Day 8 - Interesting Discoveries

I emerged from my bottom-of-a-pit hideaway and headed up the stairs, ignoring the spider sounds for now until I could get out and have a good look around.

Once out, I was greeted with the typical early morning view of a creeper heading in my vague direction (he's there, in the distance, if you look closely)...

...and of course the usual amphibious cow splashing about in the sea.

Oh well, no time to waste killing the creeper or admiring the aquatic antics of the cow, so I headed off on my standard daily quest, bouncing my way around the coastline, planting stone/torch combos and taking the odd snapshot for posterity. I passed a deep pit with an abandoned mine at the bottom, but the sun wasn't even halfway up yet so I ignored it and carried on.

Then, up ahead, I saw a landscape that looked very mountainous and exciting. I wondered if I would be passing that way soon? (Of course, a swimming cow had to go and get in the picture again...)

As I rounded a grassy bay and approached the mountains (passing yet more cows in the sea, is this a bug or do they have a real affinity for water in 1.8?) I realised I would not be walking through that area any time soon - I had already been there!

If you look closely at that screenshot, you can quite clearly see the stone blocks with torches on I use to mark my journey, not to mention a door and window in the base of the central mountain. Well, this was an interesting development anyway. All of the water to my left I had now proven to be surrounded by land, so it was looking likely that this was an enormous lake rather than a sea. Time will tell.

I followed the edge of the water around to the right and found myself on the edge of another desert, heading through a valley. I wondered if this would join up with the valley I found yesterday that looked very similar. It might have done, but I didn't make that discovery today - the water was bridged by a single piece of land that meant I had to turn around and head back up the other side.

I then discovered a small pumpkin patch and a couple of eggs, so I stocked up on both of those things - not because I needed them as such, but more because they're fairly rare so far and I don't have many yet.

And then, as the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky, I stumbled upon my first sight of a ravine.

Well, this just had to be my home for the night. I immediately set about chipping away some steps down to the ledge that ran around the cliff about halfway down, lighting my way as I went.

After walking around the entire ledge, placing torches to brighten the place up, I began my descent to the ravine floor.

Once there, I realised I had to stock up on coal, and there was a nice seam of it running through the cliff face right near me, so I scooped that up straight away. Doing so exposed a previously hidden abandoned mine.

Naturally, I jumped in and grabbed as much wood and string as I could find, ignoring the odd skeleton that lurked in the bottom of the pits in there.

My supplies replenished, I headed back into the ravine and noticed the sky was no longer dark; another day's walking was ahead of me and I had some climbing to do first...

Day 7 - Swimming Animals And A Night In A Pit

It was now time to enter a new - to this world - type of landscape. The coast wound its way around the edge of a desert area.

I followed a stream up a valley to its source, then turned around and came back down along the opposite bank, planting my stone blocks with torches on as I went. It looked like I wouldn't be short of wood tonight, as the desert appeared to be turning fairly quickly into a heavily forested area.

Heading towards this abundance of trees, I spotted three sheep having a swim.

This made it a little tricky to obtain their wool, as in this universe wool quickly sinks to the depths. I managed to get enough for tonight's bed, however, and set about chopping down (up?) a few trees too. The wood collecting was a bit too addictive, so I didn't make too much progress along this part of the shoreline. I did spot some cows swimming (what is it with the animals around here?) and this lovely pool of lava.

Just around the corner from here, I found my home for the night - an intriguing deep pit just asking to be explored.

I carved some steps out of the rock face and made my way down to the bottom, arriving just as night fell and the place began to fill with the sounds of spiders... (hmmm, was this such a good idea?)

I dug my usual small camp for the night, furnishing it with the typical workbench, furnace, chest and bed, dumped some items that I probably wouldn't find much use for in the immediate future and went to sleep.

Day 6 - Where Are All The Trees?

I emerged from my shelter to yet another clear morning, and no sign of anything evil. One last glance back at the lava pouring from the mountain and I headed off.

Goal for today: more wool and more wood.

With no immediate sign of either, I bounced my way around the steep hillside of the coast here and caught sight of an interesting looking mountainous structure up ahead.

As I got closer it appeared to be on its own island, so I wouldn't be climbing over it today at least. It did look like another good location for a base. I was already thinking of ways I could hollow it out, fit windows and doors and perhaps a lookout tower on the top. Maybe - and I know I always say this! - I will return one day.

With my latest batch of torches made my wood supplies were down to the last couple of blocks, and as I continued around the now flattening landscape there was no sign of trees anywhere. Plenty of grass, but there's no use for that as far as I know. The cows looked mockingly on - of course, a large amount of grass was fine for them.

Then, finally, a single lone tree appeared. Yay!

Oh well, four pieces of tree was better than nothing. My route circled around a large bay and took me right back past the island-mountain potential-fortress.

I found a single sheep wandering around and relieved it of its wool - 3 blocks, perfect. The next corner took me towards a desert area and another day was already drawing to a close, so I found a place to set up home on the edge of the desert, threw down a bed and popped my head on the pillow.

Day 5 - A Creeper, A Lava Flow And Some Zombies

Day 5 hadn't yet begun; it was still night but I wanted to be off exploring, not spending the night digging. It was at that point that I realised that I could turn the cobwebs I had gathered in the mine into wool, then use that wool with some of the wood I have to make a bed. It worked. I could skip this uninteresting night and get out into the world again.

I jumped into bed, slept the entire night and awoke to a bright morning. I could hear the sounds of a spider somewhere outside, so opened the door warily. It wasn't immediately visible, but then I looked up.

 The spider took a dive off the cliff right on top of me, causing a small amount of damage and knocking me into the water in surprise. A few quick slashes with my sword, however, and it was history. With no other dangers in sight, I set off.

Around the first corner I saw a natural tunnel carved out of the rocks. I had a quick look inside but there was nothing of interest.

Around the next corner, however, I met my second creeper of this world.

The shoreline was too steep for an easy fight here, so I retreated into the water and fought him there, the only drawback being that his gunpowder fell into the murky depths out of my reach. I then paused to have a look at the ominous overhanging cliffs here, which formed a very dark zone where some cows were having a small gathering.

I didn't stay to play with them, especially as a skeleton was wandering into the scene now, but continued on my way. I found a small cave stocked with coal, so replenished my supply there, then found a mountain spewing lava into the sea right next to a mysterious lump of rock floating high up in the sky. This area was looking like a suitable candidate for a future base if I ever came back this way.

I swam past the lava flow and looked back at it. Impressive.

Sunset seemed to arrive quite quickly, so I dug myself a new home for the night. I hadn't yet gathered enough wool for a new bed, and I don't think I saw any trees at all today, so even my wood supplies were running perilously short. I shall have to find some soon.

Then I realised that I could hear a lot of zombie noises in the vicinity. A short dig down from my base and I soon discovered a cave full of them.

These two didn't last long. There were others, but I blocked up their cave with glass and headed back upstairs for the sunrise.

Day 4 - Through The Mountains

I was determined to make better progress today and maybe travel far enough that I couldn't actually see the first mountain any more. I left immediately and started swimming around the base of the cliff outside my cave. There was a lot of zombie noise around here, and I spotted a mossy cobblestone block jutting out of the cliff. This is a sign of a dungeon, probably packed with bad guys and treasures.

As tempting as it was, conquering dungeons was not on my "to do" list for today. I had travelling to do! It would have to wait for my return, whenever that may be. I continued on my way.

The shore curved around to the left and I soon found myself just across the water from my first night mountain! Would I never escape this place?!

As it turned out, yes. This would be my last view of it for a while. I headed deeper into the mountainous area, marvelling at the vast landscape surrounding me. I wondered what the view was like from the top of some of them, but stuck to my goal for today. In one bay I spotted three squid flirting with each other in the water. Above them, behind me, a cave disappeared deep into the cliffs. I moved onwards.

Just around the next corner I looked back and saw this unusual structure.

I didn't get much further before the sun started to get near the horizon so I made a hole in the cliffside and went in for the night.

There was nothing much to report this night. I spent the time sorting out my belongings and deciding what to take with me tomorrow and what to leave behind in a chest. At some point I'll have to get myself some wool and make a bed, otherwise if I'm killed I'll respawn way back at my original starting point. I had this problem on my first round-the-world trip; this was in the days before beds had been added so any time I died I had to spend days travelling just to get back to the last marker I had placed before I could continue. Beds were a very welcome addition! (Sleeping in them resets your spawn point to their location.) For some reason, sheep have not been anywhere near me in the past couple of days, and I don't like to stray too far from the sea in case I get lost. Maybe tomorrow I'll find some.

Day 3 - Rain, Cliffs And A Mine

It was a rainy morning as I set off to dig my tunnel behind the waterfalls. The weather didn't bother me, as I'd be under shelter for the first part of today's travels.

I dug a long way through the mountain, stopping every so often to check my progress by digging outwards. It seemed like ages before I wasn't confronted by a wall of water and had made it out the other side. It was nice to be out, even if the rain hadn't stopped. I looked back and admired the waterfalls.

Rounding the headland, I had to cross another waterfall - this time I just jumped across, having had enough of the digging behind water for one day. I soon spotted a window in the hillside - this was the far end of the tunnel I'd dug on the first night.

The coastline continued round into a fairly mountainous area with cliffs overhanging the water. I decided to head up and over the top rather than swimming. On my way up to the top I encountered a rather sad looking cow trapped on a small ledge on the side of the cliff.

I gave him a wave and continued up. I had to carve myself a path when it got too steep to climb but eventually made it to the top and looked back at the view towards the mountain where I'd spent my first two nights. I really hadn't come very far.

The shore far below the cliff soon began to turn away from me, so I had to make myself some steps down the side of the vertical face to get back to the water's edge. As I prepared to jump off the lowest step onto the flat ground at the base, a skeleton ran out, firing arrows at me. I leapt off and hit him a few times with my sword, resulting in a few more bones for my collection.

There were a lot of overhangs around here, hiding shadowy areas that could easily contain more things that would want me dead. I placed a few torches to lighten things up a little, then noticed the rain-filled sky was getting even darker. Another day was nearing its end.

I carved myself a nice new cave in one of the cliffs and decided I'd spend this night digging downwards to see if I could find myself some iron. There are a few ways to dig downwards that I tend to use - I try to avoid directly down as you don't know when you might fall into a cavern and sticking ladders on walls uses up wood which I don't want to spend my days gathering. I usually dig either a sprial staircase or a straight-line staircase. Tonight I went for the latter. Very soon I was a long way underground.

Suddenly I broke through into an open area. Unlike the cave I was expecting to find, this appeared to be one of the new abandoned mines that version 1.8 has introduced. Wooden doorways took me between small empty areas with the occasional cobweb in a corner.

I found a few pieces of iron ore, which I dug out. The final piece unleashed a flood of water from a hole in the ceiling, washing me deeper into the mine. I struggled against the current and managed to plug the hole with a piece of cobblestone. Then I realised that there was all this free wood around me. Instead of spending valuable daytime travelling time felling trees I could use my night time down here to gather wood instead.

After stocking up I climbed back up the stairs to see if the sun had risen yet. It had.