Catch up Blog

So I've been a bit slack in updating the blog this past couple of months...

Here's a bit of a run-down of some of the places we've been:

Bridport

Craig and Sharelle came down to visit for a few weeks in September/October. We only managed one weekend all together, so we went for a drive to Bridport (north coast).

We stopped at Lilydale Falls along the way

Despite the perfect opportunity to be immortalized on film, he refused to fall in...

Spring in Tassie - Daffodils growing wild

(seen along roadsides, in paddocks - pretty much all over the place)

We also stopped briefly at Bridestow Lavender Farm

Coast at Bridport

We had lunch at Bridport, then went for a walk through the Wildflower Reserve. There were plenty of flowers to photograph (I got well and truly left behind...)

We drove home via Low Head and stopped off to see the lighthouse (and to terrorise the penguins)(Craig)

Overlooking the mouth of the Tamar River

Lighthouse

Craig intruding on a poor penguin's privacy

(also prime opportunity to capture a penguin attack on film)

(disappointed again)

Binalong Bay

One of our favourite places to go mountain biking is Derby. Unfortunately the trails are about an hour-and-a-half's drive from here (which makes for a pretty long day), so we decided to combine a biking trip with an overnight camp at the southern end of the Bay of Fires.

Coast near Binalong Bay

We were hoping to drive north to The Gardens, but turns out the road was closed, so we turned back instead to camp at Swimcart Beach, close to Binalong Bay.

Our campsite

(and the BT loaded up with bikes)

Wandering along the beach 

Lots of photogenic rocks

Including the lichen-covered boulders that the Bay of Fires is famous for

Aurora Chasing

We've never managed to top the shots we got of the Aurora on the 9th of September, but it's not for want of trying...

11th of September - faint colours under the clouds

(photobombed by a car)

2nd of October

(Ryan and Craig at Cressy - may not be the Aurora, but the milky way looks cool)

7th of October

(quick trip out for me after staying back late at work - rewarded with beams of light!!)

10th of October

(no Aurora so Ryan made some star trails instead - photobombed by a plane partway through...)

7th of November

(maybe the most colourful yet, just obscured by clouds)(sigh)

Mole Creek Caves

We made a spur-of-the-moment decision one rainy weekend in November to check out the Mole Creek Caves (a place we've driven close to many times but never stopped to see). We had a tour of King Solomon's Cave all to ourselves.

Which was packed with spectacular formations

More formations

And a couple of dodgy tourists

Followed by more formations

We stopped to check out the Alum Cliffs on the way home.

There was a sculpture along the track that consisted of some (very artistic?) beams of wood arranged on several boulders. Ryan hatched a cunning plan to make a superman-like leap off the end of one while I captured his attempt to fly with some rapid-fire shots on the camera. 

Here goes...

It's possible that I messed up the camera settings so that rather than capturing a heroic flight I may have only gotten Ryan lying in the foetal position after landing not so gently on his ankle

(I wasn't his favourite person for a while after that)

(apparently the pain was all in vain...)

Hobart

We also decided that we better remedy the fact that we'd not yet visited Hobart, so we planned a weekend trip to see the city as well as Port Arthur.

Obligatory trip to Salamanca Markets

As well as a drive up Mount Wellington

Tesselated Pavement at dusk

(on the way out to Port Arthur)

I have way too many photos from Port Arthur to choose from (surprising I know), but here's a random selection...

Fishing
There's been a bit of fishing going on too, but so far the score is trout 4 - Ryan 0

We had a pretty quiet Christmas (after I finished work at 0400 on Christmas morning), but we did head out for a celebratory fish...

Merry Christmas :-)

Hobart (again)

We also made one more day trip to the city to check out the yachts finishing the Sydney to Hobart

And that's the year up to date (apart from a whole lotta mountain biking which never gets photographed). Here's to a brand new year of adventures :-)

Cradle Mountain

Yes, it's true - we have been living in Tassie for 11 months and this is the first time we've seen Cradle Mountain....

I did actually make the drive out soon after moving here, but hadn't quite got the hang of Tasmanian weather (no point visiting mountains when it's overcast/cloudy/raining) and this is all I manged to see:

Anyway, we finally got around to visiting the iconic peak on New Year's Eve.

Of course, simply seeing the mountain from the shores of Dove Lake was never going to be adventurous enough, so I mapped out a walk incorporating part of the Overland Track to the summit of Cradle Mountain itself.

We started at the Ronny Creek carpark, which also marks the beginning of the Overland Track. The trail starts along an elevated boardwalk over marshy grassland, and is a good place for spotting wombats.

Although the brown lump in the foreground looks suspiciously like a rock,

I promise it is a wombat

Soon enough, though it starts to climb.

We ascended through one short patch of forest alongside the creek, but the remainder of the climb wound up through low scrub. It was a little warm walking in the sun (more like stinking hot), but the views were good.

Looking back towards the carpark 

(on the far side of the bare patch in the distance)

A brief reprieve from the sun

We passed by Crater Lake nestled in the bowl of surrounding peaks.

View from inside the boatshed at Crater Lake

Crater Lake

(looking back the way we have just come)

From there it was another steep climb up to Marion's Lookout and our first sight of Cradle Mountain.

The climb out from Crater Lake

View from Marion's Lookout

The track then struck out across open alpine grassland with the Cradle peak dominating the view ahead and Dove Lake visible in the valley below. There were plenty of other walkers out, ranging from Overland Track hikers toting heavy packs, to families coaxing their kids along and enviably fit pensioners putting to shame more "touristy" types walking in hot pants and crop tops...

Cradle Mountain with Barn Bluff to the right

Getting closer...

(you can see the trail heading up the mountain from kitchen hut)

We dipped briefly down to kitchen hut - an emergency shelter nestled close to the base of the mountain with a clear view of the slog ahead.

Kitchen Hut

(note the second storey doorway and shovel so you can get in when the snow is high)

Inside the hut

We then departed the Overland Track (which skirted the base of the mountain and continued on southwards) and began the steep, hot climb to the summit. The track started off as a moderately steep scramble up the rocky footslope which ended in a jumble of broken rock at the base of the dolerite cliffs. From this point, the "walk" turned into more of a climb as we negotiated the rocky maze.

This is not so bad...

Getting a bit steeper

At least the view is good

(Overland Track to the left, Dove Lake to the right)

The track goes where?!?

The actual summit is not visible from the Dove Lake side of the mountain, and the "track" dipped into several steep valleys and over multiple rises before finally topping out onto a large plateau with expansive views in every direction.

Another false summit

Finally made it

(Barn Bluff in the background)

Looking southeast over the "back" of the mountain towards Weindorfer's Tower

(the lower peak of the "cradle")

Looking south along the Overland Track towards Barn Bluff

We enjoyed lunch at the top, then started the scramble/slide back to the bottom (yes - sliding down on your bum is a legitimate descending technique). From the mountain slopes there were several hiking tracks visible on the plateau, including one enticing trail that led off around the base of Cradle Mountain (the Face Track) to the far side of Dove Lake where it followed the ridge line before eventually descending to the Dove Lake carpark. My original plan of retracing our route was quickly revised to include this track.

Partway down looking over Dove Lake

The Face Track was quite a bit rougher than the well-trodden Overland Track and dipped up and down along the base of Cradle Mountain before descending to another emergency shelter nestled below the ridge.

Lake Wilks above Dove Lake

Ranger's Hut

From there it was an undulating climb along the ridge above the eastern side of Dove Lake. The amazing views made up for increasingly tired feet and legs with Cradle Mountain behind, Dove Lake below and an expansive view over more lakes and valleys to the east.

Looking back towards Weindorfer's Tower

Our route along the ridge east of Dove Lake

View east from the ridge

(might be Lake Hanson??)

Continually stopping to look back at Cradle Mountain

(you can see the actual summit visible behind the "cradle")

After 6 hours and 15km of walking we made it to the Dove Lake carpark where we met the shuttle for a ride back to the Visitor's Centre and our car.

One last shot...