Choose a diary entry31/03/2004 - Retrenched! 02/04/2004 - Farewell Lunch 03/04/2004 - Preparation 1 04/04/2004 - Preparation 2 05/04/2004 - Packing 06/04/2004 - Sydney to Hobart to Mt. Field NP 07/04/2004 - Tarn Shelf, then into the Southwest 08/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 1 - Up Alpha Moraine 09/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 2 - Lake Cygnus 10/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 3 - Lake Oberon & Square Lake 11/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 4 - Lake Oberon to Lake Cygnus 12/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 5 - Lake Cygnus to Junction Creek 13/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 6 - out to Mt Field NP 14/04/2004 - Back to Hobart for resupply and on to Southport 15/04/2004 - Southport, Hastings springs, Cockle Creek 16/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 1 - Cockle Creek to South Cape Rivulet 17/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 2 - South Cape Rivulet 18/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 3 - back to Cockle Creek, then Hobart 19/04/2004 - Hobart to Lake St. Clair 20/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 1 - to Vera Hut 21/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 2 - Tahune Hut and the Summit 22/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 3 - Tahune Hut to Vera Hut 23/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 4 - out to Derwent Bridge 24/04/2004 - Derwent Bridge / Lake St. Clair to Hobart 25/04/2004 - R&R in Hobart 26/04/2004 - Hobart, buying a new Camera 27/04/2004 - Hobart to Port Arthur 28/04/2004 - Port Arthur Historic site, then to Fortescue Bay 29/04/2004 - Tasman Trail Hike - Fortescue Bay to Eaglehawk Neck 30/04/2004 - Eaglehawk Neck to Hobart, Targa 01/05/2004 - Hobart R&R, Salamanca Markets 02/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 1 - to Wombat Flat 03/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 2 - to Mt. Ramsay 04/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 3 - Mt. Ramsay to Huskisson River 05/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 4 - Camped at Huskisson River 06/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 5 - Across the Huskisson 07/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 6 - Out, then to Strahan 08/05/2004 - R&R in Strahan 09/05/2004 - Dissapointing Gordon River Cruise 10/05/2004 - Strahan, R&R, Preparation for Overland Track 11/05/2004 - Strahan to Lake St. Clair 12/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 1 - Lake St. Clair to Pine Valley Hut 13/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 2 - the Labyrinth and Acropolis 14/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 3 - Pine Valley Hut to Kia-Ora Hut 15/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 4 - Kia-Ora Hut to Mt. Ossa to Pelion Hut 16/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 5 - Pelion Hut to Windermere Hut 17/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 6 - Windamere Hut to Cradle Mountain Village 18/05/2004 - Sick!, Cradle Mountain to Launceston 19/05/2004 - Recovery 1 20/05/2004 - Recovery 2 - Doctor, and Cataract Gorge 21/05/2004 - Recovery 3 22/05/2004 - Recovery 4 23/05/2004 - Recovery 5 24/05/2004 - Launceston to Bicheno 25/05/2004 - Freycinet Hike - Day 1 - the Hazards to Cooks Beach 26/05/2004 - Freycinet Hike - Day 2 - back to Bicheno 27/05/2004 - Exploring Bicheno 28/05/2004 - Bicheno to Launceston 29/05/2004 - Exploring Further in Launcestion 30/05/2004 - Cataract Gorge 2 31/05/2004 - Launceston to Liffey Falls to Deloraine 01/06/2004 - Trowunna, Devils Gullet, Walls of Jerusalem National Park 02/06/2004 - Walls of Jerusalem Hike - Day 1 03/06/2004 - Walls of Jerusalem - Day 2 - Out, then to Hobart 04/06/2004 - Mt. Field NP, Styx Valley & on to Triabunna 05/06/2004 - Maria Island - Day 1 06/06/2004 - Maria Island - Day 2 07/06/2004 - R&R in Launceston 08/06/2004 - Flying Back Home

Tasmania Diary

 

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Monday, April 26, 2004

Hobart, buying a new Camera

After breakfast, I went for a wander in the city to see if anything was going to be open, since I thought it might be a public holiday. It wasn't, lots of shops were opening and there was a fair bit of traffic – a big change from yesterday.
It was good that it wasn't a public holiday, since before I left Sydney, I'd prety much decided to buy a Nikon D70 digital SLR camera, but as it was new and popular, no-one had stock. So now, a few weeks later, I wanted to see if there were any available in Hobart, and if so, how much they were.
Hence a fair bit of the day was consumed by checking prices, and chilling out, reading, while trying to decide whether to buy or not. Eventually, I did get one.
By the time the battery was charged, it was dinner time – I just had some food left over from hiking (pasta) then went out to try out the camera. It wasn't exactly ideal conditions for testing, but at least I could get familiar with it. It was certainly a lot heavier than my point and shoot camera, but hopefully the estra weight will let me get the shots that previously were wrongly exposed or motion blurred when using Velvia slide film.

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Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Hobart to Port Arthur

After getting breakfast, I packed my stuff and put my pack in storage, as today, I planned to go to Port Arthur. I had an idea that I might walk from Fortescue Bay up to Eaglehawk neck, along the Tasman Trail, but I wasn't sure that I could get to Fortescue Bay, but figured I could walk or hitch as it wasn't over 17km.

I walked around town a little, trying out my camera further, and posted some stuff home, then headed for the domain (The Queens Domain). I though that there might be good views from the hill, and Jennifer had told me that the botanic gardens were nice.
It was quite a walk out to it (out past the supermarket) and was quite uninspiring when I got there – it was a pretty huge area of land on a hill with very dry bushland on it. The bushland appeared to have been cleared at some stage as the trees are very widely spaced, with dry grass between. There are many sporting grounds along the ridge for cricket, soccer, athletics and other sports. There was a school athletics carnival in progress while I was there.
There was a sign pointing to a viewpoint, which I followed to the summit of the hill, but the views were not very good, mostly obscured by trees.

I went down the far side of the hill to the botanic gardens, and was getting a bit dehydrated and tired of it. The botanic gardens were pretty, but after having just done Frenchmans Cap and sseeing the lush, green, mossy rainforest surrounding the Franklin River, the gardens seemed very contrived, and not really anything like reality.
So I ended up not spending very long in the gardens and headed back over the hill to the supermarket, stopping at a takeaway for a drink and snack. I bought a few days food, then returned to get my pack, put my food in I, and went to the bus terminal for the 4pm bus.
When the bus turned up, it was apparent that it was a school bus as it's primary function. Fortunately the kids weren't too loud or too many. The bus stopped many times to drop them off, and eventually arrived at Port Arthur YHA at 6pm in the dark. The YHA hostel is an old large house with a country feel. I cooked up some more left over hiking food for dinner.

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Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Port Arthur Historic site, then to Fortescue Bay

I packed early, intending to store my pack at the hostel while I visited the Port Arthur Historic Site. Unfortunately, the hostel operator was nowhere to be found. I waited till about 9:20am and decided to walk to the historic site and stash by pack there.
It was only a short walk around to the main entrance, where fortunately the visitors centre had some lockers big enough for my pack.

The entrance fee was pretty steep at $24. I skipped their displays about the life of a convict as a heap of other people had just gone in there, making it crowded. I wandered around the grounds for a while, checking out the church and the Broad Arrow Café memorial, before I was due for the guided tour. This is when it starte feeling like a weird theme park. the tour was about half an hour and briefly covered the main buildings. The whole area is quite strange, being very peaceful and quiet with big grassy expanses between buildings, so it is actually very different far from the original functioning Port Arthur, since only the stone and brick buildings remain, and not even all of those. This is because most of the buildings were burned in the 1890's in a bushfire, as 90% of them were wood.

At 11:45 it was time for the included cruise around the port. More theme park again. The views were nice though, they were asking $12 to visit the Isle of the Dead, and another $12 to visit the boys prison – I didn't bother. By this time I was starting to feel that better historic buildings could be seen for free just by walking around Hobart, and that Port Arthur was mostly just tourist trade hype.
The "model prison" which was modelled on quaker methods of not using corpral punishment (flogging), but using solitary confinement, was actually quite good. It had a roof and a recreated chapel, and hence was much easier to imagine what it was like for convicts. The cells were very small, just 1.3m x 2.2m with a hammock, stool, a bucket for water, another for waste, and a small high barred window. There was a punishment cell (as if solitary wasn't enough) which was completely dark – even with the door open it was virtually impossible to see anything. It would have sent anyone crazy. There were about 6 separate exercise yards, and prisoners got 1 hour a day on their own in one. The chapel was weirdest though – it had person sized 'boxes' so that prisoners stood in a box and could only see the minister, not any of the other prisoners in the room.
Some of the steps in untouched areas were interesting, worn down almost to a ramp in the middle.

I had some lunch at the restaurant, late, and managed to set out walking toward Fortescue Bay.
There wasn't anywhere very good for hitching, and I wanted to try to walk if it was still light. The road wasn't good for walking however, with narrow edges. My pack was [i]very /i] heavy – probably at least 25kg, it was the first time I'd carried all my stuff for a one way hike, and I was carrying a few things I probably didn’t need to. After about an hour, I came to Fortescue Bay Road, which is a dirt road, and confirmed with a man I met that this was the turn I wanted. After about half an hour of walking down this road, a 4WD stopped without me signalling, and the man inside offered a lift. I figured I might as well, as by that time it was obvious that it would be dark when I arrived (not that it would have been a problem, walking on a road).

The guy turned out to be the camp ground keeper, and talked about the fire that had gone through the area in summer. Last night I saw some photos of Cape Pillar, Cape Hauy, and the Totem Pole, and thought that it would have been nice to be able to go there, but the tracks were closed due to the bushfire. He told me that a lot of duckboard was burned out, and there were lots of dangerous trees on the tracks.

I paid for the campsite, and set up my tent. I discovered that I could have chosen a better site - The Bush Mill section on the south side, where I set up, had several fishermen who were car camping noisily. At least they went to bed early, but it was because they were getting up early.
The sunset was quite pretty, as it was through a pall of smoke, probably from more logging operations.

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Thursday, April 29, 2004

Tasman Trail Hike - Fortescue Bay to Eaglehawk Neck

I woke early, at about 6am, thanks to the fishermen, but lay in bed for a while. After striking camp, I was away by 8am.
The weather was cloudy as I walked along the beach to the north end, and into the forest. The forest was mostly dry eucalypt. I soon came to Canoe Bay, where there was an old wreck with many gulls perched on it. The track then started climbing , and I soon realised just how heavy my pack was. The track dropped again to Bivouac Bay where there is a big camp site with a toilet.

So far the track had been mostly near the shore, but in the trees. Now it started climbing, and I was working hard. (I definitely have to dump some stuff from my pack). The track continued to climb through bush until it suddenly broke out at the edge of a high coastal cliff. No wonder I'd been climbing for a while. The views were great. Continuing along the cliff edge, the track had great views of the cliffs as well as south to the distant Cape Hauy, where the candlestick could clearly be seen.

The track continued its climb, with good views occasionally, and the odd glimpse of Fortescue Bay, with golden white sand and emerald water.
Finally I reached the highest point on the hike, Tatnells Hill, and decided to have lunch. At this point I realised I'd forgotten to have breakfast! That couldn't have helped things on the climb – at least I'd been eating snacks while hiking.
The view north from near the summit was excellent. I realised that Waterfall Bay, which was the next bay north, wasn't like the other three I'd passed – it was lined with high cliffs.

The track descended fairly quickly into rainforest, but
appeared to be all regrowth, since there were lots of dead massive trees, but no live ones.
I took a side track at Camp Falls to go down to Shower Falls, just below, where I went behind the waterfall. Skirting the Waterfall Bay cliffs, the track came out at a road, and a lookout overlooking Waterfall Bay. The waterfall was just a trickle.

The track from here to Patersons Arch, the Devils Kitchen, and Tasmans Arch, was very good, with several lookouts. The arches and devils kitchen were formed in wave eroded slots in the cliff and were impressive.
I then walked around Pirates Bay on the road to Eaglehawk Neck and to the backpackers. By the time I arrived, my feet were very sore – have to dump some stuff out of my pack!
Earlier, I'd called "Tiger Trails" (a guided hiking company) to organise going on a guided walk into the Tarkine, now I called the bus service to book a seat for the morning. The bus came at 6:45am! Nasty!
I packed my stuff and went to bed after a shower and dinner.

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Friday, April 30, 2004

Eaglehawk Neck to Hobart, Targa

After getting up at 6am, and getting ready in 15 minutes, I walked the kilometre or so from the hostel to the highway. It was still dark, but the morning twilight provided enough light to walk by.
The bus came along precisely on time, and I flagged it down. The school kids who use the bus must have a very long day.

Arriving in Hobart again at 8am, I got a bite to eat and went and checked back into the Pickled Frog Backpackers for two nights.
I went for a wander, and soon found that there was something happening in Salamanca Place. The third stage of the Targa Tasmania rally was being started there. It was interesting, with all the different sports cars, but not as exciting as I thought it might be, as the cars took off at a very leisurely pace. There were an amazing number of cars – over 100 for sure, and after watching and photographing for a while, the petrol fumes were staring to be irritating, so I went to send some emails, then went back to the hostel.

I did my washing, and didn't do a whole lot else for the rest of the day. I did however go to the Tiger Trails office in the afternoon to figure out what I needed to take, and to fill in forms. For dinner, I had more hiking food, in order to try to use it up, as I would not be needing food for 6 days on the Tiger Trails trip, as it was included.

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