Mt. Somers

So, I figured enough playing around on day trips to the mountains, time to pack my big bag and go tramping for a few days. The perfect opportunity arrived as a there was a long weekend a week ago and the tramping club was organising a beginner friendly 3-day trip, so I jumped at the chance to join :)

This was to Mt. Somers and what a wonderful experience it was! Gonna break it down a bit.

Day 1:

We set off Saturday morning with a group of 9 people, all super awesome as I was about to find out. The weather wasn't great, so even though the walk itself wasn't the most enjoyable, what came later was all worth it. It was great to reach the hut where we were going to stay the night, even if it was completely full, with people having to sleep on the floor, or in tents (luckily we had a couple guys run up the track faster and save us a couple of beds). We spent the evening socialising and sharing songs from our countries (benefits of multinational groups!) and then just singing, managing to get the whole hut to join in when we started Wonderwall :P We cooked dinner together which is always nice, with the added challenge of it being vegan so that everyone could be included. Came out delicious on both days!

Rain can't stop me!

Day 2:

The weather was a bit kinder to us on the second day and even though the wind was quite strong, it was blowing from behind and so actually helped us to climb up :D (Thanks wind!). We also decided to side track a bit and visit the water caves, right next to our path. These were awesome, had to squeeze through narrow tunnels and climb boulders. Had to go knee deep in the water, but hey no pain no gain and gotta get the full experience right? After we reached the hut it started to snow from a blue clear sky, not something I had imagined I'd ever see, but hey, that's mountains for you. So, we all got cosy inside playing cards, I thought my group how to play 'Durnius' so the evening was well spent :P Also, had a bit of fun teaching a five-year-old girl to build card houses (ended up building a pirate ship :D) and she taught me a game, which seemed to have one rule from each snap, rock paper scissors, and some others :P

Day 3:

This day we walked my favourite part of the track as it was mostly forest and wasn't a continuous uphill or downhill walk but a combination of the two. We took a long rest by the river after a refreshing dip under the waterfall because the weather was perfect, sunny and warm. There we bolder hopped along the river and one group member even attempted to catch some fish while the animal rights activist among us hoped he would fail in this endeavour :P This track included quite a challenging bit of steep and very muddy uphill climb which I was happy to have done on the last day, when my pack was much lighter. The satisfaction after the hike was great, so much seen, done and hey I survived a long trip with a heavy bag with no casualties :D

We ended our trip with a food stop at this cool pizzeria where I ordered this amazing chicken cranberry pizza, something I will definitely have to cook one of these days :)