Canoe Bay - 19th December 2010

Had a short walk around the coast to Canoe Bay. The dead seal at the northern end of Fortescue Bay beach was extremely pongy. Care is required on this walk to avoid nettles. I didn't. There was also a small child who had probably touched one. Very painful things.

---

Cape Hauy - 18th December 2010

Dubious weather forecasts often indicated that somewhere eastwards might be best for s dry-ish walk. Another walk was taken to Cape Hauy, which always has those spectacular cliffs. The forest has been continually changing as spring flowers give way to early summer flowers. These are the Broadleaf Triggerplant, Stylidium armeria.

---

The Monument was first climbed by a Climbers' Club of Tasmania group in 1970. As I have noted before, Peter McHugh (where in the world is Mr McHugh these days?) and Mendelt Tillema were involved. I found the notes here. Quoting from that page:

This large sea-stack is just off to the south of Cape Hauy (clearly visible from the track) was first climbed in 1970 by a Climbers' Club of Tasmania group. This sea-stack is much less popular than the others in the area, perhaps due to the fact that it is not as dramatic looking and is only about 50m high. However, since it is about 100m off shore, it is not any less of an mission to reach the top. Indeed, the tale of the first ascent is yet another grand CCT epic spread over a few attempts.

Prior to the successful attempt, Mendelt Tillema had already swam out to the stack, though his companion (Peter McHugh), who planned to follow in a rubber dingy was not able to make it out to the stack due to the swell. Mendelt swam back to shore and the attempt was aborted. The next time, Mendelt again swam (trailing a rope) to the prominent ledge on the NE corner of the stack. Mike Emery and Ray Lassman tied in the middle of the rope and followed, while Col Hocking held the other end and waited on the mainland should things get messy. McHugh contributed to proceedings by tumbling down the cliff as the start of the day, leaving blood stained rocks as markers for the path to the sea.

From the ledge, the team took the prominent chimney in the corner. This was an 80ft (or 25m) pitch at a grade of "VDiff" (now considered about grade 12-ish), and then a scramble to the top. Upon erecting a cairn they donated some green tights for a flag, though it appears these have long since blown away.

Pipeline Track Flag Iris (Diplarrena moraea)

Had a few walks on the Pipeline Track when opportunities presented. This Flag Iris (Diplarrena moraea) cooperated by staying still for the right instant of time.

Cape Raoul - 20th November 2010

The crew wanted another walk, probably to make up for the rainy walk to Cape Hauy. That one where we went in search of somewhere less wet than Mount Wellington, but we might have found somewhere even wetter. Anyway, that sorted the men from the boys, or at least the men from the whingers.



Cape Raoul is a terrific walk, with superb cliff views. The best is probably from the 400m-high point just before reaching the top of Mount Raoul. The sea is so far away.



Just to note, at the end of Cape Raoul, you need to go to both lookouts, so take bothe left and right fork. The track comes to a very sudden and precipitous end along the left fork. (It's not much better along the right fork, but you'd have to work harder at falling off accidentally.) If you take children here, make sure they're either with you or sensible enough to self-preserve.

Fossil Cove - 13th November 2010

Cliffs at Fossil Cove.

This is a nice short walk between Blackmans Bay and Tinderbox. This is one of the walks identified by the Kingborough Council, and details can be found here. There's a rock arch and a rock platform absolutely crammed with fossils.

South Cape Bay - 7th November 2010

Had a nice walk to South Cape Bay. This fellow was happily munching ants along the track and was quite unconcerned about me, at least until the camera's flash became annoying.

---

Lots of interesting flotsam on the beach, including this sponge.

---

Stormy weather had washed up large mounds of kelp, which makes for interesting foregrounds in photos at least.

---

I wondered about harvesting some pieces to see if I could make some of those lovely water-carriers and other items the Aboriginal ladies make. Then of course I remembered it's a national park...

---

There were quite a lot of dead shearwaters around. I've also seen significant numbers on Fortescue Bay Beach.

---

Stormy weather had altered the beach quite a lot. There was lots of exposed rock and sand had been stripped from most parts of the beach.

---

The Tasmanian Laurels (Anopterus glandulosus) were in flower along the track, noticeably in the old sand dunes behind the beach.

Hartz Peak and Mount Snowy - 6th November 2010

This walk connects Hartz Peak and Mount Snowy south of the main peak, with some off-track and route walking. It provides great views while traversing along the ridge. Emily and Arthur Tarns are features of the return walk. The walk starts with a standard ascent of Hartz Peak. It is advisable to carry extra water, as you are unlikely to find any until descending to Emily Tarn after the ascent of Mount Snowy.

---

The route then heads along the ridge to the south. The first part of the ridge consists of buttresses, and you need to descend to the right/west to boulder-hop around their lower ends. If tempted to climb back to the ridgeline, you'll get a good view and there are some good cliffs to look down, but you need to get past a good few buttresses before the ridge-top is easily navigated. There is no need to do any rockclimbing or even actual scrambling at any point going in either direction. If you find that you need to, you've missed the easiest way and can either proceed if comfortable, or go back a bit and find an easier way. Eventually the ridge starts to drop steeply towards the Hartz/Snowy saddle. There is a little scrub here and you may have to wade through some scoparia, but it's pretty easy to tell where you're going. Descend to the saddle. Note that from this point you can walk along the south ridge to Adamsons Peak. I gather it's a bit dry and scrubby, and it would be best to get some directions from someone who knows the best way.

---

From the saddle there is a cairned route up Mount Snowy. It's occasionally indistinct, but basically head for the big scree patch and there are cairns up the middle of it. You'll know when you're at the top - it's the highest bit.... Good views of Hartz Peak from here, as well as the ranges to the south. Descend again to the saddle.

---

From the saddle there's a cairned route which drops off to the right/north and heads for Emily Tarn. This passes through alpine shrubberies which can be a little moist underfoot at times. The way is also occasionally indistinct. In clear weather you can see Emily Tarn though. (Maybe when it's foggy, people who haven't done this walk before might be advised to leave it for another day actually.) Emily Tarn is lovely, with the cliffs and crags of Hartz Peak ringed above it, and with a great view of Mount Snowy. There are good spots to put up a tent here, but please don't take lots of people there, it's pretty fragile. Oh, and there aren't LOTS of tent sites, certainly not together.

---

The return track continues around the right of the tarn and then climbs to a cushion-plant lawn in a tiny saddle between Emily and Arthur Tarns. This bit is definitely moist underfoot, and is becoming a little degraded. The track descends slightly to Arthur Tarn which sits perched above a steep drop and can be very visually attractive. Below Arthur Tarn the track drops down the outlet creek, and winds down a little before entering the creek bed which it follows for a couple of hundred metres. You need some navigational smarts below here, keeping a lookout for cairns and tags. The track then undulates across the plateau to return to Ladies Tarn. As a useful guide in clag, it would be a good idea to have marked Ladies Tarn in your GPS to give you something to aim at. The track has some apparent false leads in a couple of places. If the track peters out, backtrack a little and cast about for another route. This plateau walk can be wet to very wet underfoot, and will boots will probably be most comfortable. The track emerges just above Ladies Tarn, and you turn right to retrace the walk to its beginning.