Bushwalk Australia

I have managed to organise a business trip so that I get 3 days to myself flying into Launceston.

Have a Hyundai Getz hirecar, which from past experience can impersonate 4wd quite well, but I'm sure do have some limitations.

Also from past experience time involved cleaning before returning to the hire company can be a problem, so I don't want to go too far off the beaten track.

Don't have enough baggage room for a tent, but can manage a pack with sleeping bag and cooker and a few odds and sods.

So huts would be good. The catch is my fitness level is way down and don't want to push more than ten klms a day.

Also would love to spend a day by a lake. So ten kms in, day at a lake with a hut nearby, ten klms out.

Any suggestions???

Thanks.

leach infested junction lake is nice with side trips to Mt Rogoona, Mts of Jupiter and Cathedral Plateau all possible. There is a hut there, plus a few others in the area and plenty of tracks to make a circuit possible

Around Cradle down to Waterfall Valley, then to Scott-Kilvert hut, then out around the other side of Cradle? Side trips if feeling up to it could include Cradle Summit, Barn Bluff, The lower section of Waterfall Valley (very nice) and Mt Campbell.

frenchy_84 wrote:leach infested junction lake is nice with side trips to Mt Rogoona, Mts of Jupiter and Cathedral Plateau all possible. There is a hut there, plus a few others in the area and plenty of tracks to make a circuit possible

That would make a fantsatic trip - agree 100%.
But - Be aware its a rough road to get there (0nce of bitumen) and probably by now after a few days dry dusty as one thing.
Hire cars and off the beaten track don't always agree. Wouldn't like you to have to face any ante from them on that behalf.

But it would be a good trip.

Ollster's suggestion would be a beaut trip too and all bitumen road.

How leech infested are we talking here?

Two steps forward pick off a leech or would I make it at least a hundred yards?

turtle wrote:How leech infested are we talking here?

Two steps forward pick off a leech or would I make it at least a hundred yards?

It's not too bad, you may get a leech or 2 but then again, you may miss out... then you'll have something to look forward to next trip!

turtle wrote:How leech infested are we talking here?

Two steps forward pick off a leech or would I make it at least a hundred yards?

Ive walked in alot of different areas of the state and i have never seen anywhere near as many leaches as that trip. I walked it last weekend, each time we stopped you would pull a couple off and you could seem more leaches on the ground coming towards you. One member of the party had 10 leaches on him when we got back to the car.

'each time we stopped you would pull a couple off and you could seem more leaches on the ground coming towards you.
Just put them to work - fatten em up for a while then tie a few together and load your pack on them.

Seriously I wouldn't be put off by them.
When I went that way some years back I don't remember them being an issue.
Frog Flat leeches are indelibly imprinted on the grey matter though.

Well, you know, I don't tend to get fazed by spiders, snakes, bad weather, mud. The only thing that really doesn't do it for me at all would have to be leeches - of course.

So the thought of having to pull off ten in a hit - yuk!! If I get them I usually make other people pull them off, but walking by myself and having to touch those slimey little black blood suckers probably not.

Will let you know what I end up doing.

Thanks for the ideas.

Stopping to pull them off while in the middle of the bush/grasslands/etc is the best opportunity for more leeches to get attached. Just don't stop!

On our trip in to Lees Paddocks a few weeks ago I reckon I had close to 30 on my legs on the way in......at one stage my 6 year old even had one on his cheek that I flicked off which was quite funny; he wasn't bothered by them at all though thankfully!!

A similar walk with less leeches would be via Lake Bill / Lake Myrtle to Lake Meston Hut.
Could still do Rogoona as a side trip and back the same way.

Leech country would be Blizzard Plains - but that is a fairly short section.

Phil wrote:On our trip in to Lees Paddocks a few weeks ago I reckon I had close to 30 on my legs on the way in......at one stage my 6 year old even had one on his cheek that I flicked off which was quite funny; he wasn't bothered by them at all though thankfully!!

My 4 year old wants to bring a leech home for a pet. She was fascinated by them last time we were at the Cradle Mtn Scout Hut (even after I detached one from her leg), and when we saw another one on the ground the next day, she asked if she could keep it as a pet. That was over a year ago, and I thought she'd forgotten about it until yesterday when she asked if next time we went bushwalking (in a few weeks time) could we please bring a leech home for a pet.

Reminds me of my daughter about the same age. She loved snails. We had a plague in the garden at the time and she would wander round the garden for hours collecting snails in her little beach bucket. Was so cute. Twenty odd years on, it's these silly memories that really stand out.