Tasmania Recap

Tasmania was outstanding. We had a wonderful time, and saw a lot of variation - rugged coastlines and sandy beaches; calm bays and the wild west coast; rainforest, eucalypt forest, button grass meadows and coastal heath; aboriginal, convict and colonial heritage sites; mining, hydro dams and power stations as well as some of the largest temperate rainforest areas on the planet.

We walked many day trails, including twelve of the sixty best short walks in Tasmania. When we needed dry weather, it was dry. We had a perfect trip.

Cradle Mountain

I guess the experiences that draw people to Tasmania tend to be the UNESCO World Heritage Sites - the five convict sites of which Port Arthur would be the most visited, and the 1.5 million hectares of contiguous temperate wilderness of which Cradle Mountain would be the centrepiece. When we went to Mount Field we visited two of the parks that comprise this World Heritage site, and we stopped in at Lake St Clair, but now we’re at Cradle Mountain itself.

The morning was quite frosty when we started our walk around Dove Lake.

The lake was still, so it reflected everything. There weren’t many people there that early, and most were quietly making their way around the lake. Cradle Mountain dominated the view, but the other mountains ringing the lake were good too.

There were areas of rainforest, but I’ve already put a lot of rainforest photos in the blog from this trip. We saw some yellow tailed black cockatoos and a Tasmanian rosella.

We finished the circuit, so we went on to the Crater Lake circuit. First we passed Lake Lilla.

Then Wombat pool with cataracts coming out of it. By that time a very noisy foreign family was leapfrogging us, but they finally disappeared into the distance as we toiled up the slope.

Cradle Mountain was disappearing behind another mountain when we saw it all three lakes below us with Wombat Pool nearest and Dove Lake farthest away.

Over the saddle we skirted Crater Lake, and started to descend.

We went along beside Crater Creek and saw a series of waterfalls (Crater Falls) in the rainforest.

The path dipped in and out of the rainforest and the button grass. Finally it was button grass until we reached the shuttle bus stop.

We left the National Park, and visited Railton, which claims to be the Topiary Town. 

Its neighbor - Sheffield - is the mural town.

On the way to these towns we went through a very rugged region, and saw Mount Roland.

North Coast

Today we drove to Cradle Mountain, and on the way we saw some of the north coast of Tasmania. The waves are much gentler than those on either the west or east coast, and the coastline is not as rugged. 

We went off the highway to see Boat Harbour.

Sisters Beach where we saw the eastern end of Rocky Cape National Park.

We then went back to the western end of Rocky Cape National Park (where Rocky Cape itself is) because we wanted to see some very important sites. There are two caves where Aborigines lived for thousands of years. The first one we visited was the South Cave, where you can see the shell middens and get very close to the cave itself.

The coastline here is very rocky and must be good for shellfish.

Then we visited the North Cave. This appears to be more important from an archeological perspective, as it’s much bigger (at least 80 yards long) and has many shell middens inside it. As a result, the viewing platform for it is much further away, but you can still see the slash in the hillside.

While we were there we saw a flock of yellow tailed black Cockatoos eating the banksias on the hillside.

Rocky Cape is one of the three capes in the area which were grouped in an Aboriginal legend. The Nut and Table Rock are the others, and you can see both from Rocky Cape.

When we reached Bernie, we went inland and visited Group Falls, which are a series of falls cascading down a hill.

Finally, we reached a viewpoint where we could see across to Cradle Mountain and the alpine region.

Sinkholes

We started today at Smithton, visiting the Apex Lookout there, where we saw good views of the coast.

The Trowutta Arch was formed from limestone being eaten away, and two sinkholes forming. It’s also a very old area of rainforest, and some of the tree ferns must be at least 600 years old.

As the Tarkine is quartzite, there is a lot of limestone around, and many sinkholes. One is beside the road, and is very black so the reflections make it so serine. We saw a kookaburra there.

Lake Chisholm is a beautiful sinkhole in the midst of tall trees.

At Julius River, none of the sinkholes are flooded, but they are all full of moss and tree ferns.

During the day we visited the Tayatea Bridge and the Kanunnah Bridge which both cross the Arthur River a long way upstream from where the boat chugged yesterday.

Milkshake Hills had been closed since the 2016 fires. The rainforest had been badly burnt. I was intrigued that the tree ferns had survived the fires while the trees hadn’t.

The second walk at Milkshake Hills was over the button grass and up to the top. It was fantastic looking over the hills of natural vegetation.

We saw the button grass plains again at the Dempster Lookout. This was another area that was burnt in 2016.

The Sumac Lookout overlooks the Arthur River and the surrounding forest.

Arthur River, Middens and Petroglyphs

The Arthur River, and the associated areas of the Tarkine is the only major river system in Tasmania that hasn’t been logged, dammed, farmed or mined. It’s mainly quartzite, so the soil is poor and stony, so it’s bad for farming. This area didn’t have glaciers, so it’s not suitable for dams. Huon Pine doesn’t grow here, so logging wasn’t terribly profitable, and there weren’t many minerals. So it’s pristine wilderness. Of course, the Aborigines lived here for 40,000 years, including through the last ice age, and practised firestick farming, so there are many more areas of eucalyptus and button grass than there may be if man hadn’t inhabited the area.

Roads are all on the outskirts of the Tarkine, so to visit the middle, we took a boat tour with the red boat (there’s also a white boat).

First you go through coastal heath, then the eucalypts start. They’re very twisted because of the winds. That’s also why the sea eagle nest in the photo is below the canopy.

Further on, the trees become straight as they don’t get the coastal winds.

Finally, you come across pockets of rainforest. We stopped at one, had a walk through the forest, and a nice lunch. In the picture, you can see logs that have been carried down the river in the winter floods, high up the bank.

We saw an eagle and its nest.

It was a fantastic trip.

Before we went on the boat, we found out how to get to the Aboriginal site in the area, so we went there afterwards. You walk through coastal vegetation.

Then you come to the middens.

If you continue along the track, you reach a stream.

And finally find the petroglyphs.

Seeing such precious things is amazing. On our way back we saw a wombat on the beach.