Nevada Peak - 6th and 7th February 2010

Mount Anne from Nevada Peak

The Anne Range is especially prominent across the Weld Valley from Nevada Peak, and the setting sun lit the mist very nicely the other day.

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Had a great overnight visit to Nevada Peak, camping at the upper Snowdrift Tarn with absolute waterfrontage. The nearest neighbour was at the lowest Snowdrift Tarn, and they kept the noise down! Nevada Peak is one of the loveliest walks in the Huon area, and is relatively unknown, due to (i) the walk start being hidden obscurely up forestry tracks with no signs and (ii) the fact that National Parks have it listed as a wilderness "route" that shouldn't be publicised. If you want details of the walk I can provide them to people who agree not to publicise them and will only take small groups. Check the "walk description" (such as it is!) at Walk the Huon and email me from there.

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This walk has a solid climb, part of which is quite tree-rooty and convoluted, so opportunities for photography (read, excuses to 'pause') were welcome. This little spider was wandering about on a pandanni, and this was my first grab-shot of him. I tried to carefully set up a couple more but he kept moving, so this was the best.

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The tarn is about 20 minutes steep climb below the summit, so I was able to visit the summit twice, once on Saturday evening and then again early on Sunday morning. The descent in the evening was assisted by torchlight after I'd waited until the sun actually set behind the Anne Range. Views were marvellous and I thought I was pretty fortunate to see both sunset and sunrise from the peak. The wind, although quite gentle and easterly was quite chilly and I ended up shivering both times as I wandered about madly taking photos. The view from the summit is dominated by Mount Ann (top picture) and Mount Weld, but also includes dozens of other peaks. Snowy South (left) is close and prominent to the south along the ridge of the Snowy Range.

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A chilly torchlit start on Sunday was rewarded with lovely dawn and sunrise colours in the view, basically around 360 degrees. I have more pictures on Picasa. This view was south-easterly and sees Snowy South silhouetted along the ridge, and the upper Snowdrift Tarn where my tent was.

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The view to the north along the ridge is marvellous. Here Snowy North can be seen a few kilometres north, draped in morning mist, beyond the large boulders near the summit of Nevada Peak. A walk north along the ridge might be interesting, but possibly scrubby. I understand this area provides some good cross-country skiing when there's a decent snow cover. The Mt Field mountains are visible in the top left. On this occasion I returned via Woolleys Tarn which does add a bit of extra time to the walk but provides variety.

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Photos at Picasa

Hartz Peak - 30th January 2010

On 30th and 31st January they ran Targa Wrest Point, a sort of mini-Targa Tasmania along the roads in Kingborough and the Huon Valley which have been deemed either uneconomic or not suitable for inclusion in the real Targa. It's quite spectacular, and I noted that the cars were going to pass the end of the Hartz Mountains Road 4 times during Saturday. I made sure I got there before they closed the road, and was duly barricaded in. Anyway, having photographed the cars driving once in each direction I headed up to the Hartz. Scenery spectacular as always, but today some sights closer to the ground.

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While trying to photograph these Alpine Sundews (Drosera arcturi)...

...I noticed this fellow behind them. He came out quite well. He avoided becoming stuck on a sundew too. Not sure a sundew could 'eat' a grasshopper this big though. My book Wings (Elizabeth Daley) identifies him as a Tassie Hopper, Russalpia albertisi.

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On the way back down the steep bit above Ladys Tarn this White-Lipped Whipsnake (Drysdalia coronoides) evaded me. I've seen these little snakes several time in this vicinity. It is understood that generally whip snakes pose little danger as they have very small mouth and fangs, however Snakes and Lizards of Tasmania (Hutchinson, Swain & Driessen) says "if handled these snakes bite repeatedly". I'll avoid handling them then! My mum was pretty sure one bit her once, but even the doctor wasn't sure when she eventually went to see him.

"Scooter" swims on

I've decided the injured cygnet looks like someone riding a scooter when he paddles about, because he makes big thrusts with just his right leg. So, *he's* Scooter. Also, he's still swimming about. Haven't seen the family for about a week, but they were near the Wooden Boat School again yesterday afternoon and this morning. Scooter is in the middle preening. he's obviously smaller and less developed than his siblings.


Scooter was waggling his injured leg a lot. I wondered if he was working out how to make it do something useful. It appears that the lower joint doesn't work, but he was able to slap the water with it. Anyway, he did manage to lift himself out of the water like his parents and siblings, and flap his rather small wings. I haven't seen him do that before.

How a differently-abled cygnet relates to his family

Took these yesterday evening. My little friend the cygnet is continuing to paddle about with his family and, while a little smaller and fluffier than the others, he is developing. His wings are much smaller than those of some of the other five cygnets.


His siblings are larger, their wings are more developed and their plumage is darker. This is one of the largest ones out of the water and grooming. I haven't seen the injured cygnet out of the water. He did mess about above this same submerged log, but didn't stand and groom like the others were. I assume he can stand on the one leg, but I'm not sure how he would actually get out of the water. Possibly he doesn't, but floats about to sleep. I have seen the whole family with heads tucked under wings floating around the wharf having a nanna-nap.


Here one of his siblings is showing off their wings.


The tide was quite high at the time, so the water depth over the bottom was much greater. I noticed that he was following the others around and swiping a bit of weed when they dived for it.


He clearly cannot do the "duck-dive" that the others do, although I did get the impression he was trying to. Maybe with a bit more size and strength, and practice, he'll work it out. Here he is hanging around while the others dive for weed.


And he's got some weed that one of the adults let him have. When I first saw the family in mid-December the adults were diving for weed and distributing it to the cygnets. They're still doing it for this one at times. If he pinches food from the others, it's not surprising that they peck at him.


And here's one of the adults. Just liked the photo actually!

Pelicans on the Huon River

The book says they're uncommon. I saw one a couple of years ago, but now I've seen a few on the river. One flew south past Franklin the other evening, and now we've seen some on the river opposite Braeside, south of Franklin. There are three which have been seen regularly on the logs just offshore of the Braeside intersection. The photos aren't good enough - I *need* a much better lens! (Not likely!)

More of the swans

Checked them out again today, all still OK.

South Cape Bay - 25th January 2010

Wagged work yesterday to go bushwalking instead. (Actually, it was arranged, OK!) Nice day for a walk to South Cape Bay, not too hot, but warm enough for shirt and shorts all day. The track was quite busy yesterday, including a number finishing the South Coast Track. The tide was very low, revealing a lot of rocks, some of which are also normally covered in sand.

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This rock formation is intriguing. It is below the cliffs as you walk towards the steps, and you can reach it at low tide by doubling back after descending. I think it's often covered with sand, and that's why I've only seen it now and then. The jointing is very reminiscent of those in the Tesselated Pavement at Eaglehawk Neck, but I haven't yet investigated possible links in rock types and ages.

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