Day 324
After another chilly night decide that we will do a bit of a
walk today and so don the walkers and jump back on the free bus to the first
stop, just inside the National Park at the Rangers station.
We are going to follow the man-made board walk all the way
from here to Dove Lake today, passing through open grassland, across rivers and
streams and through a forest or two along the way. Although it is not actually
snowing today the wind makes it feel almost as cold and we are wrapped up in
all of our winter clothes, hats, scarves and gloves. The walk is beautiful
though and shortly after setting off and leaving the warmth of the bus you are
walking through fields of button grass and feel like civilisation is a million
miles away.
The boardwalk takes you up into the hills and through some
awe inspiring scenery and continues through open heathland towards the
mountains.
We arrive at Dove Lake in the early afternoon and rather
than stop there (like any normal person) we decide to add a circuit of the Lake
as well which takes us on another well-constructed path past giant glacial
boulders, along the edge of the lake and right to the base of Cradle Mountain
before turning back and finishing (luckily) at the bus stop.
We get the nice warm bus back to the visitors centre and
walk across the road to the campsite, happy and tired having completed the 15km
walk and head straight for the warmth of the open fire in the cooking shelter.
The darkness descends pretty quickly in the mountains and
before we know it the (over) friendly possum is back, knocking on the door and
asking for food again so this time we oblige with a bruised apple which he
wastes no time in devouring whilst posing for the odd photo.
Day 325
Pack up and leave our cool mountain retreat and head out of
the National Park to re-join the highway where we continue south. It’s another
beautiful drive through very pretty countryside passing through the small towns
of Rosebury and Zeehan before we arrive in Strahan. After a big day walking
yesterday we are both pretty tired and after a lap of the town and some
shopping we retire to the campsite to catch up on some washing and spend the
rest of the day relaxing and recuperating.
Day 326
After a big feed and a good night’s sleep we both feel
refreshed in the morning and are ready to face the world again and so without
further ado we head off, first stop Queenstown. It’s a scary little mining town
which looks as though it was once prosperous but has now fallen on hard times.
Lots of the shops along its high street have shut down and the inhabitants seem
to have an air of despondency about them. The one thing it seems to have going
for it is its famous steam train which was originally constructed to transport
copper from Queenstown to Strahan and now, having been fully restored is a
major tourist attraction ferrying passengers along the same route.
We are there just in time to see the train pull out full of
happy faces and once it has gone we decide that it’s time for us to leave as
well.
Back on the road and after another wonderful drive up the
side of a mountain along narrow winding roads our next stop is just a short
walk away from Nelson falls.
The short walk takes you through a dense and lush forest
leading you to the bottom of the falls where we pause a while and soak up the
serenity of the forest and listen to the soothing sounds of the falling water.
Another short drive away is our next stop at the Franklin
River, which was made world famous in the 80’s when protestors camped out in
protest of a proposed dam that would have led to the whole valley being flooded
and one of Tasmania’s last true wilderness rivers being lost. The protestors
were successful, the river remains and the whole areas is now world heritage
listed and after the short walk along its banks and through the surrounding
forest we were certainly glad that it is still here for everyone to enjoy.
Probably safe to eat those ones
Back on the road and we come to Cradle Mountain Lake St
Clare National Park again but this time we are at the southern (Lake St Clare)
end.
We set up in amongst the trees and head out for a look at
the lake and a short stroll to ‘Platypus bay’, where we hope to see one of the
strange animals.
Platypus bay my foot
We are very still and quiet and wait around for what seems
like ages but don’t even see a sausage and so return to the van slightly
disappointed. Arrive back and almost immediately hear the familiar rustlings of
another friendly possum lurking in the undergrowth looking for food but not
feeling like guests tonight we shut ourselves away and retire to bed.
Day 327
The sun is shining in the morning and what a good day to
climb a mountain! Head off on the Mount Rufus circuit walk, 18.5km and an
estimated 7 hours away.
The thing with climbing a mountain is that it is always
going to be a lot of uphill and so for the first 3 ½ hours we trudge up a wet
and sticky track towards the summit.
The walk is pretty spectacular though starting on the dense
forest floor and rising up with the trees slowly thinning out until finally you
out into the open with amazing views back across the ranges and down to the
lake where we started.
You can tell you are pretty high up as you climb towards the
summit as there is a covering of snow on the ground and the icy wind feels like
it is straight from that artic.
We reach the summit and stop a while to admire the amazing
panoramic views all around and have a picnic lunch before continuing the
circuit back down the other side of the mountain, through the open rocky
highlands and back into the forest.
The circuit takes you past another lake on the way back down
and the scenery is no less impressive as we descend back towards the campsite,
finally arriving home a mere 8 hours after we departed, completely knackered
but filled with a huge sense of achievement.
Lo and behold as darkness falls so the rustling begins and
this time we throw out some cucumber for our friendly possum, who like his mate
in the North of the park, happily poses for a photo whilst he eats.
Day 328
Perhaps unsurprisingly we wake up a bit stiff this morning
with feet, legs and hips feeling like we have climbed a mountain or something.
Pack up and hit the road again where we take yet another spectacular drive over
mountainous roads with beautiful rolling countryside to our next stop at Mount
Field National Park. Mount Field is famous as one of Australia’s oldest
National Parks having grown from an original beauty spot around the spectacular
waterfalls for which the park is famous.
Not feeling like tackling anything more than a short stroll
today we take the 10 minute walk from the campsite to the famous Russel falls
and as we stand there watching the water cascade over the falls we reminisce
that a few weeks (months?) ago we would have been stripped down to our swimmers
and straight in to cool off from the oppressive heat whereas now we are wrapped
up in hats and scarves and thinking about a nice hot cup of tea.
Another thing we noticed on the walk was a glow worm grotto
and so after dinner we return, switch off our torches and (once our eyes are
accustomed to the dark) feel our way slowly along the handrail marvelling at
the hundreds of glow worms that adorn the grotto walls. I am pretty excited by
glow worms but Carmen is less so and after a few minutes the novelty has worn
off and we feel our way back to the van in the pitch darkness.
Day 329
After a good night’s sleep and even a lie in we have both
regained some feeling in our legs after the mountain climb and feel ready to
tackle another walk. Set our sights a bit smaller this time and opt for a
gentle stroll around the National Park, taking in a few of the waterfalls.
Set off up the hill behind the campsite and are immediately
struck by the size of some of the trees here, they are massive!
Where's Wally
Not quite on the scale of the bicentennial tree but not too
far off it and they are everywhere. Half an hour up the track and we come to
‘Lady Baron Falls’, a lovely cascading waterfall over a rocky outcrop and just
as we are walking along the path away from the falls we catch a rare glimpse of
a pair of Yellow tipped black cockatoos which are only found in this part of
the world and even then not very often so we do feel special.
Next up we come to the ‘Tall trees circuit’, a walk taking
you around some of Tasmania’s tallest eucalypt trees which can grow to nearly
100 metres tall. These things are truly massive and very slow growing so the
tallest ones we are looking at were here well before Europeans ever set foot on
this island, a humbling experience.
Continue on to Horseshoe Falls, a pretty little waterfall
which Carmen thought would look good as a garden water feature and we finally
end up back at Russel falls before returning to the van to spend the rest of
the afternoon reading and relaxing in preparation to hit the bright lights of
Hobart tomorrow.
Brrrrrrr...
ReplyDelete