Hartz Mountains, Tasmania

 Hartz Mountains, Tasmania 

The first on the next day's tour was the Pinnacle, the summit of Mount Wellington, also known locally as kunanyi, and I have purposefully used a lower case 'k' for the first letter as it is aboriginal word. Most aboriginal languages will use a capital letter when referencing Elders, as it is a title. Capital letters are also used for Native Titles, Traditional Owners, Custodians and Culture, but not for all names so some nouns, unlike English use only a lower case letter, Mount Wellington is also kunanyi.

The mountain dominates the skyline above Hobart. The temperature drops one degree centigarde for every 100 metres of elevation so it was going to be 12C cooler at the top. It was morning and although it was bright, it was cool at sea level in the city. We changed our plans because from our hotel, we could see the summit and it was cloud free. Other than brownie points for ticking it off the list of places to see, there would be no point in going up if there was no view.

It was a long climb up to the top. The route to the top is popular with hikers, runners and mountin bikers. On a weekend, they can outnumber the number of vehicles going up to the top.

Some of the view from the top. The photo is not as good as the reality but we could pick out the harbour front, sonme of the distinctive buildings and the bridges. It was very windy at the top adding several degrees of coolness due to the wind chill factor. The strongest gust recorded up here was 174 kilometres an hour. Even on our visit, we could lean into the wind at 45 degrees and not fall over.

After descending, we drove to the Huon Valley. We stopped in Huonville en route for supplies for lunch as we would be up another mountain with no food options so we had to bring our own. We had some Australians with us who would point out various buildings. The Australian TV series Deadloch is a black comedy crime mystery series first screened in 2023. It was filmed wholly in Tasmania. We were not on a tour of the film sets but the Australians in the group pointed out some of the buildings, streets and parks used in the series.

We passed through Geeveston and just a little way up the road, we passed Castle Phoenix and Sculpture Gardens. It received some art funding and construction of a castle started. There are tours advertised, photos posted and plans to view but the reality is somewhat different from what the promoters hoped for. Construction started but all that there is on site viewed from the road is a partly built large house with scaffolding and a sign but no castle and no gardens. No progress has been seen since COVID.

Shortly afterwards, the tarmac finished and there was just a gravel road. It was largely smooth but witha few potholes or fallen trees to avoid. We were going through forest into the Hartz Mountains, named after the mountains in Germany. As we bumped along the gravel road through the forest, a lyre bird ran across the road.

We entered the Hartz Montain National Park. We ascended and passed the tree line. We stopped in a car park and went for a walk. 

It was a short walk to see the Arve Falls, looking down towards the falls...

...the scenery beyond the Arve Falls creatd by the edge of the plateau falling away to the lower agricultural land in the valley...

...and looking back up to the main falls.

We had our packed lunches in the Hartz Mountain Day Visitor Centre, a grand name for a waterless toilet and a shed to shelter from the wind and rain although after the strong winds at Mount Wellington, there was only a breeze here.

We washed our boots at a soecial wash station to try to reduce the spread of dieseases. Then we set off along a trail to Lake Esperance. It was very muddy at the start and some people turned around. After a while, there was a narrow board walk to follow.

The view across the landscape from the boardwalk towards Lake Esperance. We had been told to look out for snakes. I searched every sunny patch to look for a snake sunning itself. I had given up looking except some movement caught my eye. All I saw was a black snake slivering away into the undergrowth with no time to take a photo. It was a tiger snake, usually with tiger like strips but around here they are dark, almost black and the strips are hard to see. 

Lake Esperance. The water looks inviting but it was very cold. Thre are more trails across the mountain. Some of the stronger and faster walkers wanted to go on and summit the peak. Our guide who also guided walking tours knew the area and advised against it. There is a saddle to cross before a steep and exposed path up to the summit. The wind rips across the saddle and the upper section is all exposed. The wind, and the temperature, would be like on Mount Wellington and we didn't have sufficient hiking gear for trek in those conditions.

We drove back to Geeveston. The composition of the group had changed as people leave and others joined. Many of us had seen platypus at the Tasmanian Arboretum but there was another chance to see them along the Platypus Walk, in the park, in Geeveston. Ther were platypus to see but I didn't linger as I wanted to see the town. 

Geeveston has a number of wood carvings in the town centre of locally well known people, such as this 92 year old local...

...Mr Wetherspoon....

...a typical 19th century couple...

...the local doctor...

...and the blacksmith.

After Geeveston we were due to visit a honey tasting place but it was getting late. The winery we had planned to visit had close early. We had spent too long walking to Lake Esperance and waiting for everybody to return and being sidetracked by the platypus that some people had not yet seen.

We rushed straight to our last stop of the day at a Willie Smith's...a cidery. They said that if we arrived 15 minutes before they were due to close, they would serve us. We got there with three minutes to spare. It had been a quite afternoon and they were packing up. We ordered our tasting paddles and had to pull out the chairs from where they had been stacked up for the night. It was so rushed that I had tasted all the ciders before I thought about taking any photos.