On Long Walks

Ok, ok, I confess that I spent most of my formative years sitting in front of a computer instead of exploring the outdoors. For the last decade or so, though, I have tried to make up for that. I have done several long hikes in Patagonia, Himalaya, Tasmania, back home in Norway and elsewhere. By now I feel qualified to offer you some advice regarding surviving a long walk in the woods. Sort of.

Oh, and before we continue: When I say "a long walk", I'm talking about multi-day walks with few or none man-made facilities around to help you. Well, apart from what you can carry on your own back and possibly a trail, that is.

Why on Earth?!
Most people are happy to walk a bit to see a particular place or to enjoy a great view. As long as the walk isn't too long, at least. All the recent fuzz about climate change and the need to be eco-friendly has made people want to return to Nature. They just don't necessarily want to do it on foot.

In principle there's no big difference between a short and a long walk in the wild. You get on the trail, you do your best to stay on it until you reach the end of it, and then you're done. In people's minds, however, there's something intimidating about long walks. They are perceived to carry a much larger risk than short walks, although you rarely get an explanation for why people feel that way.

Maybe the phenomenon can be explained like this: Say you take a nice, wide board and lay it down on the floor so that anyone easily can move back and forth on it. That's a short walk. Then you place the same board high up in the air between two towers. Now most people I know will be reluctant to go out on it. This is a long walk. The board is the same in both cases, but as the consequences of falling off the board become more dire, people's willingness to walk across the board decreases dramatically. This mental mechanism kicks in no matter how unlikely it is that you actually will fall off the board.

It's a bit like if you were invited to eat at a restaurant. "Yay!", you think at first. Then it turns out that the restaurant you're invited to is an Helvanian one. You've never been subject to Helvanian cuisine before, and the menu is printed in letters and a language you just cant't read. You know that you will be served food, but since you don't know exactly what you will be eating or how it has been prepared, you end up feeling a bit wary and insecure. Suddenly going for a Big Mac instead doesn't sound so bad, even though deep inside you know that if you just dare to go ahead with the Helvanian place, you'll probably end up with a nicer meal than at the American embassy beneath the golden arches.

Oh well. Enough metaphors. Let's establish a few good reasons for taking long walks.

For the view?
If you're into great scenery, long walks tend to offer a lot of that. In many cases you can enjoy splendid views from or very close to a parking lot, but to really appreciate a place, you should see it from more angles than the one you get from next to the souvenir stalls.

On the other hand, the quality of a scenic view often depends heavily on the weather. And what conditions you will experience when you arrive somewhere can rarely be guaranteed when you have to start walking days earlier.

I'd say that the view you may or may not enjoy on your trip should probably not be your main reason for taking a long walk.

For the vanity?
I once did an 11 day walk (the Jotunheimen Trail of about 350 kilometres), and I made a photojournal from the trip that I uploaded to my Web site. A few days later I logged a crazy number of Japanese visitors. It turned out that a Japanese weightloss Web site used my before-and-after self-portraits from the trip as "proof" that going for a walk is a good thing to do if you're a bit on the chubby side.

Now, I wasn't particularly flattered by that, but I was amused. #8D)

Anyway, going for a long walk will make you a slimmer person. When you walk all day, you can eat as much chocolate as you could possibly want without suffering from it weight-wise. More importantly, walking in the wild is what your genes want you to do. Unless you overdo it, there's a good chance that after a long walk you'll end up looking a lot healthier. (Never mind that when you return home you may prefer to carry a pillow with you to put between your boney ass and any hard seats.)

As long as you can avoid being eaten by animals and falling off cliffs, walking will benefit your health and your appearance. This is a good reason for going on long walks.

For the company?
On many long walks you will spend your evenings at designated camp sites, where you may or may not encounter other hikers. On other walks days may pass between each time you actually see another human being.

If you're on popular trails with designated camp sites, like the Overland Track in Tasmania, the Jotunheimen Trail in Norway and the Appalachian Trail in the USA, you'll probably see the same people again and again, throughout the day and at the camp sites in the evenings.

I'm not saying that these people are particularly interesting, but they are likely to have a lot in common with you. This will at least make them interesting to you, and vice versa. You'll be amazed by how quickly strangers can turn into good friends when you share the challenge of a long walk with them. They will help and motivate you, and you them. True, some of them will annoy you, and they will all be smelly. Still, all in all you'll appreciate having other people around, and you will learn something from having met them.

On the other hand, there are many long walks where you must be prepared to spend day after day without anyone at all to talk to or be helped by. This can be difficult to handle.

Make sure you're prepared for the situation that your walk is likely to bring, whether this means sharing a dorm with the German national snoring team, or having to spend a week or more without a single intellectually stimulating conversation. Life on the trail can be pretty hard either way.


For the lack of alternatives?
Sometimes there's just one way to get somewhere, and that's by walking, possibly for days and days before it gets really interesting. In particular this goes for mountain regions where roads just can't be built, and where sitting on a horse or a donkey would simply be too scary.

Clearly, unless you're ready to walk a long way, you will deny yourself some of the greatest scenery on Earth. I think you're better off treating yourself to some of those places.


For the enlightenment?
Few people know what they are capable of. They just assume that any strenuous activity that they have never tried or wanted to do is something they simply cannot do.

Every now and then the news media bring reports of people who have to flee their homes. In Palestine, Afghanistan, Sudan and elsewhere, thousands of often undernourished refugees walk through deserts, jungles and generally the most hostile surroundings you can imagine, to reach relative safety.

Let's hope that you will never fully understand what these individuals experience. But one of the things their suffering can teach us is that the human body is one impressive machine. The same way you would take your imaginary sports car for a spin on a race course to see what it's good for, you should consider exploring the abilities of your own body. Chances are that you'll be pleasantly impressed. You'll probably discover that you can participate in a much wider range of activities than you previously thought possible.

Oh, and there's of course also some satisfaction to be had from having completed a walk that is so long that the route you followed can be pointed out from Outer Space. #8D)

As you may gather, I consider this to be a major reason for pushing yourself to do a long walk or two.


Preparing
Right, so you've decided you'll do a long walk. Then there's something you should know: In Nature there are no punishments or rewards, only consequences. So you have better prepare well for your walk, in order for you to harvest only desirable consequences.

I suggest that you seek inspiration in the first step that is taken by members of Alcoholics Anonymous when they try to resolve their situation: Admit to yourself that you have a problem! Do not belittle the challenge of getting through your walk alive. You have to take it very, very seriously.

Read all you can find about your walk, on-line and in magazines and books. Anything written by anyone who has done the walk is useful. The more recently they did it, the more valuable their information is likely to be to you. What will the weather be like and how does it affect walking the trail? Which parts of the walk are more difficult and for what reason? Is chocolate available somewhere along the way?

The same way you must know how to interpret the behaviour of your own mind and your own body, you need to know your opponent; the walk itself and the land it passes through.

Equipment
I'm not going to tell you what to bring. All I can say is that you must bring whatever you need in order to feel comfortable and safe on your hike. This clearly varies depending on where and when you're hiking and for how long you'll stay on the trail.

In my opinion, people tend to over-invest in new equipment when they're about to embark on long walks. Of course, if buying some new stuff is what it takes to make you feel safe enough to get going, then that's probably what you should do. But keep in mind that unless you're doing a really extreme hike, people managed to do "your walk" even before the invention of things like Gore-Tex, GPS and the steam engine...


Packing
When you've decided what you need to bring, put it all into your backpack. If it fits, great! If not, throw away stuff until it does. Now take the backpack for a test walk in terrain similar to what you will encounter on your trip. Don't forget to also carry as much water as you will have to on your real hike. Walk for two hours. Remove your backpack.

If this results in the notion that you should hold on to something in order not to float up into the air and disappear, your backpack is too heavy! (And it probably is.) In that case you will have to get rid of some things. Do not bring books (you'll be too tired to read them) and do not bring more than two changes of clothes. (It will all be filthy and smelly after a couple of days on the trail anyway.)

Do not begin your hike until you are confident that you will be able to carry your stuff all the way to your destination. Just don't. It's not like you have to remove your appendix or have your hair cut, but you have to make an effort to get rid of all weight that takes more than it gives.


Maps
Choose maps that cover your trip and not too much else. Maps have size and weight, too. Don't carry more of them than you really need.

For most famous treks you can buy small booklets that contain just the maps and trail descriptions that you need. If not, you can make one yourself by cutting and pasting map fragments from maps you scan/photograph or find on the Internet. Print your new map with a high-resolution laser printer onto a semilarge (A3) piece of paper.

A detailed map is probably not something you really need in order to complete your walk. Long walks usually follow good, clearly visible paths. But every time you take a break and sit down, it is a great inspiration to have a glance at a map and see that you're actually getting closer to your destination.

Before you leave home, carefully study the maps you have, so that you understand the area you're hiking through. Look for sources of water and places to camp. Maybe there are sidetrips you should look into. It's impossible to know beforehand exactly how far you can walk per day. You should have several options for where to stop every day, with no more than 2-3 hours of walking between them. This way you can be flexible and get the most out of every day on the trail.

There's also a chance you will have to break off your journey, due to mishaps or simply because you're worn out. You should know where all the "emergency exits" are. Find out where you can leave the trail to return home or to seek help, and make sure that you know where you can fill up on supplies of food and equipment. If it's an option at all, try to figure out where there may be cell phone coverage, in case of emergencies or to acquire the latest weather forecast.


Other tips
I think we've touched upon the most important issues already, but I've suffered from a few things that I hope to help you avoid. #8D)

- Make sure you know how to use your equipment before you leave home, whether that be your tent, your stove or anything else. The entertainment value of figuring out exactly which hole the tent poles should be inserted into is not so high when you're simultaneously the target of an intense mosquito attack during the darker part of dusk.

- When you finally have decided on some food you can carry in sufficient amounts in your backpack, you'll probably discover that this trip will not be remembered for its many great meals. You should try living on this diet for a few days at home, so that you can learn how it affects you, both mentally and physically. Especially if you're walking with someone else. Some people turn incredibly grumpy when their daily rations of certain food ingredients disappear.

The food must be your friend on your long walk. You don't have to be delighted by it, but it must not turn you into a walking wreck either.

- Cut your toenails! If you do, you may have some of them left after your hike! While your shoes may be friendly towards the other parts of your feet, having your toenails continuously bump into the front of your shoes for hundreds of kilometres will turn the toenails black and eventually they will fall off. That's not sexy at all.


In Conclusion
You can do this. A little bit of planning is all it takes.

I recommend that you start out with getting used to carrying a fairly heavy backpack and that you spend a few days camping out in the woods near where you live. When you feel ready for something more, consider whether some of the trips listed below may be something for you. Good luck!


Some famous, long walks, in alphabetical order:

* Abel Tasman Coast Track
Location: South Island, New Zealand
Distance: 52km, 3-5 days
Booking: Required, *well* in advance!
More info

* Via Alpina / Alpine Pass Route
Location: Switzerland
Distance: 350km, 20 days
Booking: Not required
More info

* Annapurna Circuit
Location: Himalaya, Central/Eastern Nepal
Distance: 250km + sidetrips, 15-25 days
Booking: No, but trekking permit is required
More info

* Appalachian Trail
Location: Georgia to Maine, USA
Distance: Approximately 3500km
Booking: Not required
More info

* Bibbulmun Track - Hvor? Hvor lang? Type? Må reserveres? Lenke til mer info
Location: Western Australia, Australia
Distance: 961km, 6-8 weeks
Booking: Not required at all.
More info

* Camino de Santiago / Way of Saint James
Location: France and Spain
Distance: Many starting points, 100 - 900km,
Booking: Not required.
More info

* Inca Trail
Location: Central Peru
Distance: 45km, 3-4 days (high altitude, not strenuous)
Booking: Very much required.
More info

* Jotunheimstien / Rondanestien
Location: Southern Norway, beginning in Oslo
Distance: 320km-420km, 12-25 days
Booking: Not required.
More info (and more)

* Kungsleden
Location: Northern Sweden
Distance: 440km, 3-4 weeks
Booking: Not required.
More info

* Land's End to John o' Groats
Location: The length of the United Kingdom
Distance: Approximately 1500-1900km
Booking: Not required
More info

* Mount Everest Base Camp Trek
Location: Himalaya, Eastern Nepal
Distance: Depends on starting point, 15 days is normal
Booking: No, but trekking permit is required.
More info

* Overland Track
Location: North-western Tasmania, Australia
Distance: 65-100km, depending on sidetrips, 5-7 days
Booking: Required between November and March.
More info

* Torres del Paine Circuit
Location: Patagonia, Southern Chile
Distance: 100km + sidetrips, 8-10 days
Booking: Only for cabins
More info

Do you need even more options? Look here.

Happy trails!

I'm turning 30!

At last! I have finished preparing the last batch of photos from my trip to Australia half a year ago. The New South Wales gallery became my 30th photographic travel journal. Click the illustration to the right of this text to see them all.

I'm hoping to reach a 100 before it's time for me to be decomposed, so keep checking back here for more. #8D)

Anyway, I'm happy to be done with that. A couple of days ago I also gave a lecture for lots of mountain hikers here in Oslo, about my 320 kilometres on foot to the mountains of Jotunheimen last summer. It was pretty much a full house, and no one fell asleep! Now, who would have thought that I, the pale child that spent most of the 1980s in front of a Commodore64 home computer while being nagged about going out to get some fresh air, would end up lecturing avid hikers on the joys of the forest? I certainly didn't!

I'm glad it went well, and now that it's done, I have about two months before there's anything at all that I have to do! Yay!

I still don't know how I'll spend my summer. I'm considering the eastern parts of Turkey, so I read a lot about that. The mountains there are high enough that it doesn't matter much that it's "too hot" (whatever that means) down by the sea. But I might as well go to Japan or do another long hike somewhere in Norway. Or I may do something else entirely.

While I ponder upon that, feel free to follow in my foto steps through selected destinations in New South Wales, here.


There's something for everyone, I think. At least there is something for those of you who like dense forests, cute bugs and Australian culture and art. (Yes, there is such a thing, and it's only a little bit related to beer!)

Enjoy your summer, you too! #8D)

On Fernando de Noronha

When a passenger plane tragically crashed into the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between Brazil and West Africa in June 2009, the tropical archipelago of Fernando de Noronha was mentioned in the news all over the world. This seems to have puzzled a lot of people, even seasoned travelers, as the existence of the spectacular Fernando is known by relatively few. Many people went on-line to learn more.
Tens of thousands of you eager travelers and geography nuts out there ended up on my photojournal from the island, and many of you sent me e-mails with all sorts of questions regarding visiting this natural wonder. I figure I'll save myself some time by doing a blog entry on the topic, so that I can refer people to this entry from now on. Keep in mind I visited in 2006. Although Fernando is a timeless place, things may have changed somewhat. Here goes.

Fernando is just a beautiful place to visit. Most of it is a protected maritime national park, so there are lots of restrictions to heed. Playing by the rules doesn't diminish your experiences, in fact the regulations on the island ensure that you will have a wonderful time both on land and in the sea just off the beaches.

First, regarding getting there, this is one of few places in Brazil where you have to plan ahead when you want to visit. If you have your own sailboat or your own plane, you can just go. If not, you have to book a flight. There aren't that many planes to choose from, and the seats on them fill quickly.

It appears that there are now three daily flights you can get on from the mainland. Varig flies from São Paulo and Trip Linhas Aéreas flies from Recife and Natal. None of these are cheap flights, and I did a few price searches on random dates in 2009 now in June. It seems that from São Paulo you can expect to pay between 2000 and 3500 reals roundtrip, and from Natal it may cost between 800 and 1200 reals. So spending a day and a night on the bus from São Paulo to Natal may save you some money!

You don't have to book accommodation in advance. There are literally a hundred options on the island, and since there are fewer flight seats available than beds, you'll find a place to stay when you get there.
Now, the first thing that happens when you arrive on Fernando is that you have to pay a conservation tax. They don't want people to stay too long (or explore too much, I guess), so a short visit is fairly cheap, while a long stay is just crazy expensive. Four days cost about 150 reals, staying a month carries a conservation tax of roughly 3000 reals! This can be prepaid on-line.

After having cleared the tax booth, you will be met by many people shoving brochures into your hands, eager to book you into accommodation and into activities. Now is a good time to look at your options, compare them and do a bit of haggling regarding accommodation. Save the activities booking for later, you'll probably get a good deal on that by booking through the owner of your accommodation.

Fernando is a small island, so you can stay pretty much anywhere and still be close to everything. However, if you want to be able to go out and eat and drink in the evenings, which you can do in the town centre, ask about walking distance from the accommodation offered to Vila dos Remedios, which is the centre. (It's pitch dark many places at night, so do bring a torch if you're planning on walking anywhere after sunset.)
There are all sorts of accommodation available, from really nice (and expensive) hotels that would be considered small anywhere else, to just a room or a cabin in the back of somebody's house. In my opinion, all you SHOULD do there is to sleep, so it doesn't matter much what facilities are available.

You'll probably be taken to your accommodation by the host you choose, but you can also get on the bus without accommodation and look around on your own. There's a bus leaving every 30 minutes or so, and it covers the whole island. It takes about ten minutes. #8D) The ticket costs just a few reals.
When you're settled, look through the brochures you received at the airport or get your fix of it from the reception/owner where you're staying. Most likely the best deal is to buy a 2 or 3 day packet of activities. Several companies offer these, and although they offer different prices, the tours are exactly the same. Even if you request tours with an English-speaking guide, don't expect there to actually be one. Don't worry. You'll be fine and see great things nevertheless!

A multi-day tour just means you'll be picked up to do activities and then be dropped off where you choose afterwards. The time between the activities you choose how to spend as you please. A three day tour typically contains the following:

* A boat trip along the north coast. You'll see dolphins and a beautiful view of the island. There's a real risk you may get seasick, so this is the one activity I don't recommend to everyone. You can have great, similar views just from walking the beaches and cliffs instead.
* The option to "aquasub", either as a separate thing or as part of the previously mentioned boat trip. What this means is that you'll wear snorkelling gear and hang onto a wing-like board behind the boat. It's like an inverted water-skiing thing. The boat moves at a comfortable velocity, so by pointing the "wing" downwards and upwards, you'll descend or ascend in the water. If the water is clear, and it often is, you'll have a good chance of seeing big fish, sharks, dolphins, large turtles and more. But you'll not have option to stop and look closer at anything, and you may find it difficult to equalize the pressure in your ears while you hang onto the board, so you may not go very deep... I find normal snorkeling on most of the beaches on the island was much nicer than the aquasubbing.
* A visit to Atalaia beach. It's a most pristine place on the island, a tidal pool on a beach, in which there is LOTS of great and colourful sealife to see. They only let about a hundred people go in per day, in groups of 25 people each and for 30 minutes only. You are NOT allowed in the water if you have put any sunscreen on. Wear a t-shirt instead to protect yourself against the intense sun.
* A walk along the sea around Morro do Frances, an area that is off-limits to anyone without an official guide. It's just a beautiful walk, and the guides can usually tell you a lot of interesting facts about what you see.

* A walk through the town centre, where you'll be told the story of the island. It can be fairly interesting, but unless you're able to communicate well with the guide, there's no point in doing it.

You can save quite a bit by buying a package instead of booking everything separately. I'm pretty sure they'll be happy to let you spread your activities across more than three days if that suits your plans better. It's just that most people seem to spend only three days (an extended weekend) on the island, so the packages are tailored to that.

There's also great fishing diving to be done from Fernando, of course. There are several companies offering all kinds of that, so just ask around when you get there.

If you want to explore on your own, you certainly can! Just check with the tourist office where you're not allowed to go, and stay away from there! You can leave your stuff on any beach, it will be there when you return. Anyone caught stealing anything on Fernando will be expelled from the island!

A few things you might want to do:

* Get up reeeeeally early in the morning and head for Baía dos Golfinhos. Around sunrise, hundreds of dolphins play and have their breakfast there before they head out into the ocean to hunt throughout the day.
* Go to Praia do Léao and enjoy the beach. Just walk as far as you need to have the whole world to yourself. Midway along the beach you'll pass a small island near land. I highly recommend the snorkeling in the stretch between the islands! If you're a good swimmer, you may also want to snorkel around the small island, but be aware of strong currents! There's an excellent chance of seeing sharks there. There has NEVER been recorded any shark attack on Fernando.

* Walk to the north-eastern end of the island. There's a cute little chapel there, some ruins and lots of colourful crabs on and under the rocks on the rough beach.
* Hike the north coast. The trail beneath Morro do Pico, the potent highest peak of the island, may have a sign that says the path is closed. Ignore that. If you're used to hiking, you'll be able to make your way through. There's a seemingly never-ending string of world-class beaches to be discovered as you make your way westwards from Vila dos Remedios. You'll be all alone on some of them.

* Enjoy a night out in the town centre. There's an excellent outdoor pizza place near the church, and there's a pleasant bar just next door, sometimes with live music. Just don't stay up too late, you DO want to make the most of your days on Fernando!

I think that'll do for now. Feel free to ask me questions in the comments, so that I can add more details or facts.

Another good source for updated and good official information regarding Fernando de Noronha is http://www.noronha.pe.gov.br (although it's mainly in Portuguese... An English version with less information may or may not be found here.)

If you spot any false information here, please notify me by commenting. I'll be happy to adjust my text. #8D)

Happy trails!

Azorted selection of photos

It is done. I've gone through all the photos I took on São Miguel in the Azores. Most of them went in the bin, but those who made it through to the final can be found here.


As I visited only for a week, I am in no position to judge the Azores as a destination. Still, I have to say that I'd rather go back to Madeira for the third time than return to the Azores.

If you're planning on spending your vacation hiking, São Miguel can be a good choice. Early in the morning there are buses to every corner of the island from the main town, Ponta Delgada. Walk around there and return on the afternoon bus, or simply walk back to Ponta Delgada. The island is small enough that if you're a keen hiker, you can do that. Bring food for the whole day, as there are not many shops in the rural parts of the island.

Although São Miguel keep tempting you to walk around everywhere, you'll be better off staying on the country roads. There are few fences to see, but that's just because the Azoreans have perfected the art of planting thorny bushes to separate between the different meadows that the lucky local cows graze upon. I used all the band-aids I brought, to put it that way.

Apart from that, it was a nice trip! See photos for further comments. #8D)

Back from the A.Z.O.R

I spent a week on São Miguel, the largest island of the Azores, a Portuguese (yet sort of autonomous) archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. Nice enough, but I would probably go back to Madeira a few times before I would choose to return to the Azores.


Anyway, it was nice enough. Except I really found use for all the clothes I had brought. All of them simultaneously, in fact. It's a fairly cold place. Which was good, as it meant that returning to Norway was a pleasant experience, climate-wise. #8D)

I found a decent place to stay in the old town in the island's "capital". Ponta Delgada a typical colonial town, with streets not built for car traffic, yet accommodating a lot of it. The sidewalks are on average just 25 centimetres wide/narrow, so walking around there is a Darwinian game of "Survival of the slimmest". You can leave your iPod at home, as you really need to hear any vehicle that may sneak up on you from behind, or it's game over for you.

If you're thinking of spending your honeymoon there, rethink! If that doesn't help, you'll be interested to know there's a hotel on the island catering especially for you. "Plus four square metres of bed to remember together for a life time!", they offer. It may not sound like much, but the island is so small that having more than four square metres to enjoy yourselves on is quite a treat!

If you plan on leaving your bed and the room, be aware of the need to bring warm clothing. Or you may end up like a guy on a bus I got on. He was almost kicked off the bus for repeatedly pressing the "STOP" button overhead, in a vain and desperate (unsuccessful) attempt at stopping the air conditioning that was harassing him.

My days were spent walking the island from end to end. There's a lot of greenery to see, some volcanic rocks, charming villages and ferocious dogs guarding every little herd of cows. And there are MANY cows on this island.

I'll get back to you with photos eventually.

Bjørn

Cote d'Azor

Right, so after a LOT of work with my photos, I'm just ready for a break without computers. The most backward part of Europe I could get a cheap ticket for on short notice turned out to be the Azores, a slightly unfortunately named archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean.

(This photo happens to be from Madeira, which is same same, but different.)

I'll just be hiking and taking more photos (*sigh*, more photo editing coming up) and getting rid of a couple of kilograms of fresh Easter chocolate attachments to my body.

Rumour has it that the rest of the island will be dominated by elderly people and flower lovers, so I'm pretty sure you shouldn't envy me too much. On the other hand, my only alternative was Mallorca, so I'm really looking forward to this, relatively speaking.

So, I'll probably report back in a week or so, telling you all how pleasantly surprised I was by what I found in the middle of the ocean.

Enjoy your spring!

B.

Around The Female Moustache

Hah! That's me getting back at all Australians for making fun of me when I didn't immediately understand that a noah is another word for "shark", because noah comes from Noah's Ark, which rhymes with shark. Anyway, "female moustache" is what you get if you translate "Hobart" to Norwegian. So there you have it.

Anyway, readers of this blog may recall that in December I went to Tasmania to see how many blisters I could cover my feet in just by hiking in the national parks there. It was a great success, and I have now put up a gallery with photos from my expedition.


What I found was square-shaped wombatshit, ice cubes on the beach (which turned out to be still potent fragments of stinging jellyfish crushed by the waves), wooden highways across the mountain plains, robots emptying the trash and a summery blizzard. Foreign parts is a strange place!

You can find the photos at the end of the rainbow, and here.

In related news, I'm fine and enjoying the Easter break in a fairly nice and warm Norway. There are just a thousand or so photos left to mess with (from New South Wales), after which I'll hopefully be free to move on with my life. For reasons I cannot fully explain, I have just 60 days of work left to do this year. This means I shall have to find a new project fairly soon.

It probably won't be a trip to Ibiza.

Many thanks to Tasmania for your cooperation!

Bjørn #8D)

Western Australia Greenery

So, I'm still working my way through the photos I took in Australia recently. Almost 97 percent of them fell through in quality control, but what remains can safely be presented to you. I think.

Anyway, while Western Australia north of Perth turned out to be red, the regions south of Perth are definitely dominated by green. If you like big trees and smooth rock, I think you'll find a walk through this gallery worth your while.

And now... Tasmania... *Sigh* (This may take a while.)

Bjørn #8D)

99 Western Australia Moments

Phew! I've gone through about a third of the photos I brought home from Australia recently. They cover the stretch between Perth and Broome, which is a trip on its own, therefore deserving a gallery on its own.


Unsurprisingly to those of you who follow my blog, these are mainly photos of wilderness and scenery. This part of my trip met all my expectations for a visit to the rugged parts of Australia. Red sand, strange animals and birds, mysterious tracks in the sand and lots of stuff only recently discovered by people.

You'll find the photos here.

Oh well. On to the rest of the photos from the southern part of Western Australia and some hikes in Tasmania... We'll see us again shortly! #8D)

Bjørn

Spent in Australia

(Or: Why Australia's tourism is doomed.)

I'm about to publish photos and text from my recent ten-week trip to Australia. Whenever I do something like that, it quickly triggers a steady flow of e-mails with questions about the trip. Many of the questions will be about how much the trip cost me.

Usually I have to say I don't really know. I never prepare a budget for my trips, I just pay my way from one place and/or activity to another as I go. This time, however, I sort of felt that I spent more than usual, so today I went through my bank transactions from my time in Australia.

Oh boy, did I spend! I'm not complaining, obviously, as the trip brought lots of those moments of happiness that make me travel. But in hindsight, I certainly could have done a lot of exciting things in other parts of the world for the amount of cash I left behind in Australia!


So, to assist those of you considering a trip to Australia, here are some boring, but hopefully useful pieces of information about how much a trip like mine will cost you.

Mind you, I'm pretty much self-activated when I travel. Wherever I am, I will find something to do. Usually that is to just walk around and observe. I didn't do any skydiving, bungee-jumping, cruises, guided tours or participate in any of the infinite and often over-priced activities on offer everywhere in Australia.

You want an example of what I'm talking about? Well, go to Sydney and see the Harbour Bridge, and you're likely to think "Hey! I would really like to enjoy the view from the top of that bridge!" And guess what? You can! Only thing is that you have to book ahead and be ready to spend three and a half hours on it, including a "safety demonstration" and donning of special clothes. And the cost? 189 Australian dollars! (About 120 US dollars). To walk some stairs! Unless you want to do it around sunset, of course. Then it's 249 AUD (160 USD). Or why not do the climb at dawn? Because it costs AUD295 (190 USD), that's why! Oh, and I forgot to mention that you're not even allowed to bring a camera. You ARE, however, allowed to pay a stiff price for a copy of photos that your "Climb Leader" will take during your walk.

The most amazing thing about the bridge climb is not the price they charge for it, or the view from the top of the bridge, but the fact that two million people have done the walk since they started in 1998! Not bad for a bridge that cost just ten million Australian dollars to build (in 1932).

Even if you stay away from the cities, opting for hiking in some of the great scenery Australia offers, you can easily spend a fortune. A guided hike through Tasmania's wilderness for 5-7 days will typically set you back AUD 2000-2500 (USD 1300-1600). Granted, you may be staying at cabins with wine cellars and jacuzzis and you will not have to carry much, but this is still an insane rate for spending a few days surrounded in scenery that was originally provided by Mother Earth at no cost.

Being from Norway, I appreciate the fact that to maintain an elevated standard of living in a country, relatively high prices on everything is a necessity. However, while travelers on low budgets are smart enough to avoid Norway, it seems that just about everyone and her brother on their trips around the world spend half their budget on doing surprisingly little for a few weeks in Downunder. (Yes, New Zealand, I'm talking about you too!) They could have done SO much better, value-for-money-wise, by heading elsewhere.

Anyway, here are my key numbers, in Australian dollars to minimize the effect of changes in exchange rates:

My total expenses, including everything: About AUD 10000.
Average cost per day (70 days), including airfare from Norway: AUD 140.
Average cost per day excluding airfare from Norway: AUD 101.

Airfare
Shoulder/high season tickets, Oslo, Norway - Perth and Sydney - Oslo: AUD 2800. Just getting there contributes about a quarter of all costs. It therefore makes sense to stay for a while.

Accommodation
Including a number of nights in a tent in the wilderness: AUD 1100. In smaller towns I paid AUD20-25 per night, in cities AUD30-35. There are cheaper hostels in the cities, but I prefer places with good safety and relative silence after 11pm, and they cost a little bit extra (often YHA hostels).

Food
I'm not sure how much of my expenses went towards food and drinks, but a fast food meal was about AUD 10 (pizza, burger, kebab, chicken). A modest restaurant meal was about twice that. Cooking properly with groceries at the hostel will be cheaper than AUD 10 only if you share your meal with others. In Western Australian small towns you will find that groceries are MUCH more expensive than in large towns and the east coast. Shop ahead in chain stores if you can (there's usually a Coles, Woolworths or IGA around). To me, chocolate is an essential necessity. It's fairly expensive in Australia, but the chains regularly have good offers on some brand of chocolate, bringing a large bar (200-250 grams) down to AUD 3-4.

Transportation
Getting around is a major expense in rural Australia. The distances are vast and the competition is low. You can often fly relatively cheaply, but then you miss out on the scenery between your stops.

Greyhound is a good bus company, but their schedule is not good for traveling to smaller places. I went with a slightly more expensive option, Easyrider Tours, you can jump off and on the bus again when you like, and they make stops at interesting places on a schedule that means only traveling and arriving to places during daytime. (And we only broke down in the middle of nowhere once!) The ticket for seven days of travel from Perth and north towards Broome was AUD 750, and the ticket for a three day loop south of Perth via Albany was AUD 320.

My flights: Broome - Perth at AUD 165. Perth - Melbourne at AUD 120. Hobart - Melbourne at AUD 150.

I took the ferry from Melbourne to Tasmania, and I got a last minute special offer day ticket at AUD 45. The normal one-way rate was AUD 128, high-season AUD 179.

I used the train from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, a good deal at about AUD20. I also used the train from there to Port Macquarie and back, costing about AUD 70 each way. I also took a night bus from Melbourne to Sydney at AUD 75, with Firefly. Greyhound offer roughly the same service at the same price.

While traveling, I got the idea I wanted to do the Overland Track hike in Tasmania. I had to get a trekking permit at AUD 150 allowing me to spend as long on the walk as I wanted, as long as I started hiking on a specific day. To be allowed onto the track I had to be "properly equipped". Even though it was in the middle of summer, that meant I needed a decent tent and some warm wind- and rainproof clothing. I bought cheap, but good stuff at a chain store, All Goods, at AUD 275.

There you have it. Now, think twice before you head for Australia. It's a beautiful place, but so is most of the rest of the world, many parts of which can be had at significantly lower rates...

Happy trails!