Tam At Sea: Because some leaves don’t grow on trees: A trilogy in four parts- Part 1

PART 1 OF 4: LEAVE IN AUSTRALIA

Well it would have been rude to travel straight back to the UK after leaving the ship so I enjoyed the sights, art galleries and parks of Sydney for a couple of days. This included meeting various random sailors off ships that had travelled from all over the world to be part of the International Fleet Review which was unplanned. Mostly I ended up hanging around Nelly (SV Lord Nelson) like a bad smell for an extra day before taking the train into the Blue Mountains.

The train to Katoomba only takes a couple of hours from Sydney but you can’t help imagining it when the first travellers forged routes through Australia. At the opposite end of the town from the train station is a 2000m vertical drop into the canyon of the Blue Mountains. It takes your breath away! There are three distinct mounts (called the “three sisters” that sit off the WORD near “Echo Point” and from here you can look across the Blue Mountains and see the ridge that separates the two major valleys.

The three sisters jutting out into the valleys of the blue mountains

I spent one day climbing Mount York with a guide who pushed me to improve my technique and managed to encourage me to complete a route that was much harder than I thought I could accomplish. The command “trust your feet” was echoing around the valley that afternoon! By the end of the day I had completed 9 climbs (over 250m) of the mountain and was exhausted. I was glad of a gentle walk the next day to stretch out my muscles before taking the train back to Sydney for a night to fly to Melbourne for the Marathon Festival weekend the next morning.

Climbing up Mount York, Blue Mountains

It was great to be back in Melbourne as it’s a much more laid back city than Sydney. Plus, my lifestyle means that I very rarely go anywhere twice so that, when I do return somewhere the familiarity makes me feel quite at home!

The next day I woke up at 0545 and walked 40minutes to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) to drop my bags off ready to run in the Melbourne half marathon. It was a perfect day, not too hot and the rain stayed away. I was disappointed with my time as I only managed 2hrs 9mins when I had previously been able to run sub 2hrs. However, given my lack of recent training and the fact that I was still exhausted from the work and climbing, I think it was still a respectable enough time.

Melbourne half marathon finish at the Cricket Ground

Actually it was a really lovely race that finished with a lap of the MCG which was pretty awesome and I completed it without picking up any injuries (which was a first for me). My plan is to seriously step up my training now in preparation for April when I’ll be running the infamous Marathon des Sable. I know I’m nowhere near as fit as I should be so I need all the support I can get to help me through the Sahara- As the song says: “Who the f*ck wants to die in the desert alone”….me apparently?! Please sponsor me and help raise money to get disabled people sailing with me on the tall ships: www.justgiving.co.uk/Tam-at-sea

After a chilled out afternoon sheltering from the rain, I woke the next morning and hoped on a tram to St Kilda’s to visit the beach town and explore the old Baths. The next day I woke early to join a group trip along the Great Ocean Road (GOR) and up into the Grampian Mountains. The GOR was absolutely spectacular. I was so glad that I was in a bus so that I could constantly stare out of the window. We stopped at least every 30 minutes and it was amazing to watch the landscape change. The first section is known as the surf coast where the waves curl onto golden beaches and young men run towards the sea with boards tight under their arms. This changes into the ship wreck coast where the waves are so strong they have carved features out of the coastal cliffs including what have become know as; the 12 apostles, London Bridge and the bay of islands. It was incredible to learn about the numerous ship wrecks that have occurred along this section of the coast including many tall ships that had wrecked and their stories of heroism and survival.

The 12 apostles


View during a walk along the coast on the first night on the GOR

Wild koala sleeping in the national park

The final stretch of coast gives way to national parks and forests and from there we turned inland to explore the Grampian mountains. On our way we passed through a rare temperate rain forest and climbed a number of water falls. The highlight of this area was climbing a gorge up into the Grand Canyon where you looked out over the top of a landscape that looked completely alien.

The alien landscape at the top of the "Grand Canyon" in the Grampian Mountains

We stayed in a wilderness lodge in the middle of the Grampian range where I met a number of the local inhabitant including a Wolf Spider (during a sneaky climb when I nearly head butted it so it “displayed” at me- see the picture) and my most memorable moment: A morning run into the sun rise with a gentle wind rustling the trees following kangaroo tracks when I suddenly saw a kangaroo hoping along beside me (about 5 metres away). It kept pace for a second then sprinted off ahead- they are so fast!