Tramping tales for January / February 2019

JANUARY

      Amanda Harper with Millie, George, lea. John Daly and Amanda.

New Year 2019

Happily ensconced in Howden, our days have followed a relaxed pattern that barely required a posting for January and so, we let two months roll by as 2019 took hold.  George – provoked by Ali took on many different projects around the property. The first was setting up and checking the fire equipment for summer protection, especially as smoke across the Snug Tiers indicated fire burning in the World Heritage Forests around Lake Pedder from around Christmas time. 

By the end of the first week in January, predicted temperature were set to rise to 36⁰C - unusually hot for this coastal area. However, it didn’t materialize as a number of uncontrollable fires on the Central Highlands created a pall of smoke overhead all day, the ash drifting in like tiny flakes of snow to cover everything. The smoke haze was to wax and wane for the rest of January. 

“Matilda”, our metre-long tiger snake put in regular appearances. Her close proximity to the house was not appreciated when it came to the informal demarcation of territory.  Her movements closely monitored until thankfully, 36 hours later - human movement was considered too disruptive and ‘she’ moved on – never to be seen again. We suspect she was dispatched by the neighbour.

SKV went in for a clutch replacement. During a recent service, clutch was reported as “90% worn”. A very expensive repair. George could only hope its replacement was truly necessary and problems prevented further along the road. The morning of the 12^th began badly with the discovery of our much-loved native hen chick floating in George’s billabong. How on earth it could have drowned at two weeks old, caused much distress and surmising. We had been concerned the previous evening when no bush chooks had been around - now we understood why. Strangely no creatures went near George’s billabong for the next week even our chooks appeared to be in mourning!

Major reason for no blog?  While George worked long and hard - always driven by the job in hand; TENNIS consumed Lea well into the night, all of January. Many years have passed since we have been in the right time-zone to enjoy all the matches, put names to faces of up and coming tennis players and enjoy the masters of the game Federer, Djokovic and Nadal at play.  Andy Murray from Scotland, a former No 1 in world play - battling hip injury put on an amazing 5 set performance with incredible crowd support. Only to lose to the better man as his inevitable retirement from professional tennis loomed. 

By mid-January, record heat waves across central and SE Australia registered temperatures well into high 40’s. Millions of fish died in the Murray-Darling (Menindee Lakes system) from blue-green algal bloom and lack of sufficient flows.  The list of jobs had been achieved.  We took a day off together on the spur of the moment. Took a circular drive through the Huon Valley, as far as Judbury to find the Highland cattle grazing on farmland in the area, enjoyed the many fruit orchards as we headed towards Huonville and round to Cygnet always looking for a suitable stop that caught our eye for either morning tea or lunch. If only we had planned ahead, Amanda would have put us onto the best café’s instead we missed all and were home by lunchtime armed with a large loaf of raisin bread to toast. Just as well we took this chance to enjoy the valley as within a week dry electric storms had the Huon Valley on fire and homes under terrible threat. The road south was closed and many evacuated, as homes were lost…  Thick smoke blocked out the Snug Tiers through to Hobart… an ominous sight.

On the 20^th January - Keith, Ella and Finn departed Cape Town on their Argentina Adventure in time to meet Colleen returning ‘to dry land’ after a nightmarish return trip through the Drake Passage in 12m high waves and 70 knot winds –  a dramatic end to her spellbinding trip with her 2018 cohorts in Antarctica. 

Lea took a bus ride into Hobart in heavy smoke conditions to search for a new blind to replace the battered old venetian blind (last one standing) for the front window of our caravan. Prices were horrific and colours far from suitable for life on the road! Deciding to make her own simple curtain, she bought denim material before dashing off to meet Alison at 3pm.  Two happy truant cousins were off to see the movies mid- afternoon - “Mary Poppins Returns”! 

  

Lea measured and prepared the denim curtain and once it was all pinned, discovered no one had a sewing machine. Thankfully the girls knew of a Dry-Cleaning Company that did mending and Lea approached a most pleasant lady in Kingston, to complete the job.   Temperatures continued to rise - Port Augusta (South Australia) recorded a shocking 49.5⁰C.  We experienced another oppressively hot day as reports came in  of more out-of-control bush fires in the west of Tasmania. The Great Pine Tier Central Plateau and Huon Valley continued to burn creating grey, ash filled skies overhead. Threatening enough to make George start thinking about what we’d do in the event of having to evacuate!

A very social end to January began with celebrating a smoky Australia Day / Invasion Day (depending on one’s point of view) by making up our bed in the back of SKV ready to drive across Hobart to Amanda Harper’s home in Lauderdale, a suburb 40 km away on South Arm, to spend the night camped in her back garden.

    Amanda laid on a splendid 26 January meal for her five weekend guests. 

 Sleeping in our ‘boudoir’ in the back of SKV we were plagued by mosquitoes and heat so awoke next day feeling a little worse for wear. The big Breakfast prepared by Ali and Lea set us all up for a walk along the narrow, shell strewn beach fringing Mortimer Bay. 

    Millie leads the way…

The Australian Day public holiday on the Monday coincided with Lea’s birthday! While, thousands of miles away, in Patagonia, Finn celebrated his 10^th birthday.

    Alison took us all to a Birthday dinner at ‘The Beach’ restaurant on                                                                         Blackman’s Bay foreshore followed by a walk along the beach.

 29^th January's thick smoke from the fires slowed down our drive into Hobart with Amanda, so much so, we thought there must be an accident ahead. We met up with Ali and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the Hobart waterfront prior to attending a concert “Where Song Began” at the Town Hall. Every seat was taken as we awaited this unusual performance. Violinist Simone Slattery and Anthony Albrecht on cello, attempted to highlight the impact of birdsong on music with pictures of birds and Australian landscapes as well as quotes from writings about birdsong coming up on a very small screen behind them. George and Amanda were unimpressed, as the screen was difficult to see let alone read.  While Lea and Alison enjoyed the interesting presentation!

170 000ha of bushland had been burnt and 12 emergency warnings were in force at various places in the State, some a little too close for comfort. We’d listen to all the latest fire news at regular intervals. It was just as well we were not touring… with all the road closures in place we’d not have been able to get very far south. Colder weather together with a little rain set in but the gusty winds associated with it, simply aggravated the situation.  Meanwhile up in Northern Queensland major floods were occurring… Record breaking monsoon rains dumping unprecedented water on a drought-stricken land. 400mm of rain was also to fall over 24 hours onto already saturated countryside. Apparently, half the annual rainfall fell in another set of 4 days and there was no sign of it abating for the coming  week. A photo of a large crocodile seeking respite on one of the bridges along the Bruce Highway said it all!   Weather patterns were creating devastating natural disasters  both here in Australia and over in Chicago (USA) where fires were lit amongst the railway tracks to prevent them from freezing in the wake of a ‘polar vortex’ that sent temperatures plummeting to MINUS 45⁰C! 

   

February

The first day of a new month took us up to Mt Nelson to have lunch with John and Bridget Bass  in their beautiful, carefully designed home in ‘the bush’ above Hobart.  Each window created a frame to a natural scene outside while the walls within  were decorated with lovely art pieces. John and Jan Wallace – joined us.  George hadn’t seen John Wallace in 40 years. He'd been the Director of the Port Elizabeth  Museum and a former fisheries biologist from Durban’s Oceanographic Research Institute  when George met him  during the course of a trip up the east coast of South Africa in 1975, after joining Marina Da Gama - a coastal marina development. John Wallace was also the person George wrote in 1996 when seeking employment in Australia, and as a result of John forwarding his letter on to Des Lord – the door to our lives in Australia opened.

    George, John Bass and John Wallace.

We last saw our host, John Bass - also ex Durban ORI (and a great friend of Helm/ Davies family  all growing up on Tongaat Beach) in April 1996 at a luncheon provided in our honour by Paddy and Jill Berry during our quick ‘look and see’ trip to Perth, WA. We had not met his wife Bridget a talented artist or Jan, John Wallace’s 2^nd wife, after his wife Lynne died. While the men “chewed the fat” - the ladies found much in common – books, recipes and art.  Bridget a master of the ancient trade of leaf dying that had so blown Lea and Jane Palmer away, when they attended an old trades Expo in Toowoomba last year.  

Another day was taken up cleaning out the ‘billabong’ – the water had become so turbid not to mention crawling with midge larvae that a decision to empty it was taken. First, carefully rescuing all the tadpoles - sieving each bucket of muddy debris strewn water to find the froglets. Nothing for a good few buckets, that we feared the worse… especially as we’d watched a white headed heron arrive and inspect the pond the previous evening. Standing stock still it certainly seized a frog or three.   After a very slow and careful process we saved an estimated 70 tadpoles sporting legs and long tails. The sediment George had initially laid down to protect the rubber matting was removed, staining much of our clothing before the pond was hosed down and refilled with clean water. A big team effort…  Concern arose over the visibility of the frog population – and Ali placed a piece of shade cloth over a section of the pond to provide cover. 

Up in Townsville, some 20 000 homes were flooded after the monsoon low over Queensland dumped more and more rain over the region – it received what amounts to their total annual rainfall (c. 2m) over the past week! Falls of 200 – 300mm per day continued unabated. The interior of Queensland turned into an inland sea and huge stock losses ensued (one estimate claims 300 000 cattle died).  

Our daughter-in law -Colleen celebrated her milestone birthday close to the Iguazu Falls and that night 25mm of rain fell here filling the frog pond to over flow. George added a 'backing'  to the potting table he had made for Ali while Lea busied herself making rusks. Four native hens have adopted George and come for breakfast each morning. Dashing across the lawn as soon as they see we are up. The chooks took a liking to cereal crumbs! Soon, the native hens increased their  familiarity  – after finishing their Wheat-bix a couple thought to come into the caravan for a look around. We put a quick stop to that as we did not wish to be left their calling cards of fearful green droppings! 

 Ali at her new potting table – a surprise from George.

A two week holiday for both A’s stretched before us. John Daly came for a barbeque and stayed overnight.  Next day a joint decision was made to go into Hobart for afternoon movies.  George delightedly saw the documentary Free Solo - a spectacular climb without ropes, by young Alex Honnold up the world’s most famous rock, the 3 000 ft precipice El Capitan in Yosemite NP – a film made all the more interesting having been there, ourselves. Lea and Alison were drawn to Green Book.  It most deservedly won the Oscar later in the month despite critics. Amanda and John saw  another film.  Ali and Amanda stood us to dinner afterwards. It had turned into a magnificent evening after a set of  overcast days that we stopped in at the Wooden Boat Festival on the waterfrontbefore heading home – beautifully crafted wooden boats from prams to huge yachts (tall multi-mast ships) everywhere, all on display either at their moorings or on trailers available for the general public to admire. Many made from Huon pine, others from kauri, spotted gum, cedar and teak.

Wooden Boat Festival - Hobart

Another big ‘project’; dismantling the ugly wire fencing and roughly constructed supports around Alison’s  vegetable patch began as a result of recycling  the wooden pickets George had replaced across the front of the water tanks.  Work continued next day – with Ali on ‘holiday’ she religiously scrubbed, sanded and painted each piece of wood the same colour as the deck while George busied himself setting poles in concrete  and making a latch gate before attaching some of the newly painted pickets.

 What a difference!

In keeping with the vagaries of Tasmanian weather things changed from a warm, brilliantly sunny day yesterday to rain, wind and cold. Snow was  expected on the central Highlands.  Consequently, we began scrabbling around for warm clothes and thermals in readiness for our mid-week trip into the mountains at Loongana. 

Travelling together in Ali’s Subaru, we set off on our long awaited trip (recommendation of Peter Jarman) to see the Tasmanian Devils at Mountain Valley, in the Leven Canyon / Black Bluff Recreation area.  Weather a cold 8⁰C when we left Howden. Our route, took us directly up the Midlands Highway with pit stops at Campbell Town (for coffee) and Elizabeth Town outside Deloraine (for lunch).  Turned south near Ulverstone and dropped into the valley of Leven River with mist steadily engulfing us . As we neared our destination we spotted one echidna scurrying up the roadside bank and another beside the road.

Our Mountain Valley Wilderness Holiday cabin.

A long journey. We arrived at our cabin mid-afternoon, and no sooner had we begun to unpack the car, Lea was surprised to feel a very  sharp sting through her sock around her ankle. Nothing to indicate why or how until Jack Jumper, a very aggressive ant, was spotted on the grass! Quite different to those unholy ants of Niassa... Our accommodation was a nicely appointed log cabin with views of Black Bluff not far off - snow still evident. 

In light drizzle we walked along part of the 80km long PCT (Penguin Cradle Trail) following the Leven river. 

That night, soon after 8pm in very dull weather, our proprietor, Len Doherty collected us to search for platypus. We obtained a few brief sightings before the gloaming set in. The water too dark for photographs.  On our return from the river, Ali set up her camera trap (George had stupidly left his behind).  Len arrived and spread 14 pieces of raw chicken on the lawn outside our cabin along with some grain for the party of pademelon who’d gathered at the sound of Len’s voice. By 10 p.m. our cabin was in darkness with only the outside light on. Our “devil watch” began in earnest. The first animal to visit was a large brush tail possum who came up onto the deck; A large spotted tailed quoll,  a  beautiful, sleek animal dashed out onto the lawn, seized a piece of chicken and disappeared under the cabin.  Half an hour later the first Tasmanian devil arrived on the scene sticking to the shadows as he twitchily looked around and smelt the air. Pitch black except for a small flash of white on his rear and very thick set and chunky in appearance. It was obviously nervous about the illuminated area as it did the same as the quoll, snatched a piece of chicken and disappeared speedily. It was to return at regular intervals (between 5 and 20 minutes apart). A smaller devil arrived from another direction and it too, dashed in for a piece of chicken and disappeared. We were amazed at just how nervous the devil was and 'he' certainly didn't enjoy coming into the light. By midnight, the delays between visits seemed enormous, the discomfort of standing at the window in silence  along with disappointment the camera trap appeared not to be working as well as the cold seeping its way into our marrow - we decided we could stay awake no longer. The electric blanket on our bed proved most welcome and we slept soundly…

What joy followed next morning when we discovered Ali’s camera trap had captured over 20 video clips of the action last night – After breakfast we spent more than half an hour looking at the results on Len’s laptop in reception. It seemed clear that more than one devil had put in an appearance especially after going to bed. One had the dreaded facial tumour.  More time was needed to examine the images.  

 1^st night….

Thereafter, we drove to the Leven Canyon to undertake a few of the walks available to different viewpoints overlooking the river.

At Cruickshank’s Lookout

We tackled the Forest Stairs walk – bearing in mind the fellow who’d spent years painstakingly building the 697 steps involved; all a steady decline that Lea and Amanda found their knees feeling very wobbly at the end.

 We returned via the steady upward climb back to the car-park via the lovely tree fern covered trail. 

Speak no evil, Do no evil, Hear No evil while See No Evil took the photo!

Before returning home – Ali and George walked down to the “splits” on the canyon floor as far as the pedestrian bridge over the river, with its fast flowing torrent of tannin stained, foaming water below.

Late afternoon, Alison and George accompanied Len to the sinkhole on his property to climb down and see a glow-worm cave.  Amanda, keen to see an Olearia tree close by,  joined them. Once she was at the mouth of the sinkhole she decided to join the adventure. All hanging onto a rope and lowering themselves down into a  muddy and very slippery sinkhole.

 Connected to the Leven River, platypus have been seen in the pool on the floor of this sink-hole.

They all crawled inside the cave to see the glow-worms (larvae of fungus gnats) with long glutinous threads hanging below each of them; they also spotted the cave crickets and cave spiders that frequent the cave. The spider, a type of orb spinner builds its web in front of the glow worms in order to catch some of the insects the glow worms attract. A very interesting experience altogether.

Another night watch for Tasmanian devils followed after dinner. This time, the dining table was pulled up to the viewing window for more comfortable observations. George had been scheming on ways to keep the creatures in view of the camera for longer! He spread bacon fat on the grass and then Alison and he suspended a couple of chicken legs (tied to a stick off the cabin steps) above the camera. So much for well laid plans - two hours of waiting and watching produced no sign of any animals. Physical exhaustion got the better of everyone and we retired soon after 11 p.m. relying on the camera to catch all the action. Lea popped up a couple of times to stare out into the dark at the slightest sound... count all 21 pieces of chicken were still there. Yes, the party table hadn't changed. By morning - no trace, just a broken stick and empty strings … “Catch all the action” the camera certainly did – with another fascinating series of video clips of the Tasmanian devils visiting during the night and having a tug of war with the chicken suspended in the air.

Once we had packed up we took a forest walk and ended up at the Leven River one last time.

Lea and Ali chose some rocks for memory sake to put around our mini billabong.

Come midday, we left Loongana, taking a more circuitous and scenic route home (via Lake Paloona and Lake Barrington on the Forth river) to Sheffield. There, we stopped to walk and see some of the many murals for which the town is famous. 

 We especially wanted to view the Hydro mural Alison had  commissioned, before having a bite to eat.

Another stop on the Midlands Highway to buy delicious black chocolates stuffed with fresh raspberries  and across the road, ice-cream from a Creamery before turning onto the Highland Lakes Road to Hobart, over the Western Tiers and across the Central Plateau which until very recently had been closed to traffic due to the fires. The blackened remains were very much in evidence as we drove around the Great Lake.

Following our trip to the north of the island we had a quick turn around of a day to prepare for our camping trip to the East Coast and Fortescue Bay.  The water level in the frog pond was found to be surprisingly low. A leak was a worrying issue that could only be attended to, on our return.

Sunday morning, travelling in separate vehicles, we departed for the Tasman Peninsula and arrived at Eaglehawk Neck, overlooking Pirates Bay with superb view of Cape Hauy in the distance.

A mobile van was doing great business supplying coffee. Chairs, tables, cushions and even a telescope was provided. Just too inviting and we happily imbibed.  Shortly after, on our way down towards the Tessellated Pavements, we spotted the headquarters of the company Wild Ocean Tasmania, destined to take us out tomorrow and we called in there to clarify where we’d  meet – there met Damien (our skipper) just back from a cruise diving with the seals.

By lunch time we were in the Tasman National Park setting up camp in our two reserved sites in the  Fortescue Bay camp grounds. We were sleeping in SKV so all sorted. For the next two hours we watched the A’s set up their fancy, ever so spacious Black Wolf tent, separate rooms, annex and all.

 

Later a walk along the beach and part of the track to Bivouac Bay.  It may be summer in Tasmania but Ali was the only one to venture into the water!

Our sites in the camp ground (# 49 and 50) were plenty large enough, nicely located and far enough from the madding crowd to be quite peaceful.

Our Camp…

A number of friendly Rufus Necked wallabies came to check on us.… 

One insisted on helping George wash the dinner dishes!

Next morning we drove back to the Blowhole at Eaglehawk Neck – our plan to walk the coastline track as far as Waterfall Bay giving us some stunning views of cliffs and ocean. The same afternoon we were booked to travel the coast by boat. We like the idea of two way outlooks!

From land, we looked down upon formations such as the gulches forming The Devils Kitchen, the mouth of caves and glimpses of arches while the wave action of crystal clear ocean water below, broke over rocky platforms until we reached Waterfall Bay. Here, the surrounding steep cliffs after rain would normally carry waterfalls plunging into the sea. On our return, Lea heard a rustle as she placed her walking stick, glanced back, to see the tail of a black snake leaving the area of her stick  and the head about to enter into the safety of a bush. A bit smaller than Matilda.

We ate our picnic back at the Blowhole before heading down to the jetty to await Damien for our two hour trip to the Totem Pole – Amanda spotted the Wild Ocean Tasmania zodiac with twin 150HP outboard motors and ‘saddles’ as seats for 12 passengers. Neither Ali nor Amanda are particularly good seafarers. Between the boat's appearance and the strong westerly wind building up, they looked decidedly concerned.

Damien arrived and we were joined by two delightful young women from Hong Kong. Six passengers – how lucky was that! What an exhilarating trip it proved to be –

Damien’s enthusiasm, knowledge and skill at manoeuvring his boat in and out of all sorts of nooks and crannies soon had us entranced;

An adrenaline rush of pure excitement as a huge wave speedily built up through this archway  threatening to swamp our boat was a most memorable moment.  Damo nimbly took us away from the danger.  

Deep caves were lined with red algae as waves lapped noisily. 

Quite stupendous too, were the 150 metre high cliffs towering above us (some comprised of horizontally layered sedimentary rocks, others of sandstone and more formed of dolerite) a time line of ancient history to delight any geologist; kelp covered rock platforms at the base of the cliffs provided playgrounds for seals wallowing  about them; colonies of seabirds (including the Marine Black-headed cormorant) lived on outcrops of rock, white with guano.  Damo gave accounts of 15 -20m high waves that periodically smash against the coast creating a distinct ‘high water mark’ on the cliffs …

 A close up view of fur seals basking on ledges at their “haul out” down at The Lanterns.

And finally, Cape Hauy with the close-up views we’d all been waiting for – that of the 130 m high Candlestick and,  tucked away in its shadow, one of the most famous rock climbing venues in the world – the slender, 4 m wide by 65 m high Totem Pole.

We had been drawn here after reading a book followed by a documentary  on Paul Pritchard’s accident and the incredibly plucky rescue initiated by his then girl-friend Celia Bull, back in 1998 when they had come to climb the Totem Pole.  Paul Pritchard was struck by a rock dislodged by his climbing rope, smashing his skull. He was left hanging upside down, 1 m above the sea, drifting in and out of consciousness. Celia climbed to the ledge we could see 30 m up the Totem Pole and over the course of the next three hours, proceeded to haul him up to this ledge; secure him there; climb to the top of the Pole, cross the rope traverse to the mainland cliff and run a very rough 2 hours track with high adrenaline coursing through her veins no doubt, to seek help in Fortescue Bay.  Paul remained on the ledge for the next 7 hours before a paramedic, Neale Smith, came to the rescue, clipped him to his harness and descended to a waiting dinghy, itself now surging against the Totem Pole in 2 m high swells.  Paul’s injury had him spend a year in hospital; in spite of being paralysed, he slowly resumed climbing again and, much to his credit – helped by his mates he returned to re-climb the Totem Pole in 2016, eighteen years after the accident.  Took 126 one-armed pull-ups to get there!  

Ten days in any one year it is possible to reach the base of the Totem pole by boat… we struck lucky on one of those days and, looking up the Totem Pole we felt a tremendous sense of awe for rock climbers  and in particular the story of Paul and the amazing Celia  who had brought us here.

   

We had all looked forward to walking the Cape Hauy Track (4 hour return) and after seeing the Totem Pole from the water yesterday it was very hard to see George take off alone. The hard going 2000 or more steps required to get there deemed too harsh for bad knees. Excitedly, George took off - determined to reach the Cape by land, more so, he wanted to follow the path Celia Bull - Paul Pritchard’s extraordinary girlfriend had run 20 years beforehand, for the help desperately required for her badly injured, unconscious climbing partner, after her three hour long battle to raise and secure him to a tiny ledge 30 m up the Totem Pole.  Since that awful event, the 9 km track has been transformed into part of the iconic Three Capes Track. The more George saw - the more impressed he became by the team that built it. Thousands of carefully crafted steps along its length, each made from flat rocks that clearly had not been locally sourced. It was only later, on his way back to Fortescue Bay that he came across a ranger clipping away branches obstructing the path. He explained the stones used for the steps had been brought in by helicopter, 800 kg at a time, selected and laid by stone masons. It had taken them two years to upgrade the track to its present standard.

For George - the first hour was easy going through open woodland but thereafter, with the sea cliffs now in sight, the track began to descend and ascend sharply and became a lot more strenuous to undertake. When the time finally came for George to look down on the Totem Pole from the cliff above it he was almost disappointed!

Not only was its needle like form dwarfed by the gigantic columns of dolerite that surround it – the sight hardly compared with the view we’d had yesterday from below. Aside from a sense of accomplishment, he could not help wondering just how much longer the Totem Pole could withstand the forces of wind and waves before it toppled (like the Finger of God in Namibia) especially as it is said to already sway in the wind. 

The view from Cape Hauy looking further south to Cape Pillar, another section of the Three Capes Track.

Meanwhile, back in camp on a very chilly and rather overcast morning that had us heavily wrapped up, the three girls leisurely prepared to walk at least the first hour of the track simply to see the coastline. Easy walk along Fortescue Bay until the track veered off away from the coast with a steady upward climb of steps forcing us to shed our layers of clothing fast, as we breathlessly climbed. No sight of the coast – just woodland narrowing the path and preventing any long views. Each apparent ‘top’ necessitated more ascent climbing. Eventually Lea reached a wooden bench and she stopped to rest until the A’s caught up. She thought she heard a familiar voice and easily dismissed it thinking it would be well over another hour before George returned. Seconds later, in the dip below her, a  familiar figure to the voice came striding up.  The track along to the coastal edge was still a good distance away and we decided to return with George.  The return walk had only taken George an hour and a quarter. He’d been amazed at how busy the track was. Many people, old and young, were on the track – some just doing bits of the Cape Hauy pathway while the rest were on the middle section of Three Cape Track. We enjoyed a chat with some, after taking photographs for them at the end of this section – All were looking forward to coffee! 

While the A’s struck camp and busied themselves brushing down their tent and insuring it was spotless before folding it away, George took Lea down to Fortescue Bay to see some memorial plaques on the foreshore. 

Conscious of Justy’s celestial birthday, we had hoped to build a cairn out at the Totem Pole. George had found no suitable stones. Here, well away from the long sandy beach and on the Hauy Track  arm of the bay, we found a delightful spot with sun catching clumps of grass growing upon a couple of big rocks as waves lapped noisily across the  rocky shore. We decided this was a perfect spot for a small cairn to our daughter for her birthday tomorrow. Hopefully her children will want to take the challenge of walking to the Totem Pole with its magnificent coastline.

As  February grew to a close, the blueberry bush needed another of its regular pickings...How prolific this bush has been despite our resident possum and a young magpie working the net to have a share.  Lea has so enjoyed cooking Ottolenghi’s most delicious Lemon and Blueberry Cake along with fresh blueberry muffins. The month ended with Amanda having a cataract removed from her eye. The second, scheduled in two weeks time- after we have departed Tasmania.