Taking photos after Wednesday morning was the last thing on my mind until we got close to Waterfall Valley. But see a couple more below.
There isn't a lot to report. The first part of the trip up to Pelion Hut from Cynthia Bay was regulation: one night each at Bert Nichols and Kia-Ora huts. Although it might be worth mentioning the family group we met at BN on Sunday who were on their way out. The youngest child was 5 years old and the kids had energy to burn. A very impressive family of bushwalkers.
We spent Thursday afternoon at Windermere Hut recovering (eating, drinking and resting) before heading to Waterfall Valley hut on Friday. It rained most of Thursday night and into Friday morning and this washed snow away in parts so that the Friday leg to WFV took 4.5 hours overall including reaching the Lake Will junction in just over 2 hours. We elected to walk that day with microspikes rather than snowshoes.
Friday evening we met a chap who had just walked in from Ronny Creek who told us about the rescue of the young woman from the Northern Territory. By coincidence, we had met her on the bus from Hobart (she went on to get the connection to Cradle Valley).
On Saturday we walked to Dove lake in just over 6 hours with going around the mountain as the slowest section (about 2 hours). We had snowshoes on and off for that and then used them again out of Kitchen Hut. Approaching KH we encountered a couple who were going up Cradle Mountain to snowboard and ski back down. Given the facts that visibility was poor, I'm an ordinary skier, and I was looking forward to lunch at the Lodge, I didn't look at them with envy. But as with the children at BNH, their enthusiasm was a joy to observe.
A final thought. At Cynthia Bay the ranger warned that the system approaching was equivalent to a Cat. 2. We aimed to be out on Thursday but with an extra day up our sleeves in case of bad weather. We thought that was enough. We were wrong and should have then and there changed plans. Before that, we should have incorporated an extra couple of days in our plans for weather contingency thus avoiding missing our flight on Friday (we eventually flew out of Launceston on Sunday morning). The lesson has been learnt. But it was a great experience nonetheless. There is a terrible beauty in Tasmania's wild winter weather and while there was a downside I'm glad to have experienced it.
The Pelion plains:
The track ahead: