Wineglass Bay campsite. Two hours of walking today in the grey skies and rain – well suited to my mood. I am here at the campsite with 3 other couples. Somehow today I am not noticing the granite cliffs, clear green sea, perfect waves, or gentle sunset. It is a beautiful place, but today I am just feeling a bit lonely I guess.
A whale bone believe it or not?
Even the brackish water is beautiful in Tas
Sunset on Wine Glass Bay
Add comment March 30th, 2004
Fantastic day. I woke up this morning underneath the face of Mt. Jerusalem – what great scenery to wake up to! Once the sun rose over the mountain and onto our campsite it became warm enough to crawl out of the sleeping bags and get moving. Roz and I packed up and then left the backpacks by the trail and headed up to the summit. 35 minutes later we were there. The views were incredible. There were so many tarns and lakes all around us, just unbelievable amounts of water. We soaked up the views for awhile and then started down because it was pretty cold in the wind.
Onward down to the hut, and then we bushwacked our way down to Lake Ball. It was pretty easy bushwacking as bushwacking goes because we could see the lake almost the whole way. Caught up with the trail again and had a nice long break in the sun while looking out at the lake. We had a mini feast of cheese and crackers, trail mix, fresh oranges, and chocolate.
From there we walked around Lake Ball and over to Lake Adelaide. It was really a beautiful trail and we stopped often to take photos. From Lake Adelaide we probably walked another 2 hours to get to Lake-something-with-an-L where we decided to camp for the night. It’s just me and Roz here with our tents and the lake and the moon and it’s a beautiful night, much warmer than last night. I’m really glad I met Roz on Frenchman’s and have someone to share this walk with. It’s been fun to chat and have some good laughs while we’re walking. We saw a lot of Tassie Devil scat on the trail today, so if we’re lucky we may hear one tonight. About 2 more hours of walking tomorrow and we’ll be finished with the Walls.
Rozzie on the summit of Mt Jerusalem
Jen on the summit of Mt Jerusalem
The girls tents by the lake
Add comment March 28th, 2004
Campsite near Jaffa Gate just under Mt. Jerusalem. About 15 km today from the carpark. I?m here with Roz ? just her and I at our little campsite. I met up with her again yesterday at the Mole Creek campsite. She came well equipped with a rental car, vodka, and chocolate, so not only did we live it up last night a bit but we had a car to actually get to the trailhead this morning. Roz met me at the campsite last night, and her and I and our neighbours Val and Barry from the Gold Coast had a good night sitting round the fire til 1am. I needed some good company.
Woke up this morning feeling very homesick. Think I need to go home soon. I?m happy to have some company for this 3-day walk into the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. Roz and I had coffee with Val and Barry this morning, then said our goodbyes and headed out for the trail. Val and Barry are scheduled to be on the ferry back to the mainland tonight.
We didn?t start walking until after 11am, but the weather today was absolutely perfect so we were in no hurry. We met a very nice and fit elderly couple on the trail today ? he is 69 and she is 68 ? I hope to be that fit when I?m their age truly! The trail today was quite easy and the views were really outstanding. We even walked through a few 1000-year old pencil pine forests. Got to the hut around 5pm and there are 3 other people camping there tonight; we headed up to the next saddle to camp there. We can see Mt. Jerusalem from the campsite and she?s a beaut! Saw many wallabies on the trail today and if we?re lucky we?ll see or hear a devil tonight! It is COLD in the tent!
Love those old signs
Clean enough to drink folks and it tastes great
Roz and Jen – two tough chicks!
Add comment March 27th, 2004
I left my beautiful $20 beach-front room in Wynyard today and headed towards the start of another walk at the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. I did very well with the hitch-hiking – got 4 rides and travelled 140 km – all for free! My first ride was from a guy in Wynyard who was only going as far as Burnie, but once we got talking, he wound up giving me a ride all the way to Devonport. His name was Richard and he’s divorced with 3 girls and we had a very good conversation about life and finding happiness. You just never know what you might talk about while hitching!
From there I got a ride with a woman to Deloraine. Her husband died 4 years ago from cancer and she’s only just going back to work now as a primary school teacher. Very nice woman. I stopped in Deloraine to have lunch and check email, and wound up running into the Belgian couple I met back at the Lake St. Clair campground, so we caught up about what we’d been doing since then…
After I had a look at my very bleak finances online, I decided to buy my ticket out of Tas for the 10th of April, just before the Easter holiday, so that only gives me another 16 days here but I intend to use it fully! And yes that means I shall be looking for a ticket home soon too…But I don’t want to think about that now. I’ve just been busy looking for platypuses in Mole Creek. I’m sure that I heard one splash in the water but it’s a bit too dark to see, just about 8pm, yes just 4 days ago at this exact time I was still in those bloody Sodden Loddens of mud up to my knees – boy I’m glad that I’m not there tonight!
After I finished being depressed about being so po’ in Deloraine I began to walk out towards Mole Creek and got picked up by Alexander who owns the wildlife park in Mole Creek. He just got back from Christchurch, New Zealand attending a conference on how to save the Tassie Devils from the cancer that is killing them. He invited me to stop by the park after my hike up the Walls.
From the park I only had another 7 km to go to get to the campground, and got the last ride from a local guy who was coming back from town with various bits of steel to make his friend a weathervane. And now I am here, in my tent by the creek for $6/night, and if the weather is good tomorrow I’ll head for the Walls. If not I’ll wait an extra day because I also heard from Roz today and she’s starting the same walk on Saturday with a rental car, ie transport to the trailhead and good company to boot!
A kookaburra hanging out at Mole Creek
Thats 4 houses on the left folks!
Roz and my neighbors from the Gold Coast Val and Barry
Add comment March 25th, 2004
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