April 8th
Lea Scout Centre Camping Area-Hobart
Mileage: 12km/7.5mi
We got a relaxed start, packing up our tents for the final time in Tasmania. Since there was rain in the mountains, and we wanted something relaxed today, we decided to head to Bruny Island, about 30mins from Hobart and a short car ferry ride over. It was the perfect fit for how we were feeling. Just something simple to close things out in Tasmania.
We did two short hikes. The first was Fluted Cape, a 6km/3.6mi loop that went up on coastal cliffs. It was relaxing.
The view of where we’re headed.
After that, we stopped off at the viewpoint of The Neck, a narrow stretch of road that connects the north and south ends of Bruny Island. This island really is ideal for a relaxing day trip or weekend close to the city, and I can see why so many people kept mentioning it.
The Neck
Finally, we did one other short hike to Mars Bluff and a small archway on the beach. We ate lunch on top of the Bluff, and it was a nice way to close things out. Clouds were around and we saw isolated rain in the distance much of the day, but thankfully no rain on us. We made it through Tassie somehow with hardly any rain at all. I do like how everything is so close and how you can most likely drive to a dry place if it’s raining somewhere else.
Below Mars Bluff.
Final lunch on trail view:)
We returned to Hobart by late afternoon, and will be staying at the Tasmania Inn again with a zero rainy day tomorrow to totally veg out. We each fly out of Melbourne and back to the US in a few days, so we will spend a couple days in Melbourne. No major plans really, just happy to relax and chill these final days before returning home. I got to watch the latest Survivor episode and am catching up on a backlog of Greys Anatomy. Ah, loving the relaxing and resting! I’m glad we booked this buffer time to have some downtime if we wanted it, and I’m welcoming it. Tomorrow will be spent catching up on things, (including some shows, of course) and organizing for my return home to Portland (yay!). I’m ready to return HOME! Here’s a map that shows all we did in our 34 days in Tassie. Of those days, we hiked in some capacity on 27 of those days totaling 524.5km/319.6mi. I’d say the mission was accomplished! This really was a great finale to wrap up 3/4 of a year of hiking.
Our month in Tassie!
I will do a couple more posts on the time spent in Melbourne and thoughts as I return home, but I know many of you will be getting off the journey here now that the hiking is complete. It’s been quite a ride this year, and it’s been great to have so many old and new followers along for the journey. As a brief review, here’s a list of all the trails and routes I’ve done in the last 9.5 months. Many of these routes had much lower daily mileages due to the their difficulty, so the total mileage isn’t as high as one might imagine. Still, 6148km/3820mi is not too shabby.
Sierra High Route
High Sierra Trail
Wind River High Route
Kings Canyon High Basin Route
Wonderland Trail
Larapinta Trail
Bibbulmun Track
Cape To Cape Track
Te Araroa
Tasmania
As a comparison, in the last 11 months, Griggs has done 8390km/5213mi having done the PCT and the Long Trail in Vermont before heading to NZ. I’ve mentioned before, but for those that want to continue to follow, he will be getting on the Continental Divide Trail in less than a month for 4-5 more months of hiking. Griggs really has no plans to stop, and the wheels are already spinning for what’s to come after the CDT. He will be Insta-blogging (love that term!) daily at @griggsdomler.
We have found that we are the most compatible hiking partners either of us have ever had, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we team up again someday. Heck, I can’t let him pass me in total mileage! At his pace and determination, he may rack up more miles than anyone someday. Thank you to Griggs for being such a great partner, and for making these last 2.5 months so enjoyable. I’m totally spoiled and he’s set a very high bar as a hiking partner. We joke how the best compliment we have for one another is that we don’t annoy each other, so thanks for NOT being annoying Griggs, ha! Seriously, it made Tasmania so much more fun and adventurous to pair up with Griggs, and I’m very grateful that we have crossed paths.
Well, while I’m at it, I think I should preemptively end the questions of “what’s next!?” I’ve known that Europe is probably where I want to head the next few years. It seems that there’s an endless list of possibilities out there. I’m 90% sure I have the next trail picked out. It’s called the Pyrenees High Route. A range along the border of France and Spain that’s quite popular. I know many people who have done this ~45 day route, and all say it’s one of their all time favorite hikes. It will fit in perfectly for the summer in July and August, so I can substitute teach the rest of the school year. I’ve yet to decide if I’ll extend it to other things after the PHR, and am currently content with just a couple months travel after being gone so much this year. That’s the plan for now. Really looking forward to that one! Still a couple more posts to come before the hiatus begins…
Gonna miss your blogs. So much fun following you. Wish I was on instagram so I could follow Griggs on his hikes. Good luck on your trip home. Hopefully it will decide to really be spring by the time you get to Portland.
Instagram is pretty easy to follow without needing an account. Just bring it up and type in @griggsdomler and you can view it publicly without needing an account. You just can’t comment.
Thanks I will do that.
Congratulations on a great 9 months of hiking. Following your walk through Australia (Tasmania) and New Zealand has really been enlightening and stunningly beautiful to see. Thanks so much for your dedication to blogging your adventures.
The GR20 in Corsica looks like one for you too. Apparently a tough hike. Right up your alley! Will miss your aussie adventures! You’ve seen more than most of us Aussies have!
For sure on this list. So many in Europe and I get all the GRs mixed up:)
Congratulations what an awesome time it has been following you. I’ll miss your blogs and adventures but so happy for both of you to be finished. I bet you can’t wait to sleep in your own bed.
Oh it will be sooo glorious:)
Congrats! As always, it’s been great to follow your travels. I’ve now put Tasmania on my list of places to travel and hike! I’m keen to check out the Cape to Cape too.
I appreciate the effort you put into the blog as well as your honest commentary. Can’t wait for your next adventure!
I’m also excited to hear that Griggs will be doing the CDT! My neck of the woods!
Oh no, it’s finished… Been following for a while – an inspiring read. Great to hear that your next is in my back yard. The High route in the Pyrenees (HRP “Haute route pyrenéene” in french) is a great choice.
Oh great! Yeah, really looking forward to it.
What a journey! Congratulations!!! And big THANK YOU for all the hard work you´ve done blogging and sharing so much with us.
I´ve followed this big trip almost on a day-to-day basis and will miss it, definitely. But then it´s nice to know you´re back home getting ready for your new hikes:-)
And I´ll follow Griggs in the meantime. Great you found such a good hiking partner.
YOU’RE WELCOME:)
Well done, Erin. I’ve been reading your blog since the end of the CDT and really enjoy following along on your adventures. It’s so great to see a woman out there on her own, pursuing her dreams and creating her own chosen life. Enjoy your well-deserved down time at home.
I like the way you put that. Amazon to have such freedoms in so many ways right now and the health to pursue it all.
Congrats Erin on completing your 9.5 months of hiking. What an amazing achievement. I am just as impressed with your committment to writing each night as I am with your hiking. Who would have thought that that very, very wet day way back in January in Nelson Lakes National Park would have ended up with you meeting the most compatible hiking partner you have ever had. Some days sure do turn out to be different to what you expect.
Tasmania looks to have been a really good way to end this trip. Thanks for sharing via your blog. It has been a morning treat for several months now.
Yes, very funny as we crossed paths many times the first few weeks on the N Island and I really didn’t think we were compatible, haha.
OMG I can’t believe it’s coming to an end!! It’s been so nice having your consistent updates since last summer to get my adventure fix, but the timing is working quite perfectly for me, as I fly out to San Diego tomorrow morning to start the PCT on Tuesday! AHHHHH!
Thank you Erin, for being such an inspiration <3 !
Oh WOW!!! Have a wonderful time out there. Sooo love the PCT!
Oh so exciting! I just commented on your blog as well. Anyone reading this, it’s thecaffeinatedhiker.wordpress.com
Will you be blogging your PCT hike? After all, there’s a lit of peiple on here looking for someone else to follow for the next several months.
Yes she will Mike, I just linked the blog in my comment above yours.
Just signed up for your blog, Kristin! There is another person starting the PCT who posted it here, maybe on the entry prior to this, so I’ll follow both of you.
I followed Zuul last season and have been “along” for a few PCT hikes.. and of course read several books about PCT through hikes too. Almost makes me think I could do it, but probably not in this lifetime..
I will be interested to hear what this past winter has done to the higher parts of the PCT.
And Erin will just watch her shows, rest and smile..
Ahhhh:) I currently type this from a very comfy bed<3
So well-deserved, that comfy bed!! And as I recall, the hosts at that place you are staying were putting out food you could access all day!
Hoopefully they are feeding you well.. I’m sure for Griggs just having cooked and heated food is a plus.
I also just realized that the two people I will follow on the PCT will proably see Griggs flash by them at some point!
All these blogs are best read in bed, though I’m actually sitting in a comfy rocker at the moment, where I can access my TV, my desktop and three tablets. Sometimes I the middle of all this is my 17 pound cat.
Thanks so much for following along Lynn! I can’t wait to share the adventure! 😀
Bret/BoneDaddy who also followed Erin started OFF and his blog today.. 22.3 miles.. You may see him in the trail..
And I posted earlier about Griggs.. Well of course he finished the PCT before New Zealand and Tassie.. So if anyone sees him, they must travel back in time.. And if course You all are all IN THE PRESENT more than most of us.
Ha, yes, I noticed that and you corrected it before I did:)
Erin ~ I’d like to invite you to do a program for our Sierra Club group in Vancouver, WA. We have a lot of members who hike, and your experiences are amazing and inspiring. Please email me and we can discuss a time that might fit for you. It would be a privilege to meet you in person.
I’m emailing you Lehman:)
Hi Erin, as I only discovered your amazing blog about 11 months ago and I went back and started from the beginning I have been reading a post (or several!) from you pretty much everyday since then. So I have not experienced your blogging downtime (very much deserved!). Gonna have to figure out how to handle the withdrawal ?? Thank you so much for sharing your amazing hikes and taking the time to write such entertaining and thorough blogs.
Pyrenees sound amazing, and is not *that* far from the south coast of UK ?
Safe trip home and enjoy your downtime!
I love it when people go back and read all the old “seasons.” You’ve been binge reading like my Downton Abbey addiction;)
What a perfect ending. I’m going to miss your daily post. You are now welcomed home!
Rod in San Francisco
It’s so funny that I thought of you recently too Rod! Emailing you now;)
Congratulations. I sure have enjoyed reading about your amazing journey. The photos have been spectacular.
This does seem to be a perfect ending for this locale.
I have to find the device that can handle Instagram.. I can see the first photo but not others.. Not sure I can comment, or at least like, so not sure if it will work. Also spoiled by the email notification from this site..
Anyway, much appreciation for anything you want to write. You have been away for a longer than usual time and both you and Griggs are returning to some big changes here.
Our loss will be a gain for your students (finding an upside here).
Many thanks, but if course I am in for your off trail posts from Melbourne.
Sounds like you and Griggs have separate flights from there, so a bit of an abrupt end to the after party.
?
Oh that’s too bad about Instagram. I thought it could be viewed on a computer and didn’t realize the slides may only work on a smart device. I know you can’t comment or like from a computer without an account. Yes, we do have separate flights out, but it’s been a few days of winding down and now in Melbourne, so it’s been a nice transition.
6,148 km in 9.5 months and blogging for us to share the share the experience, every night. Totally awesome Erin! Thanks.
Safe journey home Erin. It has been a pleasure to follow your journey. Not only informative but entertaining.
I have thoroughly enjoyed following your hikes. I’ve been to Australia & New Zealand and done short hikes, nothing like what you do. I also have done short hikes in the Pyrenees so I’m looking forward to that one.
How do you have enough battery power to do what you do? Are you only using a cell phone to do the blog? Are you typing or using voice?
The most popular battery packs are through a company called Anker. With that, I can get about 7 chargers of my iPhone I think. Griggs has an even bigger one I’m tempted to get:) I am only using the phone and have even recently transitioned to using the iPhone as my sole camera as well. I have tried voice when I have lots of battery and easy walking at the end of the day, but it still requires lots of review/editing. I tend to type it all out with my thumbs 90% of the time. I’ve gotten quite quick at it:)
Erin,
What an end to the whole nearly ten months!
You know you are a total bad ass, right? Of course you do. And I think all of us think that but just didn’t say it. But we all really enjoy seeing places that we may well not get to because of distance or health/shape. So, I salute you and hope that your home coming is sweet. I wonder what sleeping in your own bed feels like after ten months?!
Griggs, for those of us who follow you but don’t do the whole smart-phone thing, congrats on your big finish as well. I really respect your trail etiquette and conduct. It is so refreshing and I can tell Erin will miss you a lot. It’d be so cool to see you two team up again on some new trails. And I hope that your CDT adventure goes well. I’ll be following you I just don’t have the ability to leave comments via my computer but I can see your multiple photos when they are posted and I “like” them as well. Rock on Griggs!!
I’ll make sure Griggs sees this Warren:) Oh the bed will be sooo glorious!!! No plans that first weekend home as I may just not leave the bed:)
Congratulations on completing a fascinating month in Tasmania and all the preceding walks you did on the Australian mainland and in New Zealand! I was particularly interested in how you would fare in Tassie since that’s my favourite walking area and I knew almost all the walks. I’m so pleased for you that the weather was wonderful and you could see Tassie at its best. I am astounded at how you turned hard overnight walks into day-trips, hard 4-day walks into two-dayers, and did the very tough 8-day full Western Arthurs circuit in about 4 days.
You missed out on a relatively easy and wonderfully scenic (but long) daywalk up Mt Anne but found a worthy substitute in Mt Field. I hope you come back one day to do more hiking in Tassie. You’ve done almost all the popular walks, but you’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible. For example, there are 158 impressive peaks to climb (the ‘Abels’, peaks over 1100m with 150m prominence) and you’ve just done a half dozen!
I’ve been following your blog daily since you first arrived in Australia. It’s been my favourite reading on the net, for you write really well with great honesty and your photography is wonderful. Now that you’re taking a break I have your back catalog to work through! I really look forward to your upcoming adventures in Europe. All the best!
Oh cool, you’ll love the journey if you go back and start from the beginning on the PCT. It’s been quite the ride. Yes, still so much to be done in Tassie. Such a great playground. I do need to mention in the intro on my Tasmania tab that we were in condition and did do everything in half the time most would prefer.
Erin: When I met you, Rockin’ and Why Not in Mammoth last Fourth of July, I had no idea of the adventures that lay ahead for each of you. Congratulations on completing this chapter of your journey – and thanks again for sharing it with all of your followers on social media.
I can heartily recommend hiking in the Pyrenees. Kathryn and I have hiked the Camino in the area and the scenery is spectacular.
As a fellow Illini, I think your adventure lifestyle would be a great feature for our alumni magazine. If you’re interested, send me a text and I’ll pitch the idea to the editors.
Enjoy your final days in Tassie and have a safe trip home.
Michael
Oh that would be fun Rambler! I’ll email you:)
Dear Erin, I am quite exhausted just reading all these blogs, so I can’t imagine how you must be feeling! But I expect what you really want is just a couple of quiet days to absorb it all, before picking up normal life again. That is a transition that I always need and sometimes have trouble with.
I will email about the HRP, I have one or two things that might help with planning. I shall be in Andorra in August, so we may yet meet up
Thank you so much for the last 9 months +. I enjoyed all of it, even the not-so-enjoyable bits!
Yes, that’s exactly what I need and am looking forward to:) Griggs will be doing a daily CDT entry on Instagram just like he did in Tassie. He already did the PCT, but didn’t keep anything online. My influence and he’s appreciating the daily writing for himself and his family:)
Will Griggs be doing a written PCT blog, or just the photos?
Congratulations on 9.5 months on the trail. It has been wonderful tagging along. Having done some trip repoets myself, I can’t imagine doing all of it while hiking. All I ever wanted to do when I wasn’t hiking was relax and enjoy the scenery. Eating and napping was giw I spent my down time while in trail. What you do – the blogging – requires a huge effort, and I truly appreciate it. You said previously that you knew who Out of Order was. Maybe yoy shoyld check out his latest adventure, gping from north to south across Europe. The Scandanavian countries might make for a good through hike.
Maybe Griggs should just turn left when he gets to Waterton and head towards Portland, Oregon after he’s done with the CDT. I think he has at least one friend there. At least that woyld be my recommendation to him.
My apologies for the numerous typos. Big fingers, small phone keyboard.
Oh I will check out his hiking as Europe may be my main focus in the coming years. Oh Griggs has many plans to keep on walking. He just keeps on going!
Congratulations to you, Erin, on an amazing journey! We’ve loved following you and now Griggs, every step of the way. . .we are total Wired addicts and will mourn the loss of your daily blog entries! But we are so excited for you to return to Portland! The trees and flowers are blooming their heads off to welcome you home! Thanks again for taking the time to share your incredible adventures with us – such a gift! Rest and watch all the shows you want!!!! Welcome to PDX!!!!
It is so weird to not have a winter this year. Not complaining at all on that front!
The northern hemisphere welcomes you back to almost summer!
Keep a smile ? on your face, the wind at your back… And remember, sit on the left; drive ? on the right!
If you run out of shows to watch, you might enjoy The Zoo, which is behind the scenes at the Bronx Zoo.. Season just finished, so it should be available for binge watching.. Such great people working with creatures great and small. The segment with Kiwi birds.. What quirky, endearing little beings.
And tiny endangered toads.. They took a load of them from their breeding program to Tanzania.. Their bike up to the most environment looked like an excellent short time you and Griggs would enjoy.
Thanks for such a great long shared adventure! Enjoy your time off/planning time.
I you get to speak ANYwhere in SoCal.. I would like to know and if I could help with a ride, I would. Or chocolate milk ?
I first posted the following as a REPLY to someone else’s comment in error. Oops..
Jean Ella on April 11, 2017 at 11:30 am
It has been a lot of fun to follow you Wired. I’m happy that you were able to do everything you hoped for without any problems and that you found good partners and a BEST partner along the way. I’m looking forward to your next adventure. I have a 1991 Edition of the Pyrenees High Route that was on my bucket list and think that will be a great trip to follow along with you vicariously. Thank you for sharing.
PS Note: I have changed my email address
I deleted the other comment for you:) THANK YOU Jean! Wow, you still have that book. I’m sure it will be fun to compare it to what I experience.
Just can’t explain how awesome it has been virtually walking with you throughout this journey. It has been awesome. Even though the trip was outside the norm for you and outside your comfort zone in many ways, I was impressed with how well you put one foot in front of the other and made it all happen. Your positive attitude about even tough days is contagious…and even when you’re a bit snarky about the bad days that still puts a smile on my face while reading. Once again…thanks for sharing your hike with us.
Haha, I like that snarky comment! It’s been quite the impactful year that’s for sure.
Hi congratulations on completing your hiking trip in New Zealand and Australia. Have thoroughly enjoyed following your excellent blogs and wish you all the very best for your future adventures
Congratulations Erin on the finish, and thanks again for taking us along with you. We will miss you, but you are due a season of rest after being wayward bound for so long. Enjoy your rest and relaxation, and I’m glad you have something to look forward to in the Pyrenees! I really enjoyed vicariously joining you in this epic 9.5 month journey, so glad you did it, and what a big accomplishment!
What an amazing 9.5 months of hiking! Thank you so much for sharing your adventures.
take a bow please Erin, Griggs, Becky and friends…. such a long trip down under, executed without any show stopping issues… prepared for and executed well, well made decisions.. its not all about putting one foot in front of the other. its being able to keep putting one foot in front of the other by using your head more effectively as your legs…. It’s easy to under estimate how much intelligence and good sense plays its part in having a good trip.