This trip to Tasmania marks the 10th anniversary of my blog. I can’t believe the year is 2024! What comes to mind as I type this? It’s all there. On a random Tuesday I usually sit or stand in an air-conditioned office in Bedford Park and at the same time Langshisha Kharka in the upper Langtang Valley is still there, the sun shining on it. Or Rees Saddle in Mount Aspiring National Park, or Counts Point in Tjoritja West MacDonnell National Park. I could go on – it’s such a wonderful reflection.
Dan and I went to Tassie in March to visit his cousins and two amazing national parks. It was lovely seeing Nick again and getting to know Rob and Sophie, who live surrounded by tall stringybark and swamp gum forests outside of Geeveston in the Huon Valley. Before dark, the pademelons came to graze near the house, and currawongs had a completely different birdsong to our Adelaide ones. On the first day we drove to MONA in our hire car and a friendly, helpful staff member explained to us the tickets and the museum gallery app. We knew that Rob’s partner Sophie worked at MONA but didn’t know for sure if it was her until she came home in the evening. It was Sophie, so that was a neat coincidence. Over the weekend we went for walks with doggo Marley, a pinot noir tasting at Heriots Point, and into the evening, enjoyed hearty chats over apple cider made by Rob.
Mount Field National Park
I was excited to visit Mount Field and the Tarn Shelf circuit on the Monday which gave us the best weather out of the days ahead, although that meant a longer morning drive from Geeveston compared to leaving from Hobart. Therefore it was a late start, but hooray, the weather was partly cloudy, warm and settled. Nothing like what we faced in 2016 when the wind, rain and white-out caused us to return to the car park after only a short time.
The land of Mount Field National Park is on the Big River Nation of Tasmanian Aboriginal people. This was the 12 km circuit via Lake Newdegate, Twilight Tarn and Lake Webster. After asking people and poring over notes and maps, I decided on this route and to do it clockwise, so that I could appreciate the beauty of the Tarn Shelf while feeling fresh in the first half. That went well. I reckon the alternative route via Rodway Range and K Col would have spanked me. Dan was happy for me to organise things.
We began hiking past the pandani and berry shrubs at Lake Dobson, then up the vehicular track and past a ski hut, and then we joined a trail amongst pretty boulders and windblown gum trees with streaky colourful trunks. The gums gave way to alpine moorland as we went beyond our 2016 turnaround place, Lake Seal lookout (1240 m).
‘It’s on!’ I thought to myself.
We followed the duckboard and noticed the turn-off track to Rodway Range. The highest elevation of the hike is 1265 m. Upon reaching Rodway Hut and the rope tow for skiers, the view of the Tarn Shelf was big – we descended into it and one tarn is a brighter emerald green than the other. I think the brightest one was MacKenzie Tarn, with magnificent views of the mountains beyond. Yes, we put our hands in the tarn and it was cold.
Finally made it to the Tarn Shelf! In 2016 we had to turn back in bad weather
Shades of green
We stopped to take it all in. Pencil pines, some gnarled from the elements; cushion plants by the water, rockery gardens, with the tall Rodway Range as backdrop. This area is known for the deciduous beech / fagus trees, but it was mid-March and too early to notice their colours change to gold. We hiked on an ancient glacial landscape, part of the UNESCO Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. I was in the moment. Just appreciating the details, colours and light up high along the chain of tarns and then Lake Newdegate. At this point the track turned a corner among silvery dead trunks of pines from a bushfire that took place decades ago.
Sometimes I saw skinks on the duckboard, plus a black snake to one side, well away from the track, then it disappeared behind shrubs. It was likely a tiger snake. Twisted Tarn looked like fairyland with more gnarly pines, and the gums returned.
We ate lunch at Twilight Tarn with its characterful 1927 skiers hut, containing artefacts from its time. 4:15pm, geez that was a late lunch but we did eat snacks earlier. Stopping for snacks is important. After Twilight Tarn there was a steep rocky descent and the trail markers seemed to disappear. We retraced our steps, checked the map and realised this was the trail, which was a relief, but it was unsettling for a moment. The route continued along the Lake Webster Track, skirting the lake but only getting glimpses through the forest. The banksias were lovely through here and I photographed them in the golden hour. The maps showed this section to be lengthy, so we just had to pick up the pace – this is easy for Dan to do, but I am usually slower.
This is me after our lunchbreak at Twilight Tarn
Lots of banksias in the forest after Twilight Tarn
Finally we reached one of the vehicular tracks and another ski club building, phew! Lake Dobson appeared on our right and we reached the car park at 7:15pm, just a few minutes before sunset. I felt bad because I subjected Dan to one of my hikes getting close to dark in an area unfamiliar to us, along with driving back in twilight, watching for wildlife on the road. But we took our time and scanned the road carefully – it was doable. I wanted to learn from the experience (simply start the hike earlier?) I am grateful for Dan’s company on such a remote alpine day hike, knowing that he would rather go mountain biking. And I can now report first-hand it is absolutely beautiful up there.
Freycinet National Park
After spending a couple of days in Hobart, Dan and I road tripped northeast to Coles Bay and stayed in a newly renovated caravan park cabin while exploring Freycinet National Park. This land is part of the Oyster Bay nation, the traditional owners are the toorerno-maire-mener clan. At the golden hour on Thursday, we drove out to Cape Tourville Lighthouse and saw the spectacular craggy headlands and wild bushland all around, really quite something. The same evening at Coles Bay we viewed the rocky massif known as The Hazards. When you first see them, it’s just wow!
View of the Hazards, Freycinet National Park, from Coles Bay
The next morning we set out to the trailhead car park for the Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach circuit (11 km). I had been meaning to do this hike for years and the day finally arrived. It wasn’t too busy yet, and we walked up the well-built trail to the Wineglass Bay lookout through a saddle in the Hazards. The iconic, internationally renowned Wineglass Bay view, as seen in pictures enough times, is magical and idyllic in real life.
Dan and I on our way to Wineglass Bay Lookout
Iconic Wineglass Bay
The sky was blue with delicate cloud streaks and the colours of the sand, sea and bushland were bright. I reclined on a seat near the lookout and watched a robin flit across some boulders. Dan admired the bouldering potential, life was good.
We took the descent path of many steps to the beach, threw off our footwear and paddled in the water – super clear in light shades of peppermint blue green. It was definitely cold and refreshing, people swam there that day and I was happy to go in up to my knees. What a beautiful place to relax for a while, eating our snacks in the sun and just looking around. Orange lichen on granite rocks and pristine forest framed the beach.
Wattle birds called out as we traversed the isthmus and admired the lagoon and hills to the south of the peninsula. Then we hiked along Hazards Beach, seeing more glorious scenery, swimmers in clear water and…
‘Whoops, don’t do that!’
Actually, I’m not sure if I said exactly that. We were wandering around the sandy cove with interesting boulders and I fell over. I was on a little boulder, the water washing around it, and the dismount onto wet sand was deeper than I expected, and I mildly rolled my ankle, along with a rash on my hands from the sand. I’m happy to report I could hike okay, and 15 minutes along the track I paused to shake sand out of my boots.
I was very glad that I landed in sand and not on the harsh granite.
The northern end of Hazards Beach where I fell into the sand
Dan and I followed this track through she-oak woodland with regular views of Great Oyster Bay and a few boats. This part included a mighty fine lunch stop, set back from the trail. Tea trees were flowering around us.
As for Mount Amos Saturday, 3.6 km return, I hadn’t invested my headspace anticipating this steep scramble fest to one of the Hazards peaks, and advised Dan if it was too precipitous I would turn back. You know, treacherous vertical drop potential, no climbing ropes and all that. I admit that I was feeling a bit irritable and was keen for some relaxing.
Enjoy... argh the Mount Amos climb was epic
Well, the steepness wasn’t too bad. I didn’t expect this route to be so busy, almost crowded in a few places, which I found challenging. But such is life. We went up and down Mount Amos and Dan enjoyed the scrambly terrain. He helped people – even carrying water bottles past a tricky section for a couple of hikers, suggesting where they could put their hands and feet. It was approximately 400 metres of height gain from the car park to the top.
Appreciating the details on the way up Mount Amos
My hands were raw from the granite hand holds along with the sand rash. However, there were wonderful, lofty views of the bays as we climbed, the weather was perfect, and the summit panoramic views were generous. This included a view of Mount Mayson, also part of the Hazards. I loved the scenic rock seat that I found, mid-slope, to take a break on the way up as well as down.
The scrambles involved high steps, jamming my boots in wide cracks on the slopes and avoiding sections polished by water action, and it was quite grippy rock otherwise. All things considered, when we were back down, showered and sipping cups of tea followed by beer and cheese, it felt like I enjoyed Mount Amos and sensed we did a good thing as part of the Freycinet experience.
Amazing views from the top of Mount Amos
Hot tip: information on official websites, guidebooks and from people about walk times, terrain and more is very useful. But I am mindful to add time for snack and lunch breaks, taking photos and stopping to appreciate nature.
When Dan and I took off from Hobart Airport to return home, it was windy, sunny and cloudy with intermittent drizzle. So a rainbow followed us as I looked out the plane window – that was a sweet moment. A big thank you to the staff of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service and my friends for their advice about the trails.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0)
