Taking a weekend road trip, the perils of driving slightly tired in the past and the dangers of hiking for the gram. Content warning: mentions of suicide.
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Taking a weekend road trip, the perils of driving slightly tired in the past and the dangers of hiking for the gram.
Content warning: mentions of suicide.
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Toast & Roast:
Georgie:
Geoff:
Georgie 0:05
And welcome back to another episode of Toast and Roasting...
Dun dun dun dun.
Geoff 0:17
Dun dun dun or like that really generic dada, dada. Dada dada dada dada.
Georgie 0:26
That sounded like Jaws.
Geoff 0:28
Yeah, the shark music. Anyways, how’s it been going? How are you?
Georgie 0:35
Alright. Um, I just made a protein shake. And I was thinking like as I was shaking the shaker, I was like, this could be some organic intro music and it’s too late now.
Geoff 0:45
Haha, shake shake. Yeah, it’s been it’s been really rainy. I think we had warnings for flood, flood flooded roads.
Georgie 0:57
Yeah.
Geoff 0:57
I was like, that’s pretty intense. But we – I went out to Wollongong last weekend.
Georgie 1:08
How was the weather there?
Geoff 1:10
It was mildly rainy but we were in a rain forest. So it’s kind of like par for course, I guess, you should have some rain in the rain forest.
Georgie 1:21
Yeah.
Geoff 1:23
But it was really good. First time doing a like road trip and a long time. I think it’s just like the first hol—like, like holiday holiday, I guess. So it was really good. I took the took the car out for a really long drive. What was it? Like? I mean, one and a half hours doesn’t seem all that long. To be honest.
Georgie 1:47
That’s not that long but maybe because you haven’t been anywhere for—no one’s been anywhere for a while.
Geoff 1:54
Yeah, yeah. And I was like, looking at routes to like, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne. I’m like this. That’s like ten, twelve hours. And I’m like, okay, yeah, one and a half hours isn’t that, isn’t that long.
Georgie 2:08
Have you ever driven—
Geoff 2:09
Yeah, was pretty good.
Georgie 2:10
...like that far? To to like go to Melbourne or the Gold Coast?
Geoff 2:15
Oh, yeah. I have actually. Well, not me personally, my friend usually the one who drives this these trips. So—
Georgie 2:21
You were in there.
Geoff 2:23
Drove most of the way.
Georgie 2:23
You’re still like on the on the trip? Yeah.
Geoff 2:27
I was on the trip, I experienced the eight to ten hours of driving that far. Have you, have you driven to the other states?
Georgie 2:35
Nup. It’s always been like, I think we got a plane. And like it’s, it’s one of those things where I think about the US in comparison, you can—they have more interesting things on the way if you’re driving to another city or another town, they have more like towns in between. Whereas here seriously, like you get trees, you get trees and highways. You just don’t get anything interesting. It’s terribly boring in my opinion.
Geoff 3:09
Yeah, it’s mostly like shrub shrubbery. But I’ve learned to enjoy using my cruise control lane keep. So I don’t have to drive-drive as much. The car is usually the one that’s doing most of the driving and the long stretch of road. People said like it, and I kind of agree now, that like, if the car does most of that, like boring driving, you don’t feel as tired or worn out. So I got, I felt a bit more energised. Granted, I don’t think I’ve personally driven that—oh, wait, no, I’ve driven from Newcastle to Sydney quite a few times. So that’s, I think that’s about an hour and a half drive in itself.
Georgie 4:01
Yeah.
Geoff 4:02
Can’t remember maybe two hour drive? Yeah, so I’ve done that a fair few times. And yeah, I’m like, dangerously like nodding to sleep whilst driving, whilst driving. Yeah. Driving, driving accidents. Part two.
Georgie 4:19
Yeah.
Geoff 4:20
But no, I’ve never been in I’ve never been in an accident. But I started driving.
Georgie 4:26
Related to like, drive, like sleeping on the road.
Geoff 4:28
Yes, sleeping on the road.
Georgie 4:30
Oh man.
Geoff 4:30
But I stopped. I was like, oh, man like after the first couple times. I was like, could I do, can I phy—like, can I physically do it without like nodding to sleep. And yeah, after a couple of times. I was like, this is not gonna happen.
Georgie 4:46
Super dangerous.
Geoff 4:46
I am—yeah super dangerous. And I don’t think I’m getting better at it. So yeah, like sometimes you can like train your body to do stuff, right?
Georgie 4:57
That was a reality check for me. I remember driving down from somewhere up north like, I don’t know if was Central Coast or a little bit further—and this is when I was with my ex—and I think I was driving him and my brother I think and I think my cousin I can’t quite remember. And we were like—what’s that, what’s that city and—not city, that town, whatever the one, thing Wyong? Or like, like just before you get into Sydney sort of thing and you’re coming down that hill. I don’t know if you know what I’m talking about. You’re on the—
Geoff 5:31
I’ve never come down that hill in Wyonh but yeah.
Georgie 5:34
Wait you so have you get—anyway.
Geoff 5:37
Um, maybe I did. I mean, this was a long time ago this like 10 years ago when I was driving back and forth.
Georgie 5:43
Anyway, it’s Central Coast down to Sydney kind of thing that there’s only one road I think anyway, coming down and I just remember around the time I was having issues with like, my eyes really dry when it was, when I was driving. So I always had to have eyedrops with me. I don’t know why I don’t have that problem anymore. I’m one of those people who needs to wear sunglasses outside because my eyes are sensitive but also it’s good to wear sunglasses anyway. But at that time, I wasn’t regularly wearing sunglasses and we’re coming down that hill and my eyes were just like really dry and just kind of sore. And I was, to be honest, I was kind of dozing off and I swear I micro slept for like a second and—
Geoff 6:29
Yeah you just don’t notice sometimes.
Georgie 6:31
Yeah. And I was like on my learner’s and my ex was—
Geoff 6:35
Oh shit.
Georgie 6:36
Yeah, I’m driving like three people in a car and in the passenger seat is my ex, supervising me kind of thing. And like because I was trying to get my hours up or whatever like to get so I could do the test.
Geoff 6:49
Yeah.
Georgie 6:51
Just trying to get as much experience as I could driving in—yeah, I remember I had that little micro-thing—everything was fine, but I just remember going, yo I’m really tired. I was like, I need to like when we stopped at that, Wyong stop or whatever. When most people stop and have a break was, I was like, I cannot continue. And that was like the moment where I was like, shit man, driving while fatigued is fucking dangerous. And that the moment I was like, I’m never doing this again. If I have even like the slightest slightest bit tired, I’m stopping. So yeah.
Geoff 7:26
Yeah. It was it was a pretty cool drive. To be honest. It was kind of like the first time I went on super windy roads up like the mountain because we went to the tree top walk in Illawarra. So I got I got like Tokyo Drift vibes go going like all those corners. And I was like, I can’t drift the car, but it’s actually it’s pretty smooth to go down. There was this one part where they had like massive hairpin turns, like a double hairpin turn. And I grossly underestimated the turning circle of my car. And the speed at which I was going down through, like towards this hairpin turn. And I was like, oh, it’ll be fine, like every other turn, but it was not fine. I couldn’t make the turn and I almost hit the barricade.
Georgie 8:18
Uh oh.
Geoff 8:20
So yeah, I like maybe maybe made like a—not a 45, not a 45 degrees, what was it—90 degrees... anyways, I only made it 45 degrees. I didn’t slow down enough and I couldn’t make it all the way around to the 180 that the frickin hairpin turn was on. And then I was like, oh shit, my car isn’t actually slowing down because as we’re turning we’re braking, so I pressed the brake and I just like slid to a stop right in front of like the the corner, the corner barricade and it’s like, oh shit. The thing is, it was quite a wide road. So any of the other cars, they just kind of like, well they sensibly slowed down and like and then took the turn and I was just sort of like, in, in the, in the hair—deeper and deeper on the edge of the hairpin. So that was a bit of a shocking awakening. I was like, OK. I had never done that hairpin turn before and clearly, clearly you need to go at like two kilometers an hour round that corner. But yeah, I think yeah, it was a good trip normally like, I don’t know how you plan your holidays, but I really like to find like, key activities.
Georgie 9:38
Yeah.
Geoff 9:39
And then just fill in the gap with whatever, right.
Georgie 9:40
Yes, that’s me. I am not a—they call them like type-A people who what do they do, they, everything has to be like to plan. Like they’ve I don’t know—
Geoff 9:50
Like time scheduled, to plan.
Georgie 9:52
Yeah, right. I’m not that kind of. I always, I go, alright, let’s find a few things. Like let’s say you’re going for I dunno, like a week, for example. Each day has like some key activity or some must do, like I guess in my mind for the whole trip I have a, these are my must-dos, like I really like—
Geoff 10:06
Must haves.
Georgie 10:13
Yeah. And then I fill them in, like because some things need to be booked in advance for example. And then basically from there, kind of anything goes, and then you think about, you know, eating food and eating lunch or whatever travel time and then yeah, I just I hate travelling when you have to follow like a like a schedule to the tee.
Geoff 10:38
Like an itinerary that’s it.
Georgie 10:40
Yeah, right. And some people go like, go to get this bus, this time, and all of this other stuff and I’m like, you cannot fill in every minute because you could, you have to be prep—in my opinion—you have to be prepared for, you know, something might go wrong. Like maybe this train is not running or whatever. Like I love the—I really value the padding time, you know, like you put in a bit of buffer time so you can just go to the bathroom for example. I don’t know right?
Geoff 11:07
Yeah.
Georgie 11:08
I just don’t think you can plan like that, that specifically.
Geoff 11:11
Because like you don’t want to get into this scenario where like you’re like go, go, go, then we’re gonna miss this x, y, z, we have to go now, kind of like—
Georgie 11:20
Yeah.
Geoff 11:20
...vibe, right? It was funny because this trip so my my partner she plans a little more than I do. Like I would literally do key activities and just leave the rest, but she kind of takes it a little bit further, but not too far and found like places to eat.
Georgie 11:46
Yeah.
Geoff 11:46
So general areas and like ideas on what to eat. And I think that kind of helps with the fact that I have an electric car because we, we like planned areas to be in, and I can like find a charger in that area where we’re going to kind of like spend a bit more time eating and being in. So it was, it was good to have a little bit more structure. But generally yeah, our trip was quite good. We went to the we went to tree top walk, hit that. We for some reason, planned a rainforest walk after lunch. Now lunch was like literally 40 minutes away and then the tree—the rainforest walk was literally next to the tree top one.
Georgie 12:44
Oh.
Geoff 12:44
We were like going opposite direction and then coming back and we didn’t even think about it so. But it was like super rainy. So we didn’t want to like go through slippery like potentially slippery rainforest so we just like, axed it. We went a little bit of a long way round to get a bit of a different view instead of going back the way we came. But yeah, we went to like Shell Cove Harbour, Shell Cove area and that’s when the charger was, so we parked in a shopping centre, got some food, and it wasn’t even on the list of places to eat but it was really good. The Bavarian.
Georgie 13:30
Nice.
Geoff 13:31
For those people in Australia. We just were surprised, we just, we went down the escalator, was like oh my god this is a Bavarian here. Great, so we had that, but yeah, usually usually I like don’t plan enough but this was actually planned quite quite well enough to have key areas to go to. We got surprised, we went to some surprise places, and I think that’s really good right? That you find little places to go in between your key events
Georgie 14:08
Yeah, I think it’s like, you leave the room for that exploration which I personally really value when like travelling like is so like these unexpected things like. One of my favorite moments which I actually like forget from time to time is, we were in Varenna in Italy which is like... so like everyone usually goes to Bellagio on the coast and I think Varenna is like on the other side, like on another like, you can get on the boat and then go there.
Geoff 14:38
Merino? Like the—
Georgie 14:40
What? Varenna.
Geoff 14:41
Oh Varenna.
Georgie 14:43
It’s in Lake Como in Italy, that that area with all the... v, a, r, e, n, n, a.
Geoff 14:54
Vare—oh my keyboard doesn’t want... Varenna. Oh my God, I need to get a new keyboard I think well. This thing doesn’t like, this thing doesn’t respond for a very long time sometimes anyways yes, continue.
Georgie 15:06
Yes. So we went we were staying in Varenna and we went for like a walk, and went for a walk past like, what seemed to be going to some motorway or whatever. And then we’re like, where are we going? We’re just, we’re just walking and checking shit out.
Geoff 15:28
I don’t know how to spell it, what is.
Georgie 15:30
V, a r, e, n, n, a.
Geoff 15:39
Oh, commune in Italy.
Georgie 15:42
So, yeah, we go past this little kind of, I wouldn’t call it a motorway. It’s like, it was just like, you feel like you’re walking out of the town. Almost. We’re like, let’s just keep walking and see. And we can use this waterfall which if you look it up. It’s called the Fiumelatte. Anyway, we just started walking up these little stairs—
Geoff 16:00
Like it’s a latte, it’s a drink.
Georgie 16:04
Yeah. Wait, look it up.
Geoff 16:05
Here it is fiumelatte.
Georgie 16:12
Can you see it on there? I can’t even remember. Maybe I’m telling the story wrong.
Geoff 16:17
There it is.
Georgie 16:17
Yeah. So anyways.
Geoff 16:18
The fiumelatte.
Georgie 16:20
Yeah, we, so we had no idea that this existed. And we, when we started walking up, like amongst all these little Italian houses, and like, there’s a stream of water, where’s it coming from? And then we just started like walking up, like higher up these stairs and things and past these little houses. And then, like, we get to the top, I think if you look it up on Wikipedia, it tells you that it’s coming from a mountain, but we go to the top, and you can’t actually see, you can’t go any further. It’s like coming out this little hole in the mountain or something. And the water is like extremely cold like fresh.
Geoff 17:00
There it is.
Georgie 17:01
And yeah, remember, we came, basically stumbled upon this by accident. And I was like, so amazed that was like, it’s just one of those things where in my heart, I’m like, oh my god, this is like, this is a moment. And like, you touched the water, it was freezing cold. But it was like so clear. And I don’t know, it’s just like not one of these things that you can’t particularly plan before or for me, or for us anyway.
Geoff 17:27
Yeah, I feel like this is kind of like my approach to movies and TV shows. I try to go in blind so that I have those like, oh, wow, like, you know, the, if someone just went, “Oh, dude, go to the, like the fiumelatte falls”, right. And right, at the top, got a hole there, water’s going down.
Georgie 17:48
Sounds shit.
Geoff 17:48
You get there—sounds, sounds lit. You get there, you’re just like, yeah, it’s exactly how you described it. There’s a little bit of fall, there’s a hole in the mountain. But umm, yeah.
Georgie 17:56
It’s the expectation, right? Like if you sometimes going into something with fewer expectations means that the the experience you have is like more, what’s the word?
Geoff 18:13
Impactful?
Georgie 18:14
Yeah.
Geoff 18:18
Well, my friend and I went to Hong Kong, and we we literally didn’t plan shit. We, we were like, dude, there’s this Victoria Peak thing.
Georgie 18:30
Oh, my God. Wait, you didn’t know about this?
Geoff 18:32
And we—oh we knew what it was.
Georgie 18:35
Right, yeah.
Geoff 18:36
...what it was, but but the thing is, we we literally just opened Google Maps and said go to Victoria Peak, and then ask Google Maps so let us walk there. So Google Maps would take us somewhere, take us on this on the, like, the quickest walking path right to get up to Victoria Peak. And we’re like, okay, so we start walking, and we’re like residential, there’s like apartments, and...
Georgie 19:04
Wait is that the, there’s, there’s only one way to walk up there right?
Geoff 19:04
No there’s apparently multiples. We’re just following the road that goes up the residential and when we get to the top we’re just like, this is a bit, this is bit underwhelming because what we got into, was this sunken garden, and we’re like this is a cool sunken garden, but we’re at Victoria Peak we want to see like—
Georgie 19:29
Yeah.
Geoff 19:30
...the, the peak.
Georgie 19:32
Yeah.
Geoff 19:32
So we’re just like, this can’t be it. This can’t be it. So we’re just walking around this thing, and like we see some stairs, like OK, let’s go up the stairs.
Georgie 19:39
I feel like I’ve been, I feel like I know which one you’re talking about.
Geoff 19:43
We go oh my god, it’s the pagoda. Oh my god, look, there’s Victoria Peak. And little did we know obviously there’s like the tram. We were like, screw the tram.
Georgie 19:55
Yeah.
Geoff 19:55
Because there was a huge line at the bottom. So we just follow Google Maps. But this is like like a proper tourist like steps that go up to the peak.
Georgie 20:05
Yeah.
Geoff 20:05
We only found out afterwards. So we’re just like, fully, fully, like, oblivious. Like I can just bring up Victoria Peak, and just.
Georgie 20:19
Yeah, I think I know it’s talking about like this is this is just that one stair thing that’s like...
Geoff 20:26
Yeah, so there’s stairs that go from like, the left side of the mountain. They go out like proper hiking trails, but we’re like idiots and we just take the road. We just follow the road up into the peak. Oh my god.
Georgie 20:40
Yeah. I think I know what you’re talking about...
Geoff 20:42
So we saw no nature.
Georgie 20:43
...and I don’t think it’s that good.
Geoff 20:43
We saw no nature. Yeah. We saw no nature, we just saw like apartment buildings. It’s so funny. We did that for the Dragonback hike as well. We just was like, alright, walk, get us walking directions. And we’re just walking along the side of the road most of the time, and that was just very under planned.
Georgie 21:08
Sounds like an adventure though.
Geoff 21:10
Yeah, it was. It was definitely an adventure. And we were hungry. And there was this is one shop that sold wonton noodle soup, right. And—
Georgie 21:19
Ah yeah.
Geoff 21:19
We’re just like, well, I guess we’re having wonton noodle soup.
Georgie 21:21
Best.
Geoff 21:23
Yeah. Sat down. Had some wonton noodle soup at this side shop. But yeah, we just did that for most of the trip, just Google Maps to get up places. But no hiking.
Georgie 21:37
Victoria Peak. I have like this, I have this—nah I wouldn’t call it a nemesis. But um, so I think the first time I went to Hong Kong was when I was five years old with my family, but I don’t remember much of that, obviously. And then, about 10 years ago, I went with my ex and he already knew his way around Hong Kong. And, like, I am not shitting on my ex, but at the time, I wasn’t very fit. Not like, I was, nowhere, nowhere near as the gym junkie, fitness fanatic that I am now. The only like, exercise I did back then was like—actually, no, I think I’d already quit ballet by then. But anyway.
Geoff 22:28
We need talk about your ballet journey.
Georgie 22:30
We will. One day. Yeah, my ex wanted to, he was really adamant about basically walking all the way from the bottom. Like where the city like, up the mountain. I don’t know if you’ve ever done like that walk, you know, but I guess you must have done part of it. But where it gets very, very steep. And it’s quite a—do you know what I, do you know what I’m talking about?
Geoff 22:55
I’m assuming you mean like an actual hiking trail up to the mountain.
Georgie 23:01
Nah, it’s like from the bottom, from the—I’m calling it the city because it’s just where the mountains sort of feels like it starts and you just, if you had a car you drive in.
Geoff 23:11
So so they wanted to follow the road, not, not a hiking trail.
Georgie 23:16
Yeah.
Geoff 23:17
It’s a driving road?
Georgie 23:19
Yeah, it’s the driving road. I don’t think it’s like, it’s not the peak, it’s not the one that goes from the you know where we’re all the tourists are to the to the Peak-Peak. Do—I can’t remember.
Geoff 23:29
Yeah.
Georgie 23:29
Anyway, he just basically didn’t want to take the goddamn train thing up, and I was like, oh God, I’m so unfit. So anyway, I do have pictures so this actually happened, but we we walked and I was just so goddamn tired, man. Like we walked off this very steep—OK, if you’ve never been there, I guess this road that that you’re supposed to drive on, is very freakin steep. And I was—
Geoff 23:55
Oh, no, I know what you’re talking about. Yeah, I do.
Georgie 23:58
It’s steep, right?
Geoff 23:58
I do. Yeah, it’s steep. Steep as fuck. Like, I think it’s here.
Georgie 24:03
Yeah.
Geoff 24:05
It’s just along here if you started from Central which was what my friend Taiyo and I did.
Georgie 24:10
Yeah.
Geoff 24:11
We just walked up here and it’s it’s yeah, it was super steep. Oh my god. Yeah, we had to walk backwards. Well on the way down, because it was so steep.
Georgie 24:20
Yes. You know exactly what I’m talking about.
Geoff 24:22
You have to zigzag walk.
Georgie 24:22
Yes.
Geoff 24:22
You have to zigzag walk. Otherwise your calves fucking break on you. Yeah.
Georgie 24:27
That is exactly what it’s like.
Geoff 24:28
Yeah I remember.
Georgie 24:29
OK.
Geoff 24:29
We have video of it too.
Georgie 24:31
Alright, so you know exactly what I’m talking about. So me. Unfit, like 10 years ago, trying to do this shit. And I just like, I was just like, pushing through you know, I didn’t realise I, I mean, I didn’t have maybe the mental strength I have these days you know, like when I go rock climbing and all that kind of shit. But back then I was like, oh man, this is so tiring and so annoying and then obviously going back down, like you said, it’s so steep that it’s probably better that you walk backwards because, you, just there’s a risk of like tripping...
Geoff 25:00
Gravity would just destroy you.
Georgie 25:02
Yeah, you would just, going downwards, you just just might as well roll down the goddamn Hill. Anyway, when I went with Nick, like—when was this—like a bunch of years ago now I can’t even remember.
Geoff 25:14
Oh my god, you’ve been to Hong Kong quite a few times. I’ve, I’ve only maybe visited when I was maybe—when I was born and, and then when was I was maybe low teen, and then, and then when I was 28.
Georgie 25:30
Yeah, well so that’s the same as me, I’ve been like three times I guess. Have I? Oh god, anyway. So yeah, I went, I went like I went with Nick and I just remember going I am so fit right now. I was like I need to get my like redemption walk or whatever the fuck. Take that ex. I’m so strong now, I can walk up this hill again.
Geoff 25:52
You’re gonna smash this shit.
Georgie 25:56
So speaking of like, just kind of randomly deciding to take a certain route and go a certain way... There was this one time in Indonesia, where we spontaneously—I spontaneously—decided to go on a hike. Okay, I’ll explain what happened. So we were at some like, I can’t remember if it was some monkey park or something. Or some.
Geoff 26:21
Oh, yeah. The monkey park.
Georgie 26:24
No, in Indonesia. Have you been there? Wait, do you know what I’m talking about?
Geoff 26:27
There’s a Monkey Park in in, in Hong Kong as well.
Georgie 26:31
Oh OK. Well, yeah, it’s just basically like an enclosed thing you pay to get in and, you know, like, basically kind of like a zoo or whatever. And in there, there was like a couple little trails. And I was like, cool. Let’s, let’s take one. And my mum, like, wanted to just, she just wasn’t feeling up for it. So she just waited at the bottom and Nick and I just kind of, you know, went walking around a little bit. And I think I must have misread a sign, and then went like the wrong way. So we were not at all prepared for this. This is Indonesia. So it’s, it’s hot, right? And because like, I just didn’t have any other good shoes, I literally was wearing like, just leather boots, right? And my mum was like, why are you bringing leather boots to Indonesia? Like, whatever, right? So they were the only shoes I had. Mind you, it was pretty hot, my, my feet got sweaty, but whatever. So I thought there was this sign that said, like, two kilometres. I thought it was like—not two, maybe, maybe one, nah not that, it wasn’t two, two is a bit too much. But it’s like one kilometre. And I thought it was like a one kilometre return, I think. But then I think—it didn’t—I think it was supposed to go straight. But then we went kind of like, at a fork, we took one way, which I don’t think I think was actually longer. And we ended up climbing higher and higher. And, and then I—and Nick was like, I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I was like, no, we need to get to the top, right. I have this mental thing where you know, it’s whenever I hike, I just feel like it’s always about the view at the end. And I just wanted to see the view. And Nick was like, I think the view is back there. He was like, I think it was kind of where the fork was. I think that was it. And I was like no, but it keeps going. And he’s like, yeah, but the, didn’t the sign say it was only this, this much. He’s like, I think we’ve walked more than that. I’m like, I don’t think so. I was very determined. I was just like, we need to get to the top. And then we do see this family—it started to get harder. Like it was almost like we were climbing basically. Like I said, we were not prepared for this at all. I don’t even think we had water if I remember correctly. And then we saw this family of like, like a mum, dad and kid, or maybe there were two kids, can’t remember, they were coming down... and my Indonesian’s not great, but I just asked them, like, how much longer is it? And they were like—I think they were like barefoot man. They were like, they were—they didn’t give no fucks, like I think—and they didn’t look like they were prepared either. They just didn’t care.
Geoff 27:21
Haha, yeah.
Georgie 27:23
So I asked them how long it was. And I think they said it was like maybe another 15 minutes. And Nick was like dude, your mum is at the bottom of this thing. And like we’ve been gone for like half an hour like. And then he’s like, and then we have to go back.
Geoff 29:19
Oh no.
Georgie 29:20
I’m like, no we have to! At this point, like, I think I’d actually I’d lost my sunglasses and dropped them somewhere because I almost fell down. Like that’s—I don’t know how to describe the terrain, right. But there was barely a trail. It was kind of treacherous, like you could fall easily. And that’s why we’re kind of climbing on the ground on these roots and stuff. And so I was really surprised that this family who looked like they weren’t even prepared, like just wearing, I think the they were just wearing like home clothes or something. I don’t know. They’re super casual.
Geoff 29:51
They’re in their pajamas.
Georgie 29:52
Yeah, like, I mean, they looked like they were just like, this was ordinary to them. So they said it was like—
Geoff 29:59
They probably live there.
Georgie 30:01
...fifteen mnutes... They’re probably—yeah,
Geoff 30:01
That’s where they live.
Georgie 30:03
Like not in the thing, but in the area. They’re probably just used to this stuff and you know, just getting their hands dirty and climbing and stuff. And Nick was like, I don’t think we can continue. I’m like, but I’ve got to see the view.
Geoff 30:14
Yeah.
Georgie 30:14
And I think I asked them in Indonesian, like, is the view good? And they’re like, yeah. And Nick was like, he was going nah. And you know, to be fair, he was being quite logical. And I do think it was a good idea. But he was like, we should go back. So we went back. And but this like, it was, we were obviously not prepared to go any further. My mum was waiting for us. And like, we would have to climb and it got even more challenging. And the fact that we call this basic like, fallen down, and like, it was not a well trodden trail, I would say, it’s very—what’s the word—primitive? But, you know, we turned around, went back. And just for a long time, I thought about that, I missed out on that view, I was like, was the view good? I will never know.
Geoff 31:03
Oh. Don’t even know. It’s Schrodinger’s view.
Georgie 31:07
And it’s just like, I felt a little bit gutted, right? Because every time like, every time I go hike, I just live for the thing you see at the end, right? Even if it’s like, even if it’s like pretty even if the hike itself is really simple. Or even if it’s not. Like when people go—
Geoff 31:24
Yeah, you just don’t know.
Georgie 31:25
Yeah, so people say it’s about like, the journey, not the destination. I’m like, for me, it’s not necessarily about the journey. It’s about the whole feeling. Like, I don’t know how to explain this without going all fuckin spiritual shit or whatever. But it’s about the whole feeling of like, and then the mental challenge, you go through, going, yeah, I can keep going. I’m like, you know, pushing through that, especially when it gets really tough. And then—
Geoff 31:52
It’s about completing.
Georgie 31:53
Yeah, it’s, uh, but at the same time, it’s not like, I’m only thinking about the view at the end or whatever. It’s, it’s so it’s just like a whole fucking thing.
Geoff 32:05
It’s the whole reason I hike. The whole reason I hike is to go to a high place. And what’s an if I spent all that time and energy, trying to get to the higher place but not actually getting to the higher place, then I feel like well, what was the whole point? It’s like, sunk cost.
Georgie 32:20
Yeah exactly. It completely is like that. Anyway, I’m not crying or bummed over it. It was just like, for a bit of time, I was like, well, that that never really got completed, I guess.
Geoff 32:34
Yeah. Reminds me of Sea Cliff bridge. So we had planned to go Sea Cliff bridge this this trip. And have you been? Have you seen it?
Georgie 32:49
Nope. But I think you told me about the, you told me you went with a friend and there was like that weird hole.
Geoff 32:56
Right. So like, reminds me kind of like Sea Cliff Bridge. I don’t know if you’ve been here... have you? Wollongong ish?
Georgie 33:08
No.
Geoff 33:09
Yeah.
Georgie 33:10
I’ve heard about it, I think you told me about some some interesting view that.
Geoff 33:15
Yeah, exactly. Your story basically reminded me of this. There’s an illegal hike in Sea Cliff bridge. And essentially, it’s like this little hole in the in the shrubbery and you go up it and it’s a full dirt—we’re not even talking a path, a dirt path—we’re talking just a side of a cliff with some trees. And and like people have have strong rope around the trees to give you something to hold on to whilst you’re going up the side of this cliff. And like her could just slip and just fall down and just slide right back down. It’s like it’s probably the worst. And so you’re going up and it’s it’s hell on your calves. And my microphone is the wrong microphone! So—
Georgie 34:10
Is it fine?
Geoff 34:13
I mean—was the hike fine?
Georgie 34:17
No, the mic.
Geoff 34:18
Oh the microphone? No, it was not fine. It was—I mean it’s okay it’s okay through my headphones but it’s much better through microphone obviously. I’ll probably just leave this in, who cares? Anyways, so you go in, you go in—
Georgie 34:32
It’s gonna be primitive, just like the hike.
Geoff 34:35
And the, yeah, just like the hike. And there’s like other people going up this illegal hike, and I only knew it was illegal after I had Googled it. But after we did it, I Googleed it. So there’s other people, there’s a poor couple right. There is this one dude like powering ahead and, and like trying to help his poor partner come up and they, they, they were like hanging on for dear life type of, type of like, climbing. My friend, my friend was struggletown as well, a little bit, but, um, we were a bit younger a bit fitter, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know if he, yeah. Anyway, so we’re like, going up—
Georgie 35:19
Would you do it again? Like, would you do it again? Or is it just a bit too...
Geoff 35:25
I think it’s, ah, I’ll probably wouldn’t do it again.
Georgie 35:28
You’ve done it and you’re done.
Geoff 35:29
Yeah, I got, I got the view. I got the photo. You can see the view here with this chick at the top. And that’s basically it. So we got all the way to the top and we saw some you know, Instagrammers doing stupid shit. The thing is, thing is, you can definitely fall off this cliff. Like people have died. It—that’s why they made it an illegal hike, is because people have frickin died by going way too close to the to the edge. Like, look at this right there. They’re basically just slip, slip, die, or one rock. One rock going awry. And you’re dead. So of course, I stood right at the edge. Like I always do in, in in stupid scenarios like this. My friend couldn’t handle it. They’re like, you are way too close. I can’t watch you. Cuz you might just slip and die. And I’m like, that’s fair. And I don’t want to make my friends uncomfortable. So I probably shouldn’t have risked such a thing. I did it at the Grand Canyon, though. And I’m just you know.
Georgie 36:45
Oh, yeah.
Geoff 36:45
An idiot like that. So, the, yeah,, but the view is pretty good. I got my shot. We decided not to go down the same way we came up because you basically slip and die.
Georgie 37:01
Yeah, it’s the reverse of the, yeah.
Geoff 37:03
Yeah. So we went further upwards to do another illegal—sorry, sorry if there’s cops listening to my podcast. Another illegal hike. Where there was, there’s train tracks behind on this mount—like at the top of this mountain. So we had to walk a, walk alongside the train tracks. And I mean, I only found out afterwards.
Georgie 37:32
Were they like operating, like...?
Geoff 37:33
Yeah, it’s an operating. There was there was no train that day. That, at that time. So we were lucky there was no trains, but I mean, there’s huge, there’s a lot of land, but it’s still still pretty illegal. You’re nowhere near you maybe like five metres away from the train tracks. You can—you’re not not that close. But, I mean, we’re like halfway walking, and I realised, I feel like this is illegal. Um, so I looked it up and I’m like, oh, yeah, it is illegal to walk past, walk across the train tracks. But yeah, oh, walk alongside the train tracks. But we walked all the way and yeah, that’s the entrance.
Georgie 38:17
Is that it? That, that shrub with the hole.
Geoff 38:20
Oh, my God. How, wait, where is this? We so we went back again. We went back again. I went back again last weekend with with my partner and I was looking for it and I couldn’t bloody find it.
Georgie 38:35
Oh, you reckon they closed it up? Like since you’d last...
Geoff 38:38
It might, it might have been closed. Maybe they... Yeah, I don’t feel like it was closed. Was it right there. I’ll probably ask Dorinda later to confirm that we walked past it. Because I was looking for it. I was like, where the hell is it?
Georgie 38:53
Yeah, shit.
Geoff 38:53
And yeah. Oh, how a 24 year old man plunged to his death over the Sea Cliff bridge.
Georgie 39:01
Yeah no.
Geoff 39:02
Oh, oh, did they close it off after this? Probably. Shit. Yeah. Sitting on sloping cliff, blah, blah, blah.
Georgie 39:16
None of these locations are open to the public.
Geoff 39:19
And none feature fencing. Yeah
Georgie 39:20
...to protect people from falling.
Geoff 39:24
It’s a practice that’s long concerned, blah, blah, blah. The section attracts...
Georgie 39:27
Hasn’t actually said that it’s closed. So it’s funny because this is a Sydney Morning Herald news outlet reporting about showing Yeah, about this legal thing, because unfortunately, someone died from it.
Geoff 39:39
Yeah.
Georgie 39:40
Then it’s like, it’s illegal. But they’re telling you about it in a public news article. So you could look it up and if it’s not closed, isn’t that a bad thing for the Sydney Morning Herald to have done?
Geoff 39:56
So yeah, yeah, reporting on it is pretty bad. You’re right, it might encourage some people to, to then take the, take the hike. But is it... ah, did they like put a barricade up? Maybe that’s it. The man fell. In any case. I mean, we were looking, I was looking for it. We definitely weren’t going to do it. On that day. It was rainy as fuck. And the yeah, the idea of going up this the slippery or the dirt path upwards was not a good idea. Is it worth the view? No. Not worth your life I guess. But we didn’t feel like our life was at risk going up. Oh, no, this person sat down. That’s the worst. Don’t sit down. Don’t get that close.
Georgie 40:53
Because when you get up...
Geoff 40:55
Yeah, you’re trying to get up. Yeah, exactly. Getting up is a problem. Oh, Dragonback. There was a, there was an Instagramer at the Dragonback hike in Hong Kong, that it was like a sort of a downward slope. It was kind of shrubbery. It was off the path. And they had set up a tripod on the edge of the dirt path. And they were sitting amongst the shrubbery. Trying to get that like that depth of field with the shrubbery at their, at their, where they’re sitting. And it was so windy that the tripod was falling over. So they had to get up to put it back up. And I was like, you’re just gonna slide off the side of this bloody hill. Like—
Georgie 41:44
No.
Geoff 41:45
You‘re gonna, like that’s so dangerous. I say this is a person who walked pretty close to the edge, but at least I was standing. And I didn’t take some—
Georgie 41:56
You didn’t have some...
Geoff 41:57
Yeah.
Georgie 41:58
...piece of equipment that...
Geoff 42:00
And I wasn’t taking, normally I take top down photos when I’m like on an edge of something. I’ll extend my hand.
Georgie 42:06
You don’t turn around with your—
Geoff 42:08
Exactly.
Georgie 42:09
...back to the goddamn cliff.
Geoff 42:13
Yeah, turning your back on it, sitting down. Yep. All sorts of all sorts of room for error.
Georgie 42:22
Yeah the risk I would take is like, okay, like, I will lean forward a bit maybe, to get the good photo, or I will just go as close as possible. Right. So I don’t miss step. Yeah, if I really have to have I can zoom on my camera OK. Or I’ll crop it in post.
Geoff 42:37
Yeah.
Georgie 42:38
And then, you know, if I’m going to fall back, I will fall backwards, where it’s safe. You know, but like, I don’t know, I just feel like whatever, do what you want, right?
Geoff 42:47
Unnecessary risks.
Georgie 42:49
You know? Yeah, do do whatever you feel is safe. But you know, I’m not gonna take any more risk than I have to.
Geoff 42:58
Yeah. And posing. People trying to pose and like do jump shots. Ah, there’s—oh, my God, teen almost fell to death at sea cliff bridge as millennials flock to illegal spot for Instagram. Yeah, this is the shit.
Georgie 43:16
But why? Just sometimes, you know, sometimes I don’t understand like, like, do you need the photo? Right? It’s—
Geoff 43:23
Yeah.
Georgie 43:24
I think this is this is a thing where I’m like, that’s a nice view. It’s kind of not safe to take a photo here. Maybe in some cases. And you know, I decided that I’ll just take a photo from far back or whatever. I don’t know why people feel a need to be in the photo to have a selfie. Like, does it really...just to prove you’ve been there? Like, you can prove you’ve been there by taking a picture. It doesn’t have to necessarily have you in it. This is just my view. Right?
Geoff 43:53
Yeah.
Georgie 43:53
I don’t know why it always has to be like me in it, or whatever.
Geoff 43:58
This is the selfie culture has gone wild.
Georgie 44:03
Yeah, like I get Nick to take photos of me like mostly because—like not in these scenarios. But just in general, because I want a picture of my outfit or something, right? Or I want to, like I actually want a photo of me with like, I don’t know, some person dressed up in an Oreo suit, or something—which happened, by the way. But but you know, when it’s like a view, when it’s like something that you experienced, or whatever, I don’t really care much to be in the picture. Like, yeah, it’s a nice view. I don’t know. Like, in the end, it’s a pretty picture. Like I’d rather be telling a story of how I saw this cool view.
Geoff 44:42
Yeah.
Georgie 44:43
You know, rather than... Yeah.
Geoff 44:45
The... I mean, I’m also someone who doesn’t really put people in his pho—in their photos. Let alone put myself in a photo. So very rarely do I post photos with people in them. If it is people, it’s usually I’m taking a photo of my friend and you don’t really see them, like it’s their back or something like that. But but usually those are more candid—oh my god here we go... “tourists are spotted taking pictures on the same cliff where a man fell and died a day earlier”. Yeah, there you go.
Georgie 45:28
OK so we’re heading into this like kind of we’re talking about some dangerous shit—there’s another, this, this adventure you had reminds me of there’s a hiking in the US called the, is it the Zion, the Zion trail or something? And it’s it sounds similarly treacherous, but it’s not illegal. It’s just you know, suggested that you—z, i, o, n.
Geoff 45:53
Oh my god my keyboard... like god, ahhh why?
Georgie 45:59
I think it’s I think it’s called The Angels... is it The Angels...
Geoff 46:03
Oh here we go. Zion bridge.
Georgie 46:11
Yeah, so it’s not Zion... it’s in Zion National Park. Yeah, I think it’s called The Angel... maybe type the angel...
Geoff 46:20
Angels Landing.
Georgie 46:23
Yeah, so it’s not scary. It’s just you’ve got a single chain and you can only walk like in single file one direction.
Geoff 46:32
Yeah.
Georgie 46:32
And it’s just there’s this rocky kind of walk on like a rock trail and you just have to be careful when you pass people, you’ve got to be quite fit to do it, is the recommendation. But a lot of people do it I don’t remember what the death rate is or anything I don’t think it’s like extremely dangerous, like it’s obviously well trodden.
Geoff 46:56
Yeah.
Georgie 46:57
You would probably have better like, footing. Like it does freak me out a little bit I would actually like to do one day but I’ve talked to Nick about it and like—he was the one who actually told me about this—and I have a friend who did this recently, who lives in the US. But Nick’s like afraid of heights, which is you know, it’s recommended because it’s quite high and there’s not anything close down when you look down, it can probably be quite frightening if you’re scared of heights.
Geoff 47:25
Yeah, yes.
Georgie 47:27
But yeah.
Geoff 47:29
There’s the Mount Doom New Zealand hike. I feel like I think some people say that that’s kind of similar... Why can’t my keyboard work? Why. But yeah, Mount Doom, of course, is, is from Lord of the Rings. But yeah, you can hike the... why won’t it search! Search damn you. Here we go. Mount Doom. It’s not treacherous treacherous, it’s just very difficult. And apparently there’s a really narrow narrow pathway as well. And as you can see there’s no, there’s no... nice, there’s YouTube video. There’s no real path, it’s just just people.
Georgie 48:22
An open...
Geoff 48:22
Open pretty high, pretty steep for climbing Mount Doom. There you go. Yeah. Oh my god, there really is no path, you’re just literally climbing the side of this, this, this mountain. But yeah, there’s narrow pass... passes and stuff like that. Which is pretty cool. I won’t do that. Um, but yeah. Speaking of hiking, we should hike right out of this conversation and into the end of this podcast.
Georgie 48:53
Yes, again, stay safe kids. Yes. Don’t go on dangerous hikes!
Geoff 48:57
Don’t, don’t... do what we wouldn’t do.
Georgie 49:02
Precisely.
Geoff 49:03
Which is not a lot? And you can... what’s, what’s the outro again? I completely forgot we haven’t done this in a while. Don’t forget to—
Georgie 49:17
Social.
Geoff 49:17
Yeah, follow us on @toastroastpod on Twitter and Instagram, mostly Twitter. Every—new episodes every Monday.
Georgie 49:27
You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the great big hike...
Geoff 49:34
In the sky.
Georgie 49:34
We will see you next time. Bye.
Geoff 49:38
Stole that from somewhere. Bye.