Cradle wandering - nearly lost my lunch today!

After studying the weather forecast, I decided today was a good day to go wandering at Cradle, to find some photos for future projects, and do some training in my favourite place before flying off to walk on the other side of the world.

The mountain's mood was serene but shy and slightly dark. Glacier Rock with low misty cloud. No rain, a gentle breeze and Cradle stayed hidden all day.

Wombat Pool - where I have never seen a wombat.

 An ever-green pine and deciduous trees by the cliffs of a snowy Norwegian fjord? No - a young pencil pine and leafless deciduous fagus trees by Crater Lake with waves of sound from the melodious falling water of Marigold Creek tumbling down the sides of Crater Peak into the lake.

I paused to eat a sandwich and drink coffee near Crater Lake boat shed with its newly repaired shingles.

 Reflections on Crater Lake.

Continuing down to Crater Falls. Some random person. There were a few other people enjoying the beauty.

 Roaring water at Crater Falls

 A 30cm waterfall beside the track. Small things are as beautiful as big things.

Downstream from Crater Falls. Fast flowing water. So pretty with snow decorating the mossy forest.

Down to Cradle Valley

Gotta scratch that itch! Ah - that's better. I saw twenty wombats today! No kidding, they were everywhere, munching away.

At Ronny Creek, I stopped to eat.

What ya got there? Are you gonna share?

 If I just sneak sideways, she won't see me.

A little bit closer.

Darn. The banana has already been eaten.

 Oooh, maybe I'll get the egg.

Oh, what? Not sharing? But, but....I want some!

 No! Read the sign! It says, "Feeding wildlife can turn an animal into a pest."

I then walked the 6 km Cradle Valley Boardwalk back to the interpretation centre, briskly to get my heart and breathing rate up, for training purposes.

Until I came to this:

A pencil pine, hundreds of years old, snapped off and thrown across the boardwalk. Imagining the force of wind required to do this is quite scary. As I walked I passed literally hundreds of eucalyptus branches torn from trees, and dozens of gum trees with their tops snapped off. Winter can be wild here. But I do love it!

20 wombats!

More training - mountains, forests and beaches

Back in May, one fine day - sunny, cool and no wind - I went for a solo walk up Mt Vandyke - the mountain beside Mt Roland, near my home. Vandyke is a little shorter than Roland but it is still a very decent hill climb to get to the top. Perfect place for lunch.

There are some seriously weird rock formations up on top of Vandyke. They are all conglomerate, a lumpy sedementary rock that looks like someone cemented thousands of round river stones and pebbles together into strange sculptures. Quite different rock to Cradle Mountain and its neighbours. Those snow-capped mountains on the horizon are the ones you walk by along the Overland Track, including Mt Ossa, Tasmania's highest.

When Kate and Gustav Weindorfer honeymooned in a tent on top of Mt Roland in 1906, this is the view of Barn Bluff and Cradle Mountain that they would have seen. Cradle looks very different from this angle compared with the commonly photographed view from Dove Lake.

I am loving this training! Over the Queens Birthday long weekend, I went east. To the Pyengana Dairy Farm cafe. These are BIG scones. Can I do it?

Yes! I can! But only just.

S and I had just finished a day of walking at the Blue Tier, in north-east Tasmania. At times along the Wellington Creek circuit, we felt like we were in an English wood.

This is a myrtle tree, but it reminded us of an oak.

A beautifully distorted view

Through ice from a frozen pool.

Then, before the scones, a couple of kilometres in the ferns along the river at Halls Falls.

Natures art work - tannin foam swirls.

The previous day - a totally different walk at the Bay of Fires. We spent about five hours wandering along the beach, trying to follow almost non-existent tracks through scrub over headlands, along a long white cresent beach and two secluded coves. There were footprints all over the beach but the only human footprints were our own.

Seal hides where Aboriginal women used to sit waiting, hunting for seals.

Morning tea beside a bird-abundant lagoon. Calm, still - reflections! More art work.

Could there be a more perfect way to train for a long walk?

"The rhythm of walking generates a kind of rhythm of thinking, and the passage through a landscape echoes or stimulates the passage through a series of thoughts...the mind is also a landscape...walking is one way to traverse it." Rebecca Solnit

Trail fairies

Have you ever seen a trail fairy?

Those wonderful invisible beings who find paths through forests for us to follow? Who tie pink fairy tape to trees to mark the way.

 And build fairy cairns so we don't get lost?

This is the walking track up Mt Arthur, about a 30 minute drive north east of Launceston. There was evidence of fairy activity. And plenty of fungi. We all know fairies sit on toadstools, right?

 

So much mossy beauty

 

 Imagine how much force was required to do this! Two giant trees, root systems over 4 metres in diameter - uprooted, side by side.

 And splintered

And then I saw it. 

It was irrestible. I was drawn toward it. Tiny toadstools covered it like acne on a teenager.

  I peered inside

And there she was! The trail fairy- who had sprinkled her magic fairy dust up the side of Mt Arthur to create a wandering trail for us to explore. I thanked her!

Walkers and mountain bikers are familiar with the magic of unseen trail fairies - those wonderful hard workers, often volunteers, who create paths through forests for us to enjoy. Thank you to all the trail fairies!

Training!

I am in training. Oh yes!! Devonshire tea, or clotted cream tea if you are in Cornwall.
At Fudge'n'Good Coffee in Sheffield.

In August, my fellow wanderer, Sheryl, and I are off to do a very, very long walk in England. It is called the South West Coast Path and will take us along the dramatic cliff-lined coastline of Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall and Devon - the home of the Devonshire tea, although Cornwall would dispute that. 

When we finished our last multi-day walk, the West Highland Way in Scotland, Sheryl fatefully said that she wanted to walk 1,000 kms! And I recorded that statement here: Wandering Walkers 10-11 over celebratory apple crumble in Fort William, after only 155kms. 

Recently I typed up my journal notes from that UK trip, all 60,000 plus words, partly because a few people suggested I should write a book but mostly just to reminisce. I don't think there is a book in it.  I was shocked by the number of times I had written, "had coffee and cake" and "good scones today". These things are not part of my normal diet at home. I was also shocked by the number of times I had written "took ibuprofen" for my hamstrings - the ones I tore off the bone in 2016. 

Me waiting for the luggage van in Italy to take me to Switzerland while every one else walked.

So, today I tried to convince myself I was walking in England. Green rolling hills, English trees, contented cows, even a few hedges...

But there were quite a few gum trees and warbling magpies. And there is the familiar Mt Roland in the distance.

I walked 7.5km from my home at the foot of Mt Roland into the town of Sheffield, enjoyed a Devonshire tea for my lunch, had a look at the new murals from the recent International Mural Competition, and then walked home.  

A total of 15 kms, a fairly average day on the SWCP. My feet hurt. My hamstrings burned just a bit going up the hills. I massaged voltaren gell into my feet and took ibuprofen when I got home. I need to do more training which obviously must include cream teas and cake!

Floundering

Come for a walk with me, floundering through life, into the wilderness. Will it save you, or will it destroy you?

My new book is mostly fiction with a bit of non-fiction too, born out of all my many wanderings around Cradle Mountain.

And, did you notice there is a new tab at the top of my blog? It will lead you to the Wanderment Publishing page where I will list writings as they are published.