Bushwalk Australia

At first I planned this trip as a physical challenge (nightmare ?) : Mt Jerusalem, Barn Bluff, Mt Eliza, Schnells Ridge, the works. Of course once you're there it gets a bit different.

1st day :

I planned to do Ben Lomond (the Carr Villa to Legges Torr circuit) but the weather was just horrible. As you can see from the pictures, it was all clouded in. I then switched to try and check out the Mother Cummings walk. A forested walk, it should be alright under this rain (showers were supposed to clear by mid afternoon). The road to the Mother Cummings track (at least the 2 km before the carpark) is the worst I've experienced in Tassie. It was more like a 4WD track : big sharp rocks, narrow road, mud. Luckily my rental car had some clearance so it was fine.

The walk in itself was nice at first, but the showers just wouldn't stop. When the track was adjacent to the river, it was very slippery, at times dangerous. So when I reached the boulder field and a huge downpour started and I was slipping on all the rocks, I just called it quits, checked out a lake near Meander, and went back to my (nice) chalet at Mole Creek. A rough first day.

The 2nd day was rainy too. It cleared out in the afternoon, so I did Quamby Bluff. Nice little walk, with some scrambling and not a soul in sight. I had the views I missed at the Mother Cummings track, finally checking out the Great Western Tiers.

The third day was simply the best of the trip. Beautiful weather, so I went to the Walls of Jerusalem. After taking 3h45 to do Quamby Bluff while Chapman's book said 3, I was a bit afraid of the 9h30 of the return trip to Mt Jerusalem. So I told myself I would just do The Temple or Solomon's Throne (8h).

Almost not a cloud in sight, and after the initial long and steep ascent, it got better and better. Beautiful lakes and wetlands, some wallabies near the campground, the beautiful view of The Walls, the Tarns at the end etc... I got some beautiful photos out of it. I did the Temple instead of Solomon's Throne because I wanted some views toward Mt Jerusalem and the tarns. Only some French guys rushing behind me on the way back (I hate having people breathing down my neck and running when I'm going downhill, especially when they take a break, you go past them, and then it's back to square one...) added a bit of unpleasantness to the trip. They must have done the day walk in 6 hours or less they were rushing so much...

Day 4 was also a beautiful day, but I had to go to Maydena. So not a good day for a long day walk. I hesitated between doing a walk in Mt Field NP, Lake Judd or Mt Eliza. The heavy rains from 2 days ago discouraged me to do the usually muddy lake Judd (not to mention the river crossing), and since the weather was already supposed to worsen the next day, I opted for Mt Eliza.

I liked the road to the start of the walk, with signs telling you which peak is which. The thing is I was so tired from the day before (and blistered all over), the steep ascent during a hot day was rough. So I enjoyed the views, climbed slowly but steadily, and only reached High Camp Hut. It was already 5 pm, so no time to do Mt Eliza before nightfall. The setting sun gave me some beautiful light for some nice photos though. I also met a funny dude at the end, just having lunch at the start of the walk, enjoying the view toward Mt Anne.

Day 5 was supposed to be showers and storms. So I went to Tarn Shelf in Mt Field NP, and did the short version (the first 2 tarns and back). The thing is, the whole day was grey but without a drop of rain, so bad call. Nevertheless, the walk was very nice. Beautiful plateau up there, although windy. I liked the alpine vegetation, and only met about 3 people. It's way better than what I saw of the park last year when I just had time to do the famous waterfall circuit and just walked in the forest.

On day 6 it was time to go to the South all the way to Dover and then Cockle Creek. I wanted to see South Cape Bay. Weather was bad, it was raining a lot, and the road was full of potholes. The walked was marked as 4 hours return, and even at a good pace (despite my blistered feet) it took me 5. A poorly evaluated walking time, I estimate a regular family with kids would take about 5h30 to do the return trip. In Victoria the times are always about 30% to 50 % overestimated (family times with lots of breaks), in Tassie it varies. In the SouthWest it seems they're about 30% underestimated (only realistic for serious walkers with almost no break), around Tasman Peninsula they're spot on, and in more relaxed places such as Mt William, they're overestimated.

Anyway, I knew the walk wasn't offering much views until the end, but at least I saw a wallaby and an echidna. The track was muddy and overgrown at the end, and although the bay was nice, it definitely wasn't as nice as what I saw on the West coast, or even in parts of Victoria. For once I've encountered an overestimated walk in Tassie. Walking 4-5 hours just for this isn't worth it in my opinion. In the area I think it's best either to do the full South Coast Walk, or to do short walks to nice coves and beaches.

On day 7 I planned to do Hartz Peak. Problem is, it was windy. VERY windy. The first half of the walk, it was just annoying, on the second half, it was plain dangerous. At Hartz Pass, everybody would just walk a couple of hundred meters to the next plateau, and then go back. You couldn't even stand up. The area is beautiful, I got some nice view toward the West, but the day was short. I just admired the Huon river instead.

Next day, it was time for the Tasman Peninsula. I had found a beautiful beach house in White Beach to rent, and planned on doing Cape Raoul first. Beautiful day, tremendous views. Hard to park there though, it was the Easter weekend. A strange thing though : the best views to Cape Raoul are from the second lookout, on the left track at the end. But since only the track on the right is cairned (on the cape itself), nobody seemed to bother to do the other one, missing the best views, and the seal colony at the base of the cape... so in a nutshell, don't miss the left lookout.

The next day it was windy, at times rainy. So I had a dilemma : either doing Cape Hauy and facing the Easter crowds, or doing what I love, which is finding hidden spots that nobody goes to. I chose the second option and went to Lime Bay State Reserve, on the North-West part of the peninsula. And apart from the campground, not many people there. The water was beautiful, and the circuit walk was nice. Navigation was at times awkward (I was following directions from the Tyrone Thomas book) but it was worth it. I even saw a Tassie wedged tail eagle, which I learned afterwards are very rare (only 200 left). On the way back I stopped at Roaring Beach, a nice secluded spot too (although more popular).

Day 10 was a long drive toward Mt William NP and my campsite at Stumpy Bay. I arrived there around 4:30 pm. Campsite number 4 is located right next to a lagoon and the start of Cobler Rocks walk. Since it's only a 2h walk, I had time to do it. Although it was clouded in and (very) windy, the sun pierced the clouds and gave me some beautiful evening light. The morning I got up early and took a beautiful photo of the most delightful sunrise.

I then climbed Mt William for the views in the morning light. But the sun blocked them, and Mt William is too low to have a great angle for photos. I also did the Forester Drive and saw lots of forester kangaroos in the morning. I checked out Little Blue Lake (colored by rock flour, same as the more famous lakes of NZ), then it was time to head up to Ben Lomond again, this time in beautiful weather. I finally appreciated the views driving up Jaccob's Ladder, and climbed to Legges Torr. Nice vegetation, but limited views at the top.

All in all a beautiful trip, the weather wasn't that much of a problem except for the first day. I haven't seen much of the Easter crowds, and the accommodation I had in Mole Creek, Maydena and White Beach was amazing (thank you stayz.com ...).

Thanks for that great report Hallu. You certainly got your money's worth out of 11 days! A fantastic mix of alpine, coastal, wildlife, water and forests. I'd be guessing a longer trip to the Walls might just be on your agenda next time

cheers

Peter

Yeah there is still some stuff I want to do. First of all, the islands : Maria Island, Bruny Island, Flinders, King etc... Maria and Bruny are easy to do, but the flights to King and Flinders are expensive. And then some stuff I couldn't do this time, such as Barn Bluff, Mt Rufus, Mt Field West, Lake Judd/Schnells Ridge, Mt Sprent, etc...

I was also amazed how cheap accommodation is at Maydena : 70 $ a night (I was alone) in a big house with 3 bedrooms, home cinema and mountain views (ok the house was a bit old). And I got my first roadkill : coming back from Mt Anne at night, I drove slowly at around 70 km/h but a pademelon still managed to jump right in front of me, no chance I could break in time. The car was unharmed, the pademelon not so much. Still on driving, some Tassie fellows really drive like maniacs, especially on mountain roads. It seemed to be a custom to put pressure on you by being a meter away from your bumper... Morons...

If you're only doing 70km/h then why don't you do the courteous thing and pull over for those who wish to do the speed limit?

Strider wrote:If you're only doing 70km/h then why don't you do the courteous thing and pull over for those who wish to do the speed limit?

+1
Nothing personal hallu but there are way too many people here doing 70 (and are completely oblivious about cars behind them ) and holding up everyone else who actually are not on holiday. Morons... Sorry, my pet hate.
Glad you had a good time here.

Nice road trip there Hallu, love the Walls and Anne pics, when I arrived here I thought everyone drove too quick on some roads, but it's like anywhere when you've lived in a place long enough you get used to it.
To date in 7 years I've taken out 2 wildlife with my vehicle and I do a LOT of driving, can't understand how people hit so many, but I drive slower at dusk/night/dawn and fast in between If I'm driving too slow for someone I'll pull over and let them past, it's common sense really.

On walking times I've yet to find a signed track that didn't overestimate walking times, perhaps you linger more than most?

Well before jumping out at me, the 70 km/h was my speed at night, you misunderstood me... During the day I drove at the regular speed limit, which didn't prevent me from seeing the so called morons driving 10 or 20 km/h above the speed limit (I didn't encounter any at night).

Regarding the walking times, no I don't linger more than most (I did The Temple and back at the Walls in 7h45 which is a bit below Chapman's recommended time). I seriously think 4h for South Cape Bay and back is wrong. It was flat and without much to see until the end, so I didn't linger. I also have yet to see an underestimated time in Victoria, but in Tassie it varies a lot. I'm guessing in the SW area they assume it's more serious walkers (as Chapman does) and they adjust the times accordingly (for South Cape Bay a bit too much adjustment).

Strider wrote:If you're only doing 70km/h then why don't you do the courteous thing and pull over for those who wish to do the speed limit?

All visitors either bringing cars over on the ferry or hiring them there should be told this. In fact, it should be made law that people have to pull over. Especially those *&^$*(s in their oversized motorhomes.

Awesome photos Hallu. Was nice to see what High Camp Hut looked like without snow. Mt Anne was my first multi day walk in March last year and as we started up the mountain we had light rain. By the time we got half way we were starting to walk through snow, which only got thicker the further we went. By the time we reached the hut, the ground was covered in about 3"-4" of snow and the roof and awning of the hut were holding about 2"-3". Was freezing but beautiful.

Hallu wrote:Well before jumping out at me, the 70 km/h was my speed at night, you misunderstood me...

What has night go to do with it? If you're going slow, pull over for those that want to go faster.

You need to read what I'm writing mate... The ones who were almost touching my bumper were doing it while I was doing 90 on a 90 road... Could we please stop talking about this ?

Wow you got around the place for 11 days! Next you'll have to try a longer trip like the Arthur Range

Great photos and account, my favourite photo is the seals at Cape Raoul.

Lovely photos, and nice to see you making the most of your time down here!

I do agree with you that often the accuracy of signed walking times can vary from place to place in Tassie, though I find it interesting that you found South Cape Bay the one to point it out. I guess my long legs are just more suited to striding out along the boring duckboard .

Nice report and photos.
Quite a few km both driving and walking from the looks of it

Yeah I drove about 2000 km around Tassie in 11 days. I've done worse, so it was fine. The hard part was to juggle between good and bad weather, like having to drive from Mole Creek to Maydena in the morning and walk the Mt Anne track in the afternoon, having done The Walls the day before. .

Hallu wrote:Yeah I drove about 2000 km around Tassie in 11 days. I've done worse, so it was fine. The hard part was to juggle between good and bad weather, like having to drive from Mole Creek to Maydena in the morning and walk the Mt Anne track in the afternoon, having done The Walls the day before. .

Rule 1: Never try to second-guess the weather in Tassie.

north-north-west wrote:Rule 1: Never try to second-guess the weather in Tassie.

So true! I've just checked my log book and its pretty scary but my advice to people doing a trip like Hallu's is to watch the regional 4 day forecast and be flexible with your schedule. It's tragic to spend a perfect day driving and a crap day trying to tick boxes. Far better to spend an extra day in a place taking advantage of good weather and a slow/wet day driving between destinations. I just had my mum here for 10 days and did a great job balancing a mixed forecast with activities and forecast watching. BOM is *&%$#! good these days if you can read it.

Yeah that's exactly what I did, checking the weather forecast everyday, and moving accordingly, choosing lakes and forest instead of exposed plateaux and peaks when it was bad.

Nice report Hallu. From recent reports, it seems that many of us mainlanders have been visiting Tasmania in the recent months for walking purposes! I too have just got back from an extended trip and will post a report when I get time. I particularly liked your photo of the seals at Cape Raoul. I was down there and could see the seals, but I did not have my zoom lens, or my binoculars on me to see them up close (but I did go on the Bruny Island cruise to a seal colony at a later date, so I did see some seals close up).

Funny you mention the French guys breathing down your neck:

Hallu wrote:...some French guys rushing behind me on the way back (I hate having people breathing down my neck and running when I'm going downhill, especially when they take a break, you go past them, and then it's back to square one...) added a bit of unpleasantness to the trip. They must have done the day walk in 6 hours or less they were rushing so much...

Everywhere I was in Tas, I kept running into French people, who, though generally nice, were a little pushy and perhaps gung-ho in their walking style! AND i guess i was a little put out when a bunch of French guys would scream past me climbing a mountain, then I would get to the top and they would be all over the summit having a smoke! Then they would race back down and have another smoke. And that happened more than once!! lol

On the speed limits in Tasmania: I do get confused by the rural speed limit, which I think is 90 km/h, but I am not really sure, because I cant ever remember seeing a sign explicitly stating the rural speed limit. Once at the end of a town there might be a sign that says something like "end 60 zone, rural limits apply" or something to that effect. I generally drove at ~90 or whatever felt safest...but as someone who has done a lot of driving in Aus, in my opinion we have way too many speed limit zones to contend with in this country (40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110). So perhaps Tasmania is onto something with letting the driver apply their own limit (or am I completely wrong on the way it works )