of relish today but too lazy to go back and snap the final result! I am just happy I am restocked!

Midweek done!
Cheers!