The Heysen Trail 1 - Chasing the Light

 

After nearly six months of hard physio, that ultimate new challenge has slipped it's calling card under my door.  I spent hours in the pool, stepping up and down the ledge in my backyard so many times I have nearly worn a patch in the breeze blocks. Yes, I have started jogging again and what about those millions of squats I put in the legs – enough already?! What a relief to find my knee in good enough shape after my anterior cruciate ligament and other bits and pieces were fixed up. It allowed me to get the backpack out of the shed again.

Why the opening photo courtesy of Pintrest of a water colour painting you may ask? This absolute classic is by a migrant called Hans Heysen born 8 Oct 1877 in Hamburg. This particular piece is called The Three Gums and one of his most famous.

Heysen loved nothing better than tramping with a stool and a box full of paint. He was especially drawn to the Adelaide Hills and spent most of his life exploring  the Aussie light around Hahndorf and the rest of South Australia. He was knighted in 1959 as his prize winning paintings and commitment to art turned him into a household name in Australia. They even named a hiking trail after him…….

The artist in action

 

 

"I cannot help feeling that my heart lies with these men who see intense and almost religious beauty in simple nature that surrounds us in the beauty of the skies and the mystery of the earth."

Hans Heysen to Lionel Lindsay (1922) 

Sir Hans

 

The Heysen Trail is 'only' 1200 kilometres long, running from Cape Jervis, north past Adelaide and well into the Flinders Ranges.  Where there is a will there is a trail. I have given myself three weeks to walk around two hundred kms to the hills east of Adelaide, thinking that I may like to have a break in Victor Harbor and explore this new frontier in my travel experiences. Heysen's house named “the Cedars” is in Hahndorf and wouldn’t it be fitting to end my crusade of physical devastation at his place which now serves as a museum?




From Cape Jervis to Hahndorf is just the beginning.
Map courtesy of the Friends of the Heysen Trail

 

Again, this journey will be a solo mission given that Julie has full time, permanent employment and I am working in a casual position where saying 'no' to work is quite acceptable. I am a lucky ducky! 

 

I found all my hiking gear in boxes under piles of other stuff and managed to gather up five days of dried, powdery food, a small tent, sleeping bag and mattress, lots of warm cloths and my beloved camera. It was a real tight squeeze into a backpack that at 18 kilos nearly gave me scoliosis when I lifted it for the first time. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Fortunately, this question often gets drowned out by anticipation of living wild - through and through.

“When I get back I am going to save every Indian orphan in the world” I thought to myself as I was sobbing uncontrollably on the flight over from Alice Springs to Adelaide. One shouldn’t watch emotionally disturbing movies like Lion in thin air, high above the ground. My advice - don't make any life changing, rash decisions on aeroplanes. The plight of abandoned babies soon disappeared from my mind when the plane landed in Adelaide.
 

A cloudy Adelaide

Here I was - a man from dead centre Alice, in a strange, for me noisy, hectic town trying to navigate through the checkered maze of broad streets, CO2 pumping machines and confusing landmarks.” Immediately I thought about those beautiful paintings I was inspired by.

'Let it be soon I thought - let me chase Heysen’s light.'

 

 

To be continued….. .... .. .


Grey Bits

The best place to find information on line about Hans Heysen is here http://www.hansheysen.com.au/  The quote used above was taken from this site along with the two photographs of Hans Heysen.

The Friends of the Heysen Trail can be found at Suite 212, Epworth Building, 33 Pirie St, Adelaide SA 5000. It is upstairs so try not to be out of breath when you get there. They jokingly inquired how much training I had put in for this hike. A friendly and very helpful bunch of volunteers. Their website: http://heysentrail.asn.au/

Thanks to Julie my lovely partner for supporting my crazy wonder lust.