The People You Meet When Trekking ‘The Overland Track’

After recently returning from an incredible six days trekking the Overland Track in Tasmania and meeting some very interesting characters along the way, it got me thinking about the different types of trekkers you meet when you go on these sort of trekking adventures. You’ll find some endearing and some downright annoying, but love them or loath them, these are the people you are likely to meet.

The Noisy Guy
Zzziiiiippppp, zip, zip… I awoke groggily. Where am I? What am I doing? Oh right, it’s night one of the Overland Track and I had been asleep for a few hours but now some guy is opening and closing ALL the zips. I took a quick look at the time, 10pm… oh no, this is going to be a long night. As I drifted in and out of sleep that first night I was constantly woken by the man dubbed ‘The Noisy Guy’, as he rolled around on his squelching sleeping mat, waved his sleeping bag around, and zipped open and shut his pack umpteen times. I had learnt my first lesson of ‘The Overland Track’, if you choose to sleep in a hut instead of a tent you have to contend with ‘The Noisy Guy’.

Swiss Family Robinson
This Swiss family were made up of grandma, grandpa, mum, dad and two sons around 10 years old. They were all blonde, fit and ready to take on EVERY mountain. We originally thought they were coming into camp last each night because they had young children and they were simply taking their time, we couldn’t have been more wrong. Swiss Family Robinson were doing every single side trip, there was no mountain that wasn’t to be climbed; Cradle mountain summit, Mt Ossa, the waterfalls and every other side option, big or small. Grandpa was leading the charge and could be heard exclaiming ‘this is what we are here for’ if any other trekkers dared question if the young kids were really going to be able to climb that mountain. This family were a well oiled machine. They had all the gear, all the right food and put all us Aussies to shame.

The Cute Environmentally Friendly Guy
If your hiking and you don’t meet a cute environmentally friendly person trekking on his own are you really hiking? Our cute guy was French Canadian and he had piercing blue eyes  (swoon) and he did helipad yoga each evening. He trekked on his own to be one with nature but took the time to talk to every other trekker and make them feel a bit special. The ultimate nice guy that gave me a much needed boost and spring in my step.

The Glampers
The Glampers were walking side by side with us but they were not staying in the same huts as us… oh no, they had special huts, that were in secret locations (apparently not far from our peasant huts). These trekkers knew what was what as they gaily regaled us with stories of glasses of Riesling, crème brulee and most enviously, hot showers. These trekkers weren’t carrying their own packs and they were the happiest people we ran into on the Track. I want to be these people when I grow up.

Tarzan
As we wearily came into camp one day we saw an unfamiliar face, he had dirt all over him and a few scratches on his arms and legs. ‘Where did you come from?’ We asked? ‘Over there’, he pointed to the top of a mountain that had no hiking trail, ‘I bushbashed my way down, I’m the first person to ever trek down that mountain’. He was the alpha male of the Overland and I half expected him to start beating his chest and swinging from the vines. He told us of his adventures and didn’t ask a single question about ours. This guy is akin to the ‘oh you should have been here 5 years ago before the tourists got here’ guy that I used to meet at backpackers way back in the day.

The Super Prepared and the Under Prepared
This was me and my friends, two super prepared and two who had no idea what was going on. The super prepared had a jetboil (very handy), the sunrise and sunset time of every day, the expected temperature and weather conditions of every day, a printed itinerary that showed the distance we were walking each day and notes of all the side trips. The underprepared (this may or may not have included me) turned up with a backpack that was too small, borrowed equipment that had never been trialled before and lucked out that the weather was perfect every day as there was only room in the pack for one change of clothes and the food.

If you don’t know which one of these you are… you are probably The Noisy Guy

One Hundred Years of Dirt

This memoir by Rick Morton takes you on quite a journey as he tells his life story thus far, his battles with severe mental health issues and the many challenges he faced growing up poor and gay in a small country town.

While I thoroughly enjoyed reading One Hundred Years of Dirt, I cannot say that I liked Rick. This dislike was so remarkable that when I found like I could relate to him on something I immediately wanted to change that about myself (who knew I wasn’t the only person to run away from a doctor’s office when they momentarily stepped out of the office because I was scared of a blood test).

A friend of his in the book summed up my feelings for Rick with the words ‘For fuck’s sake Rick get over it’. These thoughts certainly crossed my minds several times throughout this book. He just couldn’t seem to push past his belief that growing up in the country poor and gay meant that he would never be successful or happy. He seemed so hell bent on trying to prove that statistically he would never be happy that it has become a self fulfilling prophecy. As a successful writer, he has already become successful, but then he blames his inability to save money (despites earning a good wage) again on growing up poor.

Interestingly Rick doesn’t really like himself that much and you wonder at times if the way he words things is his way of saying he doesn’t expect us to like him. When he talked about how, as an adult, he went to help his mum paint her house and he gave up quickly she asked ‘You had enough darl?’ and he explains ‘well the sun was quite bright’. Knowing how much he loves and respects his mother and how hard she has struggled in her life seeing him just stop helping her because it was too hot can’t help but make you feel annoyed at him, and he undoubtedly would know that you would feel that way about him.

At times, I was genuinely moved by his experiences and felt saddened by how in high school he would try and research who were the attractive girls in case he was asked which girl he liked to try and hide his sexuality. Rick’s brother and the circumstances he has faced through a horrific accident as a child and his subsequent addiction was the most engaging part of this book. All the research that Rick did about growing up poor in the country and how it affects adult life seemed to apply a lot stronger to Rick’s brother than to Rick himself.

One Hundred Years of Dirt is not for everyone (just ask my sister) but I really enjoyed it even though my feelings for Rick himself were mixed.

The Lost Man

Jane Harper’s ‘The Lost Man’ is simply a wonderful book. From the very first chapter, this novel completely draws you in and keeps you interested and deeply invested in all of the characters. Jane Harper has a tremendous ability to set a scene, you can see and feel the Queensland Outback throughout this book.

‘The Lost Man’ is a thriller about the death of Cameron, a local man who is seemingly loved by the community. Cameron’s death may or may not be suspicious, with several different scenarios being likely for how he has died. Cameron’s brother Nathan is the main voice of the novel and although he is a deeply flawed character he is both very relatable and likeable. The third brother is Bub, the baby of the family who bore the brunt of their father’s brutality and is striving always to have his voice heard.

While the storyline is incredibly engaging the hero of ‘The Lost Man’ is the Australian landscape and Harper’s ability to describe it in a way that truly puts you in the heart of the Australian Outback.

If ‘The Lost Man’ was to be made into a movie I see Nathan being played by Eric Bana, Bub by Samuel Johnson and Cameron by Joel Edgerton.

I highly recommend ‘The Lost Man’ for any reader who enjoys a mystery novel. It will draw you in from the first chapter and keep you enthralled through to the end.

 

The Geography of Friendship

The Geography of Friendship is an Australian novel based around three women who have reconnected after many years of separation. Samantha, Lisa, and Nicole were the very best of friends, a friendship that seemed destined to be forever. These three girls have three different personalities and opposite ways of reacting to the challenges they face. These drastically different reactions and the consequences of these shape the direction of their journey.

Samantha, Lisa, and Nicole have come together to take on a trek they originally started twenty years earlier. The book flows between the current trek and their past trek constantly hinting at what happened on the first trek to create this distance between the once closest of friends.

This was a page-turner in that I was curious to see how the first trek played out, but at the same time, I just wanted it to be finished. I wanted to know the ending but wasn’t engrossed in the middle section and I never felt like I truly go to know any of the girls.

The ending was predictable and there were no surprises or twists, the story was more about the three friends and their friendship and relationship but it somehow just didn’t draw me in. The three girls Samantha, Lisa and Nicole were neither likable or hateable, it was hard to feel any emotion for them.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. I wanted to enjoy it because I have such a strong connection to friends hiking together and discovering and conversing together. It is very much me, it’s what I love to do and the style of writing I enjoy.

Did you connect with these three girls?

A Gentleman In Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow is based in Russia in the years after the Russian Revolution from the 1920’s through to the 1950’s. It is about Alexander Rostov, who has been imprisoned for the rest of his life to The Metropol, an upmarket hotel.

Alexander’s relationships with the people he meets are a joy to witness, from romantic relationships to the closest bonds of friendships through to his most treasured role as a parental figure. The book touches on themes about how a small decision or chance meeting can change the direction of one’s life.

I adored this book. The use of language is exquisite, and the ideas that Amor Towles brings to the table are so wonderfully simplistic that I wonder why I had not thought them before, or perhaps I had thought them but did not know how to articulate them. While the storyline is compelling and interesting it is the use of language that draws you in and makes you want to turn over the page.

My favourite passage in this book is this:

“He believed in the influence of early frosts and lingering summers, of ominous clouds and delicate rains, of fog and sunshine and snowfall. And he believed, most especially, in the reshaping of destinies by the slightest change in the thermometer”

These words have been rolling around in my thoughts ever since I finished the book and it just makes me smile with how much I agree with it. Simplistic perfection.

If A Gentleman In Moscow was to be made into a movie I would cast Richard Gere to play Alexander.