Around Tas in 5 days (South Cape Bay, Cradle and the SW)
Posted: Tue 09 Sep, 2014 3:31 amThe original plan didn't even involve Tas to begin with. We got a call from some friends currently travelling down the east coast of Aus proposing that we fly from Darwin and meet them in Sydney, then together drive down to Falls creek for a week of Skiing (two of us had our 21st Birthdays that week so it was perfect timing) Then from there through the Alps and finally to Melbourne. Then sadly back to Darwin. We ended up doing much more than that. What was meant to be a 10 day trip turned into a month long adventure around Vic and Tas. Probably spending much more money than I should have, but miraculously keeping my job even after being away unnotified for over 3 weeks. Having never been to a single place during winter (seriously, being from Darwin I have never been in a winter before in my life) It was pretty exiting.
We did our first multi day bushwalk in Tas (Walls of Jerusalem) back in 2010 as teenagers (viewtopic.php?f=42&t=5482). Since then we try and get back to Tas every year for some walking. I hope my photography has improved a little since that trip.
Just after completing the great ocean road and feeling all snowed out and windburnt, sitting in Melbourne waiting to fly home a last minute decision was made and we booked the ferry to Devonport with no planning what so ever, Van and all.
We got in at around 6:30am and decided to head straight for Cradle Mountain with no intention of doing any walks. At the car park we decided to head straight up to Marion's Lookout from dove lake, which was quicker than expected so we pushed on to kitchen hut pretty disappointed at the lack of snow (we had been told we were a week late). From Kitchen hut we decided to attempt the summit, but turned back about 30 meters from (what we thought was) the top as we feared for our lives at the fact that the sun was getting awfully close to the horizon. We made it back to the car park as the sun was setting only to discover that we had lost our ONLY car key somewhere up the mountain, Disaster. Our trip was over. We sat in the carpark for an hour trying to figure out what to do, We were the only people there except for one empty car adjacent to ours. So we decided to wait for who could be our only hope. We saw a couple walking up to the carpark, I instantly approached them and asked them the obvious question "you wouldn't happen to have seen a set of car keys anywhere would you?" And sure enough, almost as good as winning the lottery, he pulls the key out of his pocket. Turns out they were sitting on the window sill way up in Kitchen Hut. If you guys happen to be reading this, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! and THANK YOU! again. You saved our trip.
We now had four days left to see as much of Tassie as we could possibly cram. The next day we drove from Devonport to Lake St Claire and down the west via the Lyell Highway and back to Devonport (spectacular drive)
A drive into the south west was a must. Going to both Scotts Peak and Gordon Dam. Leaving from Devonport at 10am and doing all that is one big day (even for territory standards) and we grossly underestimated the time it took on the dirt roads. We were greeted at Scotts Peak with bluebird skies, absolutely no wind, and temps in the high teens to low 20's, quite unusual for August. A classic case of taking the weather with you (this lasted almost the entire week except on the very last day. Your constantly bombarded with information on how bad the weather is in the south west this time of year so seeing it like this threw all my expectations out the window. Honest to god it almost felt like being back in the top end, not the cold, dark and scary place the SW usually is. I suppose we should be counting ourselves lucky? haha. For a split second we thought we saw I Thylacine sprinting across the road near scotts peak, but it was obviously just a cat or fox. Are there even feral cats or foxes in the south west?
We did our first multi day bushwalk in Tas (Walls of Jerusalem) back in 2010 as teenagers (viewtopic.php?f=42&t=5482). Since then we try and get back to Tas every year for some walking. I hope my photography has improved a little since that trip.
Just after completing the great ocean road and feeling all snowed out and windburnt, sitting in Melbourne waiting to fly home a last minute decision was made and we booked the ferry to Devonport with no planning what so ever, Van and all.
We got in at around 6:30am and decided to head straight for Cradle Mountain with no intention of doing any walks. At the car park we decided to head straight up to Marion's Lookout from dove lake, which was quicker than expected so we pushed on to kitchen hut pretty disappointed at the lack of snow (we had been told we were a week late). From Kitchen hut we decided to attempt the summit, but turned back about 30 meters from (what we thought was) the top as we feared for our lives at the fact that the sun was getting awfully close to the horizon. We made it back to the car park as the sun was setting only to discover that we had lost our ONLY car key somewhere up the mountain, Disaster. Our trip was over. We sat in the carpark for an hour trying to figure out what to do, We were the only people there except for one empty car adjacent to ours. So we decided to wait for who could be our only hope. We saw a couple walking up to the carpark, I instantly approached them and asked them the obvious question "you wouldn't happen to have seen a set of car keys anywhere would you?" And sure enough, almost as good as winning the lottery, he pulls the key out of his pocket. Turns out they were sitting on the window sill way up in Kitchen Hut. If you guys happen to be reading this, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! and THANK YOU! again. You saved our trip.
- Awesome view of Mount Feathertop on our way to Omeo for the night.
- Approaching the hut.
- It was almost worth lugging the tripod up the hill. Not knowing our only car keys sat on a window sill a klick or so behind me.
We now had four days left to see as much of Tassie as we could possibly cram. The next day we drove from Devonport to Lake St Claire and down the west via the Lyell Highway and back to Devonport (spectacular drive)
- Franklin River.
A drive into the south west was a must. Going to both Scotts Peak and Gordon Dam. Leaving from Devonport at 10am and doing all that is one big day (even for territory standards) and we grossly underestimated the time it took on the dirt roads. We were greeted at Scotts Peak with bluebird skies, absolutely no wind, and temps in the high teens to low 20's, quite unusual for August. A classic case of taking the weather with you (this lasted almost the entire week except on the very last day. Your constantly bombarded with information on how bad the weather is in the south west this time of year so seeing it like this threw all my expectations out the window. Honest to god it almost felt like being back in the top end, not the cold, dark and scary place the SW usually is. I suppose we should be counting ourselves lucky? haha. For a split second we thought we saw I Thylacine sprinting across the road near scotts peak, but it was obviously just a cat or fox. Are there even feral cats or foxes in the south west?
- How could this possibly be the southwest in August?
They are special! Moonroofs, armchairs to procrastinate about the walk ahead... & lots of great hidey holes.
For around 3 grand it was perfect for getting around Aus without a hitch. Heaps of people we met down down in Tas loved them, and a lot thought they are notoriously unreliable. Maybe that's the case but certainly not with ours.