60 Walks Challenge - Walk #35
Friday, 22 April 2016
After packing up for the last time we couldn't resist repeating our previous evening's ride before hitting the road again. It was even more fun the second time around - it's always easier when you know what obstacle to expect around the corner. It was so enjoyable - I'm really looking forward to getting back there for some longer rides (before the weather turns it all to mud!).
The new trails are obviously attacting heaps more tourists to Derby. The council (I guess?) has also added new toilets, showers and bike wash facilities - all with the goal of attacting more people, and thus more money to the district. However I have to admit that during our stay we didn't spend a single cent in Derby, or anywhere east of Launceston actually. I would have spent $3 in the showers, but I didn't have the correct change! I hope other people are making up for our shortfall - I feel like the area really deserves payback - especially given the amount of wear and tear the free camping sites & facilites were getting. Perhaps they need to charge for the camping as although the holiday rentals are probably making money I would almost bet that their owners aren't locals!
The other thing I noticed about being in Derby was that the family structure of the bike tourists all seemed to be pretty similar. There was a dad with all the gear and a fancy bike, kids with various sized kiddy bikes, then a mum hanging round doing toddler-care and supervising the older kids. Boy am I glad those toddler shadowing days are over for us ! (no offence kids)
Back on the road we were planning on going 'cross country' back to the Fingal Valley - that meant heading up into the hills behind Ringarooma, over the top of the plateau and down through the forestry roads. It was a really great change and I recon it would probably be a faster route to Hobart instead of going via Launceston or St Helens. It was certainly dusty though - especially after we caught up to a log truck! 
After an hour or so, we arrived at Evercreech Forest Reserve. - Name : Evercreech
- Distance : 1k circuit
- Time : 20minutes
- Official Walk Number : 51
This place looked pretty yet sorely under-utilised - it had toilets and fire places and plenty of green grass and a stream through the picnic grounds - it was very similar to Liffey Falls except that you weren't allowed to camp which seems a shame. Our walk was short yet pleasant which was a good thing - we were getting a little burnt out (check out Jett's expression below).. And so we were done. 1250ks of driving. 7 walks, 5 cycles, 24 marshmallows (4 per person per night) and one flat tyre (conveniently it only went completely flat overnight AFTER we got back, meaning I could swan off to work in the other car, leaving Jon to deal with it before he could leave the house!).
Jett read most of the time while we drove - he's in the middle of a scary Hunger-Games/Tomorrow-When-The-War-Began style book series. Which combined with my accidental swedish vampire book**, also makes for quite the night time reading for us both!
While Jett read in the car, I listed to podcasts and the radio. Amusingly it was mostly commercial radio as I couldn't get JJJ in a lot of spots and I couldn't find the am/fm switch on our radio - So I am now familiar with Launceston's SeaFM & The North East's Chilli FM which actually were't too bad! I had to draw the line at Hobart's Heart FM though, it was godawful. We were so lucky with the weather - the first night at our favourite camping spot was the coldest (mostly because it was in a shadowy valley under trees), but the days were warm and lovely - we cycled in t-shirts and even in the higher altitudes we just needed jackets. After 3 nights of car camping we were both ready to get home and clean and sleep in comfy beds - but I'm really glad I got to spend that time with Jett - he was the perfect adventure buddy ! ** I find it hard to choose new books from the library's digital site - it's tricky without the normal cues of the cover art, being able to have a quick flick through or reading the one-line reviews on the back cover. Sometimes even knowing the length of the book is useful too - again very difficult when you are browsing digital shelves. I'm also a bit fussy I like modern literature, and books with snow on the cover, and although not exclusively - I also like books by Scandinavian authors (I figure if they bother translating them to english, they must be pretty good). also there's a high chance that snow will feature in some way. I don't like mysteries, horror, fantasy, or historic fiction that much. So when I chose 'Let the right one in' from not too far down the 'order by popularity' section, by John Ajvide Lindquist, I figured it sounded about right. Swedish (check), modern (check), likely to include snow (check). Maybe it was a modern day story set in Stockholm, with a hint of romance I thought to myself.. So after the rather convoluted process of borrowing the book and putting it onto my Kobo reader, I turned to the first page (which is when you can see the reviews) - here is an abbreviated extract: Let the Right One In is a book to inspire boldness.. Both a grisly horror-filled mystery and a very touching and human love story.. If you read only one gore-filled, vampire love story.. make sure it's Let the Right On In Well. Bugger. That wasn't what I was expecting. I'm reading it anyway - partly because it's the absolute opposite of anything I would choose so maybe it's good for me, and partly because I can't face trying to find something else. So what could be better to read while camping in the forest in the middle of nowhere than a story about a vampire waiting in the woods for its next victim.. |