I set out yesterday morning with characteristically little idea of what I was going to do with my first full day in Hobert. I had in hand more recommendations than I could possibly explore in a week, but the improbability vortex was clearly in play* so I decided stack my knapsack for alternatives and see what the day brought.

*On the afternoon of my arrival, shortly after only-sort-of-improbably running into my Tasmanian hosts while strolling harbourside, I stopped into the the Mawson’s Hut replica. Mawson is Australia’s candidate against Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton for “Most Manly Man” in Antarctica (After returning from Mawson’s harrowing expedition in 1911-14, several of his men signed up with Sir Ernest on the Endeavour and were instrumental in the survival of the crew that ill-fated expedition).

A group of us random strangers walked the displays together, marveling at the equipment, provisions, and the unnerving youth of Mawson’s team; almost all, including the lead engineer and ship’s surgeon – the surgeon! – were in their early 20’s. Mawson himself was just 29 at the start of the expedition.

Kids these days, right?

But the young woman whose accent wasn’t Aussie, and wasn’t American eyed me strangely and furrowed her brow.

“Wait – aren’t you…Pablo?”

I furrowed my own brow and rattled my faulty face recognition before it clicked.

“Kim? Kim Bernard?”

Kim, the renowned @psycho_kriller of Antarctica, runs a marine biology lab at Oregon State University, a couple hundred miles south of the farm. We sailed together in 2016, and stopping by to see her and her continually-amazing students is almost obligatory for me whenever I come through Corvallis.

We exchange the expected What-are-you-doing-here’s, it being unthinkable that we’d be in town for the same thing. But no, she’d brought some of her students here for a marine biology conference that just happened to overlap with my workshop.

In retrospect, it should have been obvious to me before that Kim has her own improbability vortex, so of course we were going to run into each other.

Anyhow.

It was with this confidence in serendipity that I set out yesterday morning. The harbor was just a few blocks down from where I was staying, and from the delectable sidewalk seating of the Harbor Lights Cafe I found my eyes resting on the stop for the Mt Wellington tourist bus. Hour or so up, look around, hour or so down with a couple of photos along the way. Why not?

I’ve heard Mt Wellington, or Kunanyi in the indigenous language, ambivalently referred to as a sort of member of the family for folks who live here. Some of the time you love it, some of the time you hate it, but you can’t ever forget it’s there. It shapes your days as it wishes – shades your afternoons, decides what weather you’re going to have every morning.

Tony the tour bus guide was…pretty much everything you’d expect from an Aussie tour bus guide: engaging, clever and informative. And not the least bit scary on the narrow, winding road to the summit, er, pinnacle.

We were nominally allotted about 20 minutes to wander about the summit, to climb to the actual pinnacle or retreat to the enclosed observation deck. But, Tony allowed, we were always welcome to make the trek down on our own if we wished – there were sites a plenty no matter which route we took: breathtaking views, startling rock formations, microclimates a plenty, and even the haunted resting place of an unfortunate Aussie doctor  from the late 1800’s who served as an early poster child for the “Don’t climb mountains on drugs” movement.

I decided to hoof it down the easy way, but then got distracted by another, more interesting path, and yet another… Don’t worry, mom, they were all charted paths, and I was well within cell coverage (I assume the massive ICBM-looking obelisk at mountain top included a cell tower).

Final destination, regardless, was the Fern Tree Tavern at the mountain’s base – I’ve learned that having one’s destination involve food and drink is never a bad motivator.

But enough with the wordy bits. Nobody died, it was a glorious hike, the Tavern was delicious, and here are the pics: