Torlesse Range rocks!!

Last year Julian had problems getting his act together to arrange the Torlesse Range traverse…maybe because no one was keen for a 10 hr + punishment of rocks and scree at that time. Now, seven idiots were up to the challenge: Mike, Kylie, Julian and myself starting from Porter’s Pass, and Steve, Ben and Rachel starting from the opposite end by Avoca River.




This would be my first long tramp in a while and I knew it would be a challenge since I had accumulated some more fat reserves over xmas and never got to work them off since I sprained my ankle in January. Well I saw this as a brilliant way to punish myself and to get my fitness back again. I was thankful to have Kylie there since he was not as keen as Mike and Julian to run all the time.

It was a sunny March morning in Canterbury with a misty start looking over the plains from Porter’s Pass. The weather was not too hot with a bit of a cool breeze. I missed out on applying sunblock to a few spots which then had to suffer for my stupidity.




We started off by slogging up Foggy Peak and continuing onto Caslte Hill Peak. I started to love rocks! They were everywhere and in various shapes, sizes and colours. The converstaion is always interesting on these kind of long trips with a sense of self punishment element. With my environmental science background, I felt like the odd one out (me = normal:-) with two engineers and one mathematician. Mike’s second-year maths students may soon have the pleasure of calculating crucial things such as the optimum amount of water to bring on the tramp, since if you bring too much you end up spending a lot of energy carrying up the shit. We were contemplating whether the poor students need to take into consideration the amount of sweat produced, urine extracted and the change in osmotic pressure with change in salt content in the body as a result of sweating, which affects the effectiveness of the kidneys to process the water. Hrm…I am SOOOO happy that I am not in one of Mike’s classes at uni. ☺

I got a bruised bum after falling down some rocks when we were traversing down to the Gap, which is a prominent feature in the landscape if you look up towards the Torlesse Range. My legs were a bit jelly like afterwards and I became more cautious going down the shingle crap. As I said, I love rocks!




I was struggling quite a lot uphill and was always the one dragging at the end except when I paid one of the blokes with my pre-peeled pistacio nuts to push me from behind. It looked so easy for Mike and Julian who charged off on a side trip up Mt Torlesse and back, whilst I was stuffing my face with yummie lunch. Kylie had a good excuse for not running around. He had a few beers too many the night before. I had no excuse. Kylie and I got in radio contact with Steve et al. who had started from the Avoca side about the same time. Or it was more like we heard them but they couldn’t hear us due to having the speaker volume to a minimum. And I am always the one getting shit for being blonde…Steve is also a bit of a blondie.




Ben, Rachel and Steve was in a good mood when we met them, although Ben looked pretty tired, maybe due to all the “thismightbegoodtohave” gear in their packs. On this sort of trip a minimum is good…and if you need to bring more, then get Julian to carry it.

After about 6-8 hrs I had reached the stage of getting pretty sick of looking at rocks. On the way down on the other side, we jogged when we could. Mike charged down all the scree where I felt the most wussieness.




When I wasn’t thinking about rocks, I was thinking of what kind of animal that my trip fellows reminded me of. Mike…an elk for sure, Julian...was thinking of a marecat, but he wasn’t very flattered by that thought, and Kylie...maybe a cat like Garfield? Kylie asked me: “So do you think I am yellow and fat and lazy?”. I remained silent after ventilating those deep thoughts. Kylie thought I would be a Golden Retriver, which is not too bad I reckon. Julian thinks a goldfish is more appropriate.





When we could see the Avoca river down in the valley, we automatically felt more thirsty. I was pretty happy with my pace setting of drinking water and I ran out my 3.5 L about 20 min before the end. Since the boys had done more silly running around to try to show off their superior skills, they were a lot more dehydrated. Mike and Jules ran towards the river like a marecat and an elk. It had taken us 10 hrs to get to the end.




Once down to the Avoca river, I had a quick dip in the shallow water. A perfect way to end a very pleasant tramp. The best part was the chippies!!! Thanks to my Scandinavian planning ahead skills, I had asked Ben to have some chips stored in his car, and I promised to do the same. I have never seen two bags of chips vanish with such immense speed. Ben will get some extra brownie points for picking my favorite kind: sour cream and chives!

Mike, Julian, Kylie and I waited at the pub in Springfield for the other group to join us. Many beers were consumed and we got pretty worried about them. We spotted them up Foggy Peak when we went to look for them. It was almost 11 pm and I think Rachel and Ben were pretty buggered. It was good to see them safe and sound though.