To celebrate the start of a new month, I went and got myself a new fish tank. The salesman said it comes with a lifetime supply of food already in the tank… sounds strange, but apparently tropical fish love to eat meat!
Swimming with the fishies
Overland track – day 6
Not many photos from the last day of the hike, as it was raining on and off all morning. The last hut, at the edge of Lake St Claire was only 3 hours walk through mixed eucalyptus and rainforest. At the hut, there was a radio for contacting a ferry, which a lot of hikers use for the last leg of the track. We booked on to the ferry, and relaxed for a few hours before it arrived.
The ferry ride was 25 minutes across the lake, which was lined with deep forest and mountains. At the other end was a large visitor centre & cafe, and we explored a few short walks nearby while waiting for our ride back to Hobart!
Overland track – day 5
According to the map it was to be a short days walk, although there were two short side walks to a series of waterfalls. We set off fairly early, walking through eucalyptus scrub which quickly became deep rainforest. After about an hour we came to the first falls track. D’Alton Falls (above) were lovely, although you couldn’t get very close. Along the same side track was the turnoff to Fergusson Falls. We walked down to the base of the falls and sat down for a while, with the wind carrying a fine spray of water from the falls. As we watched, a gust of wind shook the leatherwood trees and a shower of white petals swirled down to us.
The final side walk for the day led to Hartnett falls. The last bit of the path ran right along the edge of a cliff, that had been undercut by the river. At the bottom the cliff towered up and overhead, and on the other side a wall of deep forest rose almost as steeply. I peeled off my socks and boots and paddled through the fairly shallow river to find a good spot for a photo. I don’t think my feet have ever been so cold!
Finally we got back on to the main track, and set off for the next hut at Windy Ridge. Clouds were starting to gather, and we had a few drops of rain. By the time we got to the hut it was beginning to rain heavily, and we decided to skip the next nights stay if the weather got worse!
Overland track – day 4
I was happy to be woken up at dawn to see the first light hitting the mountains, while the plains in front of me were still wreathed in mist and frost! Yesterday I had noticed that the plains had distinct stripes of different grasses, but I hadn’t come up with a good photo of it. I think this one works well, with the stripes of vegetation matched by the stripes of mist and sunlight.
The walk today was a short one for me, as I decided not to take the side trip up Mt Ossa with the rest of the group, opting (a bit guiltily) to have a rest day after the tiring day before. I strolled on through eucalyptus scrub, with some amazing views of mountain peaks in every direction. The next hut at Kia Ora falls was only a few hours away, and I took advantage of arriving early to have a quick shower under a rainwater tank before doing some exploring. Kia Ora falls were small but friendly, and I found the source of the white petals that we saw the day before – a ranger later told me that they were Leatherwood trees.
I spent the rest of the afternoon lazily reading a book, until the rest of my group arrived in the late afternoon and collapsed in a heap.
One final picture, this is Cathedral Mountain taken from near the hut. This mountain was stunning, and was much larger than you can see here, but I didn’t manage to find a way of framing it that I was happy with.
