Fungus - Risdon Brook Dam

Had a good walk at Risdon Brook Dam, with the new camera. Closeups are trickier than with the old one, but a few came out OK. Practice will make perfect I hope.

South Arm, Arm End - 25th April 2009

The weather this Anzac Day wasn't the most inviting, although when the sun was out it was quite nice. It didn't rain very heavily on South Arm while I was walking, but there were certainly some solid showers in Hobart during the day. This sea-level walk was good for a day when the western shore of the derwent looked like it was going to cop quite a lot of rain. See this earlier post for walk information.

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The weathered rocks at the northern end of Mary Ann Bay continue to erode, the smaller hole has appeared right through the very thin rock since my last visit - it is not evident in the photographs from that last visit in June 2008. It isn't surprising, as this rock can be "eroded" with your fingernails.

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There's quite a bit of litter on the beaches here, including this "Don't Waste Hobart" sign, which obviously wasn't fastened tightly enough to wherever it was originally displayed.

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Mt Wellington Plateau - 13th April 2009

Isaac wanted to wear his walking boots in a little more before he headed off on Grade 10 Outdoor Ed, so we headed to the top of Mt Wellington. Nice sunny day with occasional cold winds. The plateau is good for some photography, and the views were pretty good. We walked across and down to South Wellington from the summit, and climbed onto the pinnacles there, where a good view is had of the Leslie Vale and Channel area to the south, as well as to Cathedral Rock and the Huon (below).

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From here Isaac decided he would walk down the Icehouse Track, a walk he hasn't done before, and I would collect the car from the summit and pick him up. No doubt, leaving him to walk on his own is outside of all good practice, but it was good for him to find his own way to The Springs. I think the decider for him was that a return to the summit involved some small amount of uphill walking. A nice easy day, and enjoyable walking.

Fungi from Myrtle Gully

Some belated posts here. Myrtle Gully is always good for some fungi, and with wet weather at times recently, but not yet being too cold, it has certainly popped out all over the place. These photos were taken on Easter Saturday, 11th April 2009. The full set of photos is on Picasa.

Mt Field Flora - Tarn Shelf Walk

Cheeseberry, Cyathodes straminea. "A much-branched sprawling shrub rarely more than 1m tall. The white bell-shaped flowers are clustered amongst the leaves at the ends of the branches. The drupes (false berries) are usually shiny red, and are flattened, resmbling an Edam cheese. Old flowers sometimes hang on to the fruits." (From Alpine Wildflowers of Tasmania, Plant Identikit.)

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Mountain Rocket, Bellendena montana. The petals have fallen off the flower stalks here.

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The Pandani (Richea pandanifolia) are in flower. These red flowers are tucked under the higher leaves on the plant.

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I wasn't entirely sure what this one was at first, however I've decide it's a Curly Mountainheath, Dracophyllum milliganii. However, the flowers do seem a little coloured for this species, although the rest of the plant fits, so while I'm pretty sure its a D. milliganii, I'll stand corrected. It was comfortably co-existing here with some Pineapple Grass (Astelia alpina).

Tarn Shelf - 13th February 2009

Had a good walk to Tarn Shelf on Friday. Haven't done this walk for a while. It's really good in autumn when the fagus is out, but it was pleasant enough yesterday. Tarn Shelf is just that - a shelf, crowded with large and small glacial lakes half way up the side of the Rodway Range in the Mt Field National Park. The range falls steeply then flattens out across the shelf, and then falls steeply again to Lake Seal and Lake Webster. The shelf itself ranges between about 100m and several hundred metres wide, and it gradually falls from south to north. It extends a little over 2 km between the Rodway Hut and ski tow in the south to Lake Newdegate in the north.

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The walk has great views across the eastern section of the park, especially looking very steeply down on Lake Seal. Views also of Lake Webster, Platypus Tarn and the Mt Field East block.

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The tarns themselves are great for sitting beside. Swimming was tempting in the hot sun, but the water was predictably freezing cold.

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The deep green reflection of the slopes of the Rodway Range in Mackenzie Tarn was striking.

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Mackenzie Tarn, with Johnston Tarn beyond.

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This interesting and scarred rock sits beside a very good lookout along the windy track from the lowest ski lodges out onto the open plateau.

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This very obvious faultline sits on the steep slope of the saddle between Tarn Shelf and Mt Bridges, and is obvious from the lookout mention just above, as well as from several easy vantage points along the shelf.

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Exocarpos strictus

Upon first glance, this little bush near the Pipeline Track at Ridgeway resembled an Allocasuarina. However the branch/leaf structure is quite different on close inspection. I hadn't seen these little white berries before, but I had seen similar ones (with the little 'nut' on top) in other colours. This led me to identify it as Exocarpos strictus, using the vascular plant key at the UTas website.

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