With less than 3 weeks before we depart we've made our physical preparation for Base Camp part of our daily life. We are incredibly fortunate to have the best hiking in the greater Launceston area literally on our doorstep. Every day we walk out our door and down to Duck Reach Station at Cataract Gorge and home again. We've decided that this 4 km return trip which rises and falls more than 120m according to Damien's GPS is the minimum hike we'll do each day before departing.
On days like today where we don't have any work to attend to, we're doing a long hike which takes us over to Trevallyn, crossing the bridge at Duck Reach, passing by the Daffodil Walk at the back of the Basin, and continuing by road down to Cafe Culture, where we stop for breakfast and to read the papers. Who said a training hike had to be all work and no pleasure? Weighed down by the best Eggs Benedict around, we then walk back home usually via the road and Kings Bridge because it's a shorter route back. The hill at the end is a killer though, almost enough to make us rue that second coffee.
This long walk is 10 km and the only flat parts of it are where we cross the bridges. So it's the ideal training ground in terms of distance and terrain. Of course it's about 3000m short on altitude, but you can't have everything can you...
On days like today where we don't have any work to attend to, we're doing a long hike which takes us over to Trevallyn, crossing the bridge at Duck Reach, passing by the Daffodil Walk at the back of the Basin, and continuing by road down to Cafe Culture, where we stop for breakfast and to read the papers. Who said a training hike had to be all work and no pleasure? Weighed down by the best Eggs Benedict around, we then walk back home usually via the road and Kings Bridge because it's a shorter route back. The hill at the end is a killer though, almost enough to make us rue that second coffee.
This long walk is 10 km and the only flat parts of it are where we cross the bridges. So it's the ideal training ground in terms of distance and terrain. Of course it's about 3000m short on altitude, but you can't have everything can you...