A walk with hartz

Today we were lucky enough to have a local bushwalker take us out to the Hartz Mountains and show us around. It was a great little walk and it was really good to have a knowledgeable tour-guide. We climbed Hartz peak, which has a fantastic view despite being a relatively easy and short walk. It was a great day and would could see pretty much all the principle peaks of the south-west, including the spectacular Federation Peak (pictured).
I have had a pretty bad cold during the week, so it was good to get out and get some fresh air, and now I think it is finally clearing up!

Just to keep the picture loving public happy, here's a 360 degree panorama from the summit of Hartz Peak including the two guys I was walking with.

Back into the fire!

The first two days of this week were taken up with fire and confined space training. Both these proved pretty entertaining and they were both provided by the Tasmanian Fire Service. It was good to finally be on a training course that involved all of the people likely to be at Davis over the winter. It was a serious course, but it was good to talk to and start "bonding" with these people (although I guess there will be plenty of time for that once we are on the boat!).
The rest of the week was taken up with more specific training and finalising all my dental stuff ready for the trip, which is getting closer and closer! Here's a quick picture of our doctor being lowered into a storm drain that already contains our station leader and a very suspicious sounding goat!

A Week in Adelaide

Sorry, but my entries to date have been pretty irregular. I seem to have a lot of stuff to arrange before heading off! I was lucky enough to spend a week back in my home town of Adelaide a couple of weeks ago. Three days on a radar training course, followed by 2 days of leave! It was great to catch up with everyone again. I get to spend another week in Adelaide before departure, but there a few people that I wont be able to catch up with again. Saying goodbye to these people made me realise how little time I have left to be with family and friends.
My week in Adelaide was great for me, but probably not so interesting for those reading this blog, so I will keep this entry pretty short.

Mt. Wellington

On the weekend, my roommate and I hiked up Mt. Wellington form our Hotel room, close to the middle of Hobart. We climbed up over Knocklofty (a small foothill of Wellington) and back down past the Cascade Brewery. Here's me on top of Knocklofty:

Here are some more pictures of the walk. This is a rainbow seen from just below the summit:

Here's a picture of the deteriorating weather on the summit as we descended:

And finally, a picture of my room-mate Danny.

The walk was quite hard (20+ kilometres and more than 1000 metres of climb and descent). We climbed quite fast in the morning and I had to stop on the final stretch to the summit due to cramp in my quads. Luckily the cramping cleared up, and we made the remainder of the journey fairly without hassle. Starting at around 7am meant that we were able to return by 3pm and have a relaxed afternoon before heading to bed suitably exhausted.

My Room (Finally)

After much fanfare, here are the pix of my room in Hobart.

Very comfortable indeed!  Glad to have a kitchen where we can prepare meals, and a room mate who is a very good cook.

Tower Climbing

Finally including some pictures so you guys don't have to put up with reading any text, you can just stare at the pix.  The first day at the Antarctic Division, I was sent to get some gear from the clothing store, and then onto a rescue at heights course.   The course was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed learning about how things are done in the rigging industry as apposed to how they are done in rock-climbing (from my limited climbing experience).  Anyway, the picture is of the senior communications tech at Davis being rescued by yours truly.  Suprisingly, he looks pretty relaxed about the whole deal.