Narawntapu - Just a boring day trip

[iandsmith]

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
A wan sun cast a tepid glow across the sea, trying in vain to banish the pewter sky but the grey remained and the occasional raindrops were almost horizontally buffeted by the driving wind.
There was a knock at the door that I answered immediately. It was a wide eyed old man, a harbinger of bad news. He told of how, in the very carpark where I’d chosen to eat breakfast, local alcohol and drug fuelled youths had stoned his motorhome, leaving several dings in the bodywork that he pointed out and had rocked another man’s camper trailer on its side. He warned me not to camp here.
After assuring him I wouldn’t, since the sign clearly said “No Camping” anyway, I decided to leave Devonport and make for Port Sorrel because there was a NPWS office there where I needed to change the rego on my parks pass. I okayed nearby Hawley Beach on my GPS and reached there in half an hour, having driven through some of Tasmania’s prettiest farmland en route.
After lunch I opted for a walk in Larooma Park, a thin slip of seaside land run by the National Parks and named after an adjacent historic 19th century property whose house and land is still there behind barbed wire and electric fences.
On the other side is a picturesque coastline, glimpses of which flicker through the dense coastal scrub. Tiny sandy beaches intersperse the colourful lichen swathed rocky foreshore until you reach the end where there are three small islands that you can apparently walk to at low tide.
The fickle weather had seen the low clouds break up and the wind moderate a little so I left the prolific bird life to their own and headed off to Narawntapu (that’s all right, I couldn’t pronounce it either) National Park where I was assured the NPWS office actually was. Though only a couple of kms as the crow flies it is a half hour drive around the estuary to get there and the office was closed anyway.
OF LIFE AND DEATH
I decided to do the Springlawn Nature Walk and thus tick my 19th box on the excellent “60 Great Short Walks” brochure. It goes to a bird hide deep in a swamp. It says it “meanders through a paper bark swamp forest along a raised boardwalk”. Turns out the total length of the boardwalk is around 50 metres of the 700 and it’s a sandy but firm trail where wildlife abounds, or should I say “bounds”, because Tasmanian pademelons were everywhere. By day’s end I’d lost count but I saw well over 30, some tarrying on the trail until you were only metres away before thumping off through indiscernible tunnels in the underbrush.
But I wanted a picture of a frog because I could hear them and, suddenly, there was one right in front of me, barely moving, legs akimbo. The other end of him was firmly entrenched in the jaws of a copperhead. Actually, it was a toad.
There was a time when I was young when I would have scarpered at a rate I can only reminisce about these days. Knowledge had taught me not to be afraid and I started shooting, remembering a time when I’d come across a large goanna with a baby wallaby in its throat and I’d stuffed those shots up. This time I had equipment and experience on my side. On a couple of occasions I had to prod the snake with my tripod to entice him to move to a better position, a use not mentioned in the tripod manual, and eventually got enough shots to satisfy my wants.
I reached the hide which is so typical of such things. Great hide, no birds. Well, not unless you count half a dozen swans and a lone grebe; so I decided to continue on the Archers Knob Track and, after half an hour, it suddenly ascended. A ten minute hike through low, wind blasted heath takes you to spectacular 360 degree views over Bakers and Badger Beaches, Springlawn and Port Sorrel.
On the return trek I tried to complete the Springlawn Loop Track but it was in vain as large pools of water now lay across the track in several places so I returned from whence I came, taking time to see some ferocious ants killing a dragonfly.
Still, in one day’s walk I had seen more wombats and pademelons than I’d seen in my entire life.

[Son of a Beach]

Great stuff, Ian. That photo of the snake eating the toad is fantastic. I'm glad I got to see that one.

[Drifting]

Man- I knew I was wasting my day hanging out at home and not going to Narwantapu. Awesome pictures, thank you!

[corvus]

Archers Knob a home of the Bearded Dragon Springlawn to the Copper Mine at Copper Cove ,sea caves ,coastal walk to Badgers Head one of the best we have
On my to do list again as a build up to walks since undergoing a Heart procedure and being told to ease back into bigger walks.
corvus

[Nuts]

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
There was a knock at the door that I answered immediately. It was a wide eyed old man, a harbinger of bad news. He told of how, in the very carpark where I’d chosen to eat breakfast, local alcohol and drug fuelled youths had stoned his motorhome, leaving several dings in the bodywork that he pointed out and had rocked another man’s camper trailer on its side.

That is really bad! I did hear something about a trailer/caravan being upturned. Devonport has a big number of dero youth (and parents). I would take the hound for a walk down there at times. Once, pelted with rocks from the tea trees, I chased the kids up the hill. Turned out they were 8&9yrs old..

What a terrible experience these things are from cowardly kids on (mostly) retired travelers. Officially no camping but the council turns a blind eye (like the police it seems).

Good to see you found a nicer place, some great images from your travels Ian.