Dr Worm (north Tarkine Rainforest, Tasmania)

After a fitful sleep, it was breakfast at 7:30am. A sleep in by trekking standards, although we were up earlier to pack down the interior of the tent. Breakfast was, unsurprisingly, porridge. I understand the reasons why this is the choice of trekkers, but I am not a fan. Nor is Dave. Despite that, we both had some to supply the energy required for the day ahead. Another 7km walk today. Allegedly.

Lani offered me a coffee. I replied that, a s coffee snob, I couldn’t recall the last time I had instant coffee. Slightly offended, she explained it was ‘camp’ coffee. Not camp as in flamboyant. I’d had it previously, years ago, it is ground coffee boiled up in a big pot and, while it delivers a substantial caffeine hit, I declined and had a cup of black tea.

Our spacious home.

Packing the tent down was quick and easy, but the need to reorganise your pack everyday wore thin quickly. This was essential because every time we reached a new camp site, we had to deliver our share of the group’s food to the kitchen. The required, sensible, weight distribution through the backpack meant the food bag sat in the middle of the pack. It also meant that all of the food was redistributed across the bags to ensure equity of the weight carried. While this was not a problem in the, so far, dry weather, it could become one if/when the predicted rain arrived.

So many mushrooms.

We spent the entire day in the rainforest, walking up hill and down dale. The variety of fungi is amazing. Every colour under the rainbow and a multitude of shapes. The forest is dominated by massive myrtle and leatherwood trees. We saw numerous bee hives on the drive and walk yesterday, specifically to collect pollen from the Leatherwood trees to make honey. It has a very distinctive taste apparently and is much sought after.

Somewhere in the Tarkine.

The Leatherwood trees were at the end of their flowering and there were petals strewn throughout the forest. It looked like the aftermath of a MAFS wedding ceremony (do not judge me). The white-petalled flowers were quite rare, individual petals were everywhere.

A Leatherwood flower.

On the way to camp, we crossed paths with numerous green rosellas, a cheeky grey fantail, a surprised ring-tailed possum and two tiger snakes. Tassie is home to three snake varieties, all poisonous. Happily, not aggressive like mainland snakes. They slithered away when we came into sight.

No idea. There were so many fungi.

The forest is not home to a lot of animals or birds, for that matter. As a survivor of Gondwana, it existed before animals and birds. While birds like Rosellas and Black Cockatoos have moved into the tree tops, ground level is home to mosses, lichens, fungi and weird canary worms. There are no heath plants to house, feed and protect smaller birds. Of course the yellow canary worm is the link to today's title Dr Worm by They Might Be Giants from 1998.

A yellow canary worm.

We made camp by 4pm to find the permanent tarps blown down. Not so permanent. The guides produced a replacement tarp from one of their backpacks and it was secured across a rope line between the trees. Shelter for cooking and eating if required.

Dave and I in the wilderness.

Food bags delivered and tents up, we removed our boots to check for blisters. Unfortunately, Dave and I both had a blister. Not a large one, but given what was ahead … Our guides carried the magic tape to inhibit blisters, Fixomull. It was used frequently by many of us and it worked. I shall be buying a roll to keep in my bushwalking kit for future use.

Dave preparing to attack his blister.

Water, as it was for the entire trip, came unfiltered from the creeks and rivers we crossed. Pure bliss. The water in Launnie is very heavily chlorinated. The creek was about 100m or so downhill to refill bottles. Dave and I calculated we had sufficient to get through the afternoon and evening and since we were crossing the creek in the morning, we would refill then. So we settled in on a log under the tarp … until it suddenly collapsed without warning. The log, not the tarp. Dave’s end, not mine. We both ended up flat on our backs, much to the amusement of the others – once they realised we were uninjured.

Our tent in the distance.

Dinner, sunset, bed.

Our guides Lish and Lani checking the map.

We had both purchased new light weight sleeping bags and mats, specifically for this trip to reduce weight. They both packed down much smaller than our old gear, another bonus. The sleep mats were very comfortable despite the tree roots we slept on. The bags proved to be warm, although we hadn’t experienced any cold weather. My pump also proved its worth. Tiny and weighing only 8 grams, it plugged into my power bank and inflated our mattresses quickly.

Slime fungus can move in search of food.

Weather: humid, cloudy, no rain.

Distance covered: 9km, not the projected 7km.

Total distance: 22.2km

Until tomorrow.

Changes (Launceston, Tasmania)

Well, hello. I'm back. This time with a rainforest trek through the Tarkine in north-west Tasmania. Although we enjoyed the Tarkine experience with Trek Tours Australia last year, it was not quite what we were expecting. There is a message in that, dear reader - read the track notes before booking the experience. As you might recall we ended up in cabin accommodation, not quite the backpacking or wilderness adventure we had in mind. It was still an excellent experience, but without roughing it around camp sites.

First night's accommodation last year.

Following from that, and after discussions with Nick, one of the guides, we decided to book the Tarkine Rainforest Expedition. A full pack, 6 day camping extravaganza with a maximum of 8 participants, plus the two guides. And, as it turned out, a slightly under quoted distance to be navigated. More on that later.

Once the trek was guaranteed to go ahead, we booked our flights. Ahh, Qantas. Does anything go right with them these days? We had a briefing to attend at 3pm, the day before the walk, and, if we were fortunate, we could get there by 4pm. Otherwise it would be an extra night in Launnie to ensure we made the briefing. 

A few months after we booked the flights, Qantas changed its schedule and put all flights back an hour or so. Hence today’s title, dear reader, a David Bowie classic from 1971. This rescheduling ensured that we could not make the briefing at all. The return flight was also later which meant Dave probably wouldn’t get home until after 8pm. I was offered, and accepted, the option to cancel the flights. We then considered our next move.

Not a tent in sight. Corinna 2025.

Some months later, as we were doing the maths on the extra night in Launceston versus flight costs, Qantas offered $65 flights, which made arriving a day earlier the cost-effective option. Ultimately, we booked Virgin flights home via Melbourne to ensure we arrived in Sydney at a reasonable time.

Unsurprisingly, the flight to Launnie was late leaving but arrived on time. We caught an Uber to the hotel - a significantly cheaper choice than a taxi. That night we finally dined at the Pizza Pub with some unrestrained feral children (not ours), one of whom made deep throated guttural sounds at his sibling. The food was nothing to get excited about, but it was Friday, so pizza.

Saturday

The morning of the briefing continued the unseasonal humidity being experienced in Tassie thanks to Cyclone Narelle, despite it being firmly entrenched in the north of Australia.

In the morning, we headed to Frankie’s for excellent coffee, dear reader, and a blueberry muffin. Then we walked to Aspire, the venue for our 3pm meeting, to discuss rain jackets. I had convinced myself I needed to purchase a new one. The gear list stated a rain jacket with ‘storm flap’. My old jacket, now Dave’s, sports a storm flap, my new Quechua from Decathlon does not, although it is tri-layered and rated to 20,000mm for waterproofing.

After some discussion with the very helpful man in the shop, it was decided that storm flaps are somewhat passé and have been made redundant by the YKK zip system. It was back to the hotel to repack our gear and check the zip on my new jacket. Winner! It is a YKK. No need for another new jacket.

The 3pm rendezvous with our guides was drawing near but first, to the river! The North Esk River flows just 50m from the hotel. It was at the street’s end hidden by a substantial levee bank. The levee had a walking path set into its top and we wandered in the overly bright sun for a while. The hole in the ozone layer above Tassie ensures days of sunshine can be glaringly bright and deadly if you don’t apply sunscreen. Blackberry, a noxious weed, ran the length of this part of the river. As a pre-teen going to work with dad we would often stop and pick blackberries by the roadside. They’re in season, I said to Dave, and ran down the bank and commenced feasting on the ripe, sweet berries. Who says you need to be in the forest to forage for food? 

Photo courtesy of Dave.

We returned to Aspire just before 3pm to meet our guides, Lani and Lish, and to pick up our tent. The share of the group’s food would be added tomorrow, before the walk commenced. The group seemed quite good, although 2 people had flight issues and didn’t make it. Of the 8, there were two couples/pairs travelling together, one of which is Dave and me. The other four were solo adventurers, 3 women and a man. Interesting. Aside from the solo man (see what I did there?) everyone was from Sydney.

That night, we decided to dine at the Mersh, aka the Commercial Hotel. It was just around the corner from where we were staying and had a large menu on display outside. In hindsight, we probably should have gone inside to check it out. It had good reviews online but, well, it was old school. Old carpet, dated décor, dodgy gambling room and a hen’s party of screaming 20 something girls that invaded the quiet as we ate dinner. Despite that, the food was good and the people were lovely.

Bed time. We needed to be well rested. Tomorrow the trek begins.

Until tomorrow.