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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Sunday, May 16, 2004

Overland Track - Day 5 - Pelion Hut to Windermere Hut

During the night, I could hear it raining, and when I woke in the morning, it was still raining.
After wasting a bit of time, figuring out whether to stay at Pelion or to go on, I decided to push on, to at least Windermere Hut, since the rain wasn't very heavy, and since it might rain tomorrow as well.
I set off slowly into the rain, the first from the hut to leave, and quickly found that the rain had submerged many parts of the track in puddles. I also found that things were now quite slippery, as I fell when I stepped on a wet tree root, just a few minutes from Pelion Hut, getting me a bit muddy.
After about an hour of walking in the forest, I came to Frog Flat – supposedly a camp ground, but it would have been very wet in the rain.

There had been quite a few muddy spots and eroded areas up to Frog Flat, but they weren't as bad for the next hour, which was spent climbing slowly through the forest. The forest was quite pretty, with cloud occasionally enveloping it, then the occasional ray of sunshine, but the rain never really stopped, just eased to be very light. Fairly suddenly, the trail emerged on a buttongrass alpine plain. There were clouds swirling in the adjacent Forth Valley, and it was still raining a little. The track surface turned to broken rocks, which often had shallow water lying over them.

After traversing the plain, coming to a stand of trees, and going through, another, bigger plain opened in front of me – Pine Forest Moor. A short side track led to a viewpoint of the Forth Valley which was still somewhat impressive despite the surrounding mountains being hidden by cloud. As I left the lookout, the rain really started to come down, and as I crossed the Moor, on boards and broken rock, the wind picked up to turn the rain into driving rain. By this time, I'd remembered that my waterproof pants didn't work very well, as I was wet wherever they rubbed. On a fine day the Moor would be quite beautiful, as it is studded with many small tarns, and surrounded by mountains, but I mostly saw just the track as I pushed on with my head down into the rain. At one point the track actually went through the middle of a small tarn, although it may normally be dry.
I was on the lookout for lakes, since the next hut was near Lake Windermere. After Pine Forest Moor, there was a sharp dip where I thought a lake might be, but no, no lake. Then I topped the a rise, and saw a lake which I thought was the Lake Windermere (it turned out to be Lake Curran), but the track passed it and continued for another kilometre before coming to Windermere Hut.

It was a relief to walk into the dry hut. The relief was however tempered by learning that the gas heater was not working.
While I had some lunch, Annerieke van Hoek and Jeroen Immerzeel, who I'd met at the previous huts, turned up. Since Jeroen was a chemical engineer, he soon determined the active gas bottle was empty, and Annerieke with her small hands was able to turn on one of the other full ones. That pretty much made me decide to stay, since we'd been told that the Waterfall Valley Hut's heater was also not working, and I really wanted to dry my stuff.
The rain continued on and off for most of the afternoon, making me even more glad that I didn't go on. The only problem was, what would the weather be like tomorrow? – Better or worse?

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Monday, May 17, 2004

Overland Track - Day 6 - Windamere Hut to Cradle Mountain Village

The answer was, the weather was better, but only just. The rain had stopped, but we were in the cloud, which limited visibility severely.
The track started by going past lake Windamere, which looked as though it woud be good for swimming in summer, but was eerie dissappearing into the cloud. A short way after the lake, I met Annerieke and Jeroen, looking at a small tarn. When I got there, they said they were watching a platypus, and sure enough, as I watched too, the platypus surfaced.
The pond was amazingly small, just about 4 metres in diameter. I stayed, and took several photos of the platypus, then continued on, up a small hill.

At the top of the hill, there were views of several lakes on the plateau below, but the cloud obscured the surrounding mountains. The track was now on a very large buttongrass plain, and as I walked, the cloud was burning off, and I could see more and more of the surrounding area. Lake Holmes was quite pretty, and soon after, the track went briefly into small Snow Gums. Walking through a small plain, the cloud parted in front of me, and suddenly Barn Bluff was there right above the track – Awesome.

A short while later, I came to the Waterfall Valley Hut, and had lunch on the helipad with Annerieke and Jeroen, and watched as cloud once again enveloped Barn Bluff. As I arrived at Waterfall Valley Hut, I saw a very cheeky Black Currawong going through Annerieke's pack while she was in the loo. The bird had unzipped the top of her pack and pulled out all the contents of the compartment (fortunately no food), and flew off when I arrived – amazing!

I decided to go on to the end of the track rather than stay, as at least it wasn't raining, and there were some limitied views – It proved to be a very good choice. The track climbed steeply from Waterfall Valley, and soon I was walking along the Cradle Cirque. It was about the only really obvious glacial feature I've seen in Tasmania, as there was a massive semicircular gouge forming the head of a valley. Whisps of cloud were enveloping then revealing the Cirque, Cradle Mountain, and the valleys to the west.
I had been feeling a little queasy all morning, but now I found I started burping and breaking wind a fair bit – Bummer I thought, I might have gotten a bug from bad water.
The cloud whisps were clearing as I walked beside Cradle Mountain, giving great views of the mountain, Barn Bluff, and the valley to the west of Cradle Mountain.


I reached the turnoff to the summit of Cradle Mountain at about 1:45pm, and the sign said 2.5 hours return. I figured it must be wrong, since it was only 2km, and figured I could afford about 1.5 hours. Leaving my pack, I started climbing, making very rapid progress for about 10 minutes, but then the good track disappeared, and became a route marked by poles, going over, and around billions of big Dolorite boulders. I was using my hands as much as my feet.
After about half an hour, I got to a ridge which looked to be the summit, but as I topped it, I found the track continued down a small gully and back up to the next ridge. The gully had a good coating of snow, making safe footholds hard to find. I started thinking I should have brought the EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), as it was pretty dangerous in places.

Finally after about 50 minutes, I reached the summit where there is a trig point, and a cairn with distance information. The views were quite good, although overcast. I could easily see Barn Bluff. After a brief stay at the top, I started the descent which turned out to be much easier than I though it might have been, involving much use of the backside. I got back to my pack again at about 3:15, and got underway again, passing Kitchen Hut, and continuing on toward Marions Lookout. The sign said 2 hours, so I wanted to hurry, otherwise it would be dark when I got to the carpark.

It was very bleak and cold across the alpine plateau, going to Marions lookout, with only very low vegetation. After what seemed like ages, but was only about 40 minutes, I reached Marions Lookout, which gave a great view of Cradle Mountain, Dove Lake, and Crater Lake. Unfortunately, the overcast sky had descended and covered the top of Cradle Mountain. By this stage, I was very cold, so put on some more clothing layers. Descending from the lookout proved to be very steep, but gave great views of Crater Lake, with much Deciduous Beech surrounding it.
By the time I reached and passed the level of Crater Lake, my knees were getting a bit sore, but I continued at a fast pace, as, if the shuttle bust was running, I wanted to get there before the last bus, or otherwise, I wanted to have some light to try to hitch in. The very last part of the track crossed a grassy valley mostly on duckboard, and ended at the Ronny Creek carpark. In this last section, I saw two wombats munching grass. There were a lot less facilities than I'd expected – pretty much only the carpark. Fortunately I was able to thumb a lift to the hostel (8km down the road) within just a couple of minutes.

Walking to the dorm rooms from the reception, I was feeling pretty worn out (its about a 5 miniute walk).
I unpacked my gear, and went to see if I could find Annerieke and Jeroen. I soon found them in the camping area's cooking shelter – an enormous room with a wood fire, tables, seats and a kitchen. We sat in front of the fire and talked for a while, then went to the store/reception for some dinner extras. My legs felt very achy. Back in front of the fire, we cooked dinner and talked, but as I was eating, I started feeling quite funny, and soon I realised it was because I had a fever, which explained all the other symptoms. Feeling pretty bad, I said goodnight, and went off to bed, only stopping to take some codeine / paracetamol.
The night was a struggle between feeling freezing cold, which I knew was good for my fever, and wanting to be warmer. Surprisingly though I did get plenty of sleep.

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Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Sick!, Cradle Mountain to Launceston

I woke feeling better than last night, but still pretty ordinary. It was raining steadily. I went and found Annrieke and Jeroen in the cooking shelter again after a shower, and they had decided to catch a bus back to Lake St Clair rather than hitch in the rain. My bus to Launceston didn't come till 3:15pm which was a pain, so I went and had some breakfast in the café across the road ( the only other building in the area). While I was reading and eating, the others came over, soon their bus came and I said goodbye.

I then ordered some hot chips, but found that by halfway, I was feeling pretty queasy and couldn’t finish them. I then went back to the kitchen of the dorm rooms and sat around, reading for quite a while, feeling pretty low and cold. There was an old map of Tasmania on the wall of the kitchen, which was interesting as it was made before the Gordon River and Lake Pedder dams, and showed the original Lake Pedder, and the full length of the Port Davey Track, going all the way to Mount Field National Park.
It was still raining as it neared time for the bus, and I went back to the café, which was the pickup point, and felt up to a hot chocolate. The bus came and started on it's windy mountainous journey to Devonport, with rain for most of the way. Then it continued to Launceston. I booked into the metro YHA and pretty-much just crashed, fully clothed into bed.

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Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Recovery 1

I had a slight fever again last night. I got up late and went for a wander, checking out Launceston. It is fairly different to Hobart – it still has many historic buildings (especially churches) but the majority were brick, due to local material availability.
I also found that prices here seemed to be a little more expensive.
About lunchtime, I got a small pizza roll, and realised it was the only food I'd had for 24 hours. I dropped a film in for processing (from before I got the new camera) and got my flash card burned to CD (only $5 at Cyber-King) and sent some email.

Back at the hostel, I just rested till dinner time, when I found an expensive food hall, and managed to eat a whole large dinner. I figured I must be getting over the worst of the sickness. Again I flaked out to bed.

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Thursday, May 20, 2004

Recovery 2 - Doctor, and Cataract Gorge

I didn't have a fever last night, but instead had diarrhoea this morning, fortunately just one case, not the runs.
I'd decided that if I wasn't feeling good today I'd see a doctor, and I still felt queasy.
Conveniently there was a medical centre across the road from the hostel, and I went and made a booking, then went for a walk and came back for the appointment. The doctor said I probably had Giardia, and gave me a script for nausia relief pills, and another for diarrhoea if I needed it. I got the pills at a chemist then continued on my exploration of the town, ending up at Royal Park, and Kings Park.

I then decided to investigate Cataract Gorge. I walked to Kings Bridge, a pretty, wrought iron road bridge, then started up the zig-zag track. I soon found I was very weak from the illness, and could only climb the steep hill at a snails pace. The trail goes through dry bush to the top of the hill, where I could hear the sound of roaring water, and where there is a lookout platform which gives great views down on the gorge, with the water tumbling over and between boulders and rocks.
The track continues down to First Basin, where there is a swimming pool, kiosk, and chairlift. It would be nice on a hot summer day, although it would be better without the chairlift. I walked over the Alexandra Suspension Bridge, and stopped to rest at a picnic table. As I was sitting there, one of the local peacocks wandered past.
Feeling a bit worn out, I headed back along the northern track, which was much easier, as it was fairly flat, suspended on the side of the cliff wall at times. The walk is far from a wilderness walk, but is still well worth doing. On the way back, I noticed that there is a dyke surrounding the Tamar River.

I got a call from Zinta who said she'd been up in the Blue Tier, and had also managed to get sick (a chest problem). She also said she'd looked at doing the Overland Track, but found she'd have to walk 19km in a day. Unfortunately we got cut off, but I was kind of glad she didn't make it on the Overland track if she thought 19km was a long day.
Thinking I could handle a proper meal again, I got a burger and beer at the Royal Oak Hotel. Unfortunately, I think the beer reacted with me, as whilst I was eating, I started feeling worse and worse. I felt like my gut was tying itself in knots, and I could hear, and feel things rumbling in my gut.
Eventually it became quite painful and I went back to the hostel, where I soon discovered it was because I had a massive buildup of gas.
Yet again I went to bet early, feeling whacked.

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