MERITORIOUS MT FIELD

Beautiful Russel Falls

G’day – you know most people we see in and around Caravan Parks use the Aussie vernacular G’day more than any other mode of greeting. I have tried simple Hellos, Hi’s, Good Mornings and all the others, but it seems that Slim had something with his G’day, G’day - usually followed, I might add by “How’re you goin?” Even the international tourists seem to have picked up on G’day.

Well, we are still in Mt Field – have been here for almost 2 weeks – longest stay yet since arriving here in the Apple Isle. The long stay is partly due to Easter and wanting to make sure we had a bay somewhere, partly ‘cause we really like this spot and partly ‘cause I have bin crook. Those bloody spots!!! Almost gone now I’m happy to say and the throat is feeling better and so am I in general, albeit not quite 100% yet.

Due to the longish stay I even dug my paints out to have a bit of a go, but sadly the cold weather combined with a very worrying lack of talent and or real drive to paint, they have sat unloved and unused except for a desultory brief attempt and a few sad daubs of paint on what was a pristine canvas before I despoiled it. Hopefully better weather along with better health will see a better effort – otherwise you are all doomed to be swamped by Blogs as I look elsewhere for a creative out.

Can I ask a bit of a favour here? Is anyone reading the blogs? I know I have a terrible tendency to be super long winded and wordy, but I would like to think that someone somewhere is getting something from them. I have not had any comments either privately or via email for a little while and am wondering if my readers have all fallen by the wayside. Could you just let me know if you are at least looking at the pics, just so I know there is some value aside from the personal, in writing the blogs. I do enjoy the writing, but being abysmally human I also would like to know if I have any readers out there.

Bush Fires Have Left Their Scars on the Way to Mt Field

Anyway, to more important matters, I hope that everyone had a wonderful and peaceful Easter – we certainly did. Having been in this park for a little while now, we have of course made friends (as all good campers do) with a couple of other folk here and the little camp is quite social. We were inundated briefly by young families who flocked in for the 3 main holidays – it was one of those quintessentially happy/sad times, watching other families interacting and missing our own young ones. We have to say too, that the multitude of children running (read biking) around the camp were super well behaved and we had no problems at all with any of the rather ferocious looking folk/families which descended on this place.

DD commented on the strange appearance of some of the little tots here - the mystery was cleared up when I pointed out that the children here wear many more layers of bulky clothing than our tots at home. They look like multi-coloured little Eskimos all rugged up in their quilted jackets, beanies and mittens (and it’s only April!).

Mt Field is a very pretty camping ground situated in a National Park just at the bottom of the Central Midlands/Highlands and bordering on the Derwent Valley. The amenities here are quite good and the rates at $20 per night more than comfortable. The bays here are reasonably sized, whilst not large and the whole place is very ‘doable’. The campsite sits on the banks of a pretty little river called the Tyenna. The babbling of this brook keeps us company thru’ the days and the super quiet nights.

Thats Us!

The weather since we arrived here has been generally wet and cold, with just a little respite here and there. Underfoot is a little muddy, but in the main, pretty good. As we are down in the valley here, the winds have left us alone most of the time, although we did have to pull the awning in one evening due to high wind gusts. It is a little un-nerving sitting here looking up at the movement of the trees way above us. This place sports what they call the tallest flowering plant in the world, the Swamp Gum. These trees are incredibly tall and slender – the high winds which seem to catch them but not us, cause them to career around in a most erratic manner. As tree-fall is a big problem here in the forest, I have been just a little concerned at these forest giants and their aerial dancing.

We have not seen a great deal of wild-life here, although there are plenty of pademelons and the possums are active at night. I have to say, we have not really sat outside in the evenings here, so there may very well be more animals here than we have been conscious of. The birds are scarce here as well – something we are getting used to here in Tassie. We are hoping that the East Coast will be a little better for bird life.

There is plenty to do here. Russell Falls, allegedly the prettiest falls in Tasmania are a 10 minute walk from the visitor centre (alongside the campsite). Another couple of falls are a slightly longer distance, but easily reached by someone of reasonable fitness.

Incredible Scenery Along The Way to Gordon Dam

Gordon Dam and Lake Pedder are the ‘must see’ items in the region and involve a longish drive of around one and a half hours through some of the most amazing country we have seen so far in our travels here; heavily forested with tall timber and tree ferns the road winds up and down some steep and mountainous terrain. The road eventually culminates at the Gordon Dam. This enormous body of water is part of the hydro scheme here and is tags into yet another body of water Lake Pedder. The body of water which is now Lake Pedder, was once two smaller alpine lakes, now combined to form part of the hydro system.

We Came Face to Face with This Mountain

Lake Pedder

Even though the weather was not entirely wonderful on the day we drove to Gordon Dam, the scenery was indeed stunning. We stopped and had lunch at Ted’s Beach – a small free camp on part of Lake Pedder. This little spot was quite idyllic and had reasonable facilities including kitchen and toilets but not showers. A couple of days ago a small van came into the bay next door to us here, the couple had been up at Ted’s Beach for a few days and had to pull their ‘pop top’ down on their last evening there due to the high winds that tore through there – bitterly cold too, we were told.

Gordon Dam

Looking Down to The Dam Wall

These mountains we travelled through to get to the Gordon Dam are quite high, the highest point of the road being around 680m and the highest peak we saw around 1200m. We have had some small snow fall on anything above 900 these past couple of nights. We are only at 192m here in the camp. Still cold by our standards here!

We have come to the realisation that the cold does not impact on us in any major way – except perhaps to keep us in bed a little later in the mornings, but the rain is the one thing that can prohibit us from getting out and sightseeing etc. Fortunately, there are a good many fine days or at least mainly fine days tucked in between the wet ones.

Ted's Beach

Thru' the Mountains on the Way Back

We took the little walk up to see Russell Falls – just stunning! Sadly for we budding photographers, the falls were just a bit too big to get into our lenses – we have done our best however. The falls far exceeded anything we saw in Litchfield – perhaps it is just the sheer beauty of the surrounds that makes them seem so special. They are surrounded by huge leafy tree ferns, mossy rocks and towering trees. The whole effect is magical. The walk to the falls is super easy, even for me. We didn’t proceed to the next Horseshoe Falls however as they involved a number of wet slippery rock steps, no handrails, and I didn’t have my trusty stick with me. Perhaps tomorrow, if I am feeling just a tad better. Each and Every Day I Fee................ you know how it goes!

So Pretty The Falls

Evidence of a Fallen Giant

What else? Hmm, we took a drive into New Norfolk to do a spot of shopping and to check out our next CP – all good, a very pretty town it appeared. We went for a hot-chocolate this morning with a couple of mates – at the very sweet little Possum Cafe in Westerway, just down the road. We took a drive yesterday up to the snow fields and Lake Dobson – no snow yet but boy was that wind cold up there. It was all very desolate and beautiful. You do realise that everything here in Tassie is beautiful – I cannot possibly hope to do justice to the beauty here, and have long since run out of superlatives – please bear with me as I simply tell you – it’s beautiful, again and again.

Well, we are away from here come Wednesday, heading marginally southwards to New Norfolk, a pretty and historic town situated on the banks of the Derwent. Until then, be kind to each other and exude your own special kind of beauty. Stephanie

His Own Special Beauty