Day Walks - Tasman Peninsula, Mt Anne, Mt Field

After my trip to Frenchmans Cap, and a night in Hobart, I headed out to pick up Dan and Dave from the airport. (You can get cheap parking by parking in the rental car area - helps if you actually have a rental car, though.) We kept on heading to the

Tasman Peninsula, stopping at some of the many points of interest, including:

• tesselated pavement (very square, looks unnatural)
• the beach (cold, but much warmer than Ottawa)
• Eaglehawk neck, where dogs stopped escaping convicts at the isthmus (and I broke some ancient driftwood in front of the cafe)
• various blow holes and their relatives
• Port Arthur (walk in the exit, and you don't have to pay)

We took 4 hours to visit the Totem Pole, a feature on my hit list (ever since I saw a picture of it in Climb Magazine - and there were climbers there too). 'Twas a nice walk out and back, with big cliffs, a bit of wind, and a seal (as discovered by Dave).

That night, we headed out to Lake Pedder (or Gordon) (seeing a numbat on the way), to get ready for our 3 day walk up Mt Anne. We camped at the track head, and the following morning I drove the car 7km to the end of the circuit (and walked back) to avoid a long road bash at the end of the walk. The morning was very overcast, but we were optimistic none-the-less. The walk starts across a swampy area, but before long, you are climbing up the ridge towards Mt Anne. Unfortunately, the cloud wasn't lifting, and we were steadily nearing its ceiling.

Eventually, at the a nice little hut, we reached that day's roof. There were a few others around, waiting for the weather to improve. One guy even ventured up for a bit, only to return speaking of crazy white stuff falling from the sky. Hmm.

After not much debate, we decided to pike, and returned to our starting point (now sans car). Fortunately, there were people (the climbers from the Totem Pole, actually) willing to give Dan a ride to the rental car.

Now with some unplanned days up our sleeve, we ended up at Mt Field National Park, an oft overlooked area, despite its spectacular alpine scenery. I was very impressed by it - much open heath, tarns, cliffs and scree slopes. The circuit we chose for the day went past an aptly named Lake Webster (Woo Hoo), as well as a couple of huts, one of which had been restored into a fantastic museum. The area is (during cold winters) a ski area, and we walked past a couple of the ski lifts, as well as some ski lodges.

Next, we headed for the coast, but only after we stopped at the Styx Valley, an area of environmental combat. The Tasmanian Logging Company has put up a nice walk going past the Big Tree, and the Bigger Tree, and explaining the environmental way in which they harvest timber. One kilometre around the corner, is Greenpeace's version of events, next to some clear cut land, with their walk visiting the big stump and Reg, the tree which protesters lived in until it got too cold (about April). It was great to see the contrasting messages and styles of propaganda. Should be more of it.