The Edge Of The World And The Big Nut

Tharnarru ngajubintharri!

I am here in little ol' Tassie! Me and the dog made it!

I must say I was stressing that he wasn't going to settle in to a new (cold) environment, especially after all the moving we've been doing, but Radley is all settled in. He was all settled in on the first day.

Didn't care my mum has a big bull mastiff and this is her house, oh no, this was his house as soon as he set foot in it!

I really feel for Georgie because he's been eating every crumb of her food he can get his greedy guts on (by the by my mum has named him Gutzer) and she's so docile she just lets him...I'm going to come back to a round dog!

While the little hollow hole has been eating everything in sight I've been enjoying having a home again, at least for a little while. Been able to do a bit of reading, a bit of sewing (my mum has her own sewing room), a bit a movie watching and a fair bit of drinking. I've also been going for a swim everyday. Pretty proud about that.

I used to struggle with doing 25m and now I can do 500m! All in breast stroke though, completely given up trying to do freestyle, it hurts too much and there's only so much chlorine I can swallow.

So when I arrive in Fiji for my marine conservation program and they ask me to do 250m in the pool I can say yes sir!

It won't be fast and it won't be pretty (honestly I reckon I make it look harder than a male pornstar) but it'll be done, dammit!

Anyways, on to the sightseeing.

I decided while I'm here I should try and see as much of Tassie as I can. Today was the west coast!

Me and The Bont drove out there this morning and joy of joys we were all alone to enjoy the vast expanse of ocean.

Freezing but fabulous

I love the ocean! Today it was choppy and grey (and colder than a witch's tit) and it soothed my soul.

I find a really deep calmness come over me looking out over the great big blue. It's the same calmness I feel looking up at the stars at night. It makes me feel so incredibly tiny and the world/universe so incredibly, impossibly big... and while that seems to scare my sister shitless it really does sooth me. I love that feeling.

The next spit of land from here is Argentina

After enjoying the Edge of the World me and The Bont got back in the car, put on my current audiobook and drove to Stanley where I could get some food and water - dumb one here didn't think to pack water.

Stanely is a cute little town on the north coast with charming houses, nice people and The Nut.

Let me tell you right now, climbing The Nut hurt like a bitch! I don't climb, I shit you not 10m into the trail and my legs started to burn.

Now, the walk up to the top of The Nut is called the Zig Zag trail, and it's brutal!

By the top of the first zig my legs were burning and I was huffing and puffing.

By the top of the second zag I had to take off my jumper and neck warmer and even thought about taking off my thermals.

When I got to the top my lungs were about to burst, everything was burning, I thought I may just pass out, and I'd lost all feeling in my legs.

Look at this slack arse while I'm dying

Judgemental prick!

As you can imagine I looked a treat, I must've done because this old boy started up a conversation!

I'll say this, so far in my experiences Taswegians are a lovely bunch, very quick to say hello and have a yarn.

Now I would've thought my red face, the sweat, and the way I was sucking in lungfuls of air would've let people know I wasn't capable of speaking let alone in the mood, but obviously all this meant I was very much in the mood to answer questions about where I'm from, what I do, why I'm here etc etc.

The only person less happy than me was his much younger, pretty wife who I got the feeling only came along after constant badgering.

The climb back down wasn't fun either but my knees were able to keep it together so I could get back to the car in one peice.

The walk around The Nut was very nice. OMG the views were amazing! Defintely worth nearly having a heart attack!

Pretty

So pretty

Fucking beautiful!

And even after all that I still went for a swim, why you ask... because I'm a dumb slut!

Oh and yes I have shaved my head. Could not deal with that rats nest while travelling!