Tasmania - The Bush Crawl

Dec 22

Written By Deborah

November 25-27, #8

Hiking at a Photographer’s Pace

It was close to noon when our host dropped us off at Sisters Boat Launch. Nivaun had mapped out an estimated 8-ish mile day-hike covering three tracks in Rocky Cape National Park, starting with Banskia Grove/Caves Circuit to Anniversary Bay/Point Track to join Inland/Sisters Hill Track and return on Postman’s track to Boat Harbour.

Our 8-ish mile Day Hike - or at least 2/3 of it

The weather still uncertain, we were outfitted with rain gear and hiking boots, our packs filled with snacks, camera gear, and of course emergency kits. We said farewell to our host, after a few reminders about how to navigate the last section on the Postman’s track.

We stood at the submerged boat ramp scanning the thin strip of rocky beach to find the first track sign shrouded in the dense bush a few meters away - marking the start of our first true bush walk (prior hike/push-a-bike episode excluded).

Sisters Boat Launch - Sisters Hill (left) following the Banskia Grove/Caves Circuit in reverse

Wet Cave

As soon as we found the first track sign, after just a few steps, the track turned into a stairway up the side of the hill leading us to the Wet Cave. The opening was large enough to walk in standing up. We found the pool of fresh water along the back wall but no spiders, bats or snakes. So after a few photos, we continued on to find the next cave.

Lee Archer’s Cave

Lee Archer’s cave was off the other side of the hill, down a meandering set of steps with sweeping views of the coast line further up. This cave had to be viewed from a platform, as it is one with highly significant aboriginal heritage value used for shelter and ceremony.

Lee Archer Cave Track - Further up is a glimpse of Anniversary Bay

Anniversary Bay Track

Retracing our steps, we headed back to the top of the hill, continuing on to find the intersection directing us to Anniversary Bay. At this point we had barely gone a mile in over an hour. Neither one of us could walk more than a few feet before seeing some flora, fauna, or feature of interest demanding a photo.

What we didn’t expect to find in amongst all of the bush, and the plethora of leaf litter covering the ground was a Forest Leech, but somehow Nivaun spotted two of them at the same time just off the track. One disappeared under the leaves, but the other had most definitely locked on to his presence and was waving its little body in the air, making deliberate hops in our direction. Fascinating to watch, but not something to dwell on - we left it waving to and fro, and didn’t look back.

Arriving at the edge of Anniversary Bay, we were instantly drawn in and consumed - it was the most splendid stretch of beach we had yet to experience.

The number of shells and colored pebbles in the sand, the striated rock formations exposed from underneath the crashing waves, the intensity of the blue sea interspersed with turquoise swaths tipped with supremely white capped waves was simply exquisite in every natural sense of the word. Each time we stepped through rocks, dividing one section of beach from another, revealed a whole new combination of colors, shapes and patterns to take in.

As we came to the next track sign stating the “time” to the next destination instead of mileage/distance, it became obvious the time posted did not take into account a foreigner with a camera, or in my case an iphone.

We could have spent days trying to capture it all, until we realized it was gone 3 o’clock, and we were not even half way through our hike. Reluctantly, we found the track heading back up into the hillside and began scanning above for the plateau.

Don’t Mind Us

We were now walking along what seemed to be an ATV track going straight up. Except for some low underbrush the clearance on both sides was at least four-arm lengths wide making it seemingly easy to scan the ground for anything snake-like.

Half way up, Nivaun was just a few strides ahead when I shouted to look down. Just a few inches away from his foot in the scrub, between the two tracks was an Echidna with it’s butt now intentionally pointed in his direction, its’ bristles primed.

Shocked that we had encroached upon him so abruptly, we stepped back to see if we were now outside his bubble of safety. To our delight, within seconds he resumed his most feverish hunt for whatever was just under the surface of the well packed sandy soil. We watched as he repeatedly poked the ground back and forth with his drawn out nose, until something of interest garnered a quick dig with his surprisingly long clawed toes. After which he would shove his entire head down into the sand, only the corners of his mouth visible, as he began munching whatever it was wriggling down below.

Realizing after a few minutes, we were of no threat, and no interest to him whatsoever, I decided to reposition myself and sit on the ground hoping to be an invisible observer for as long as he would allow. It was another of those rare overwhelming moments - to just be, where the wild things are (and to watch such a cute lil’ butt and furry feet).

And then we remembered, daylight was not waiting for us.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

A short ways up we reached the intersection to Doone Falls and began to debate whether we had time or not, to do the out and back since it was now about 4pm. Just then, a local resident appeared and convinced us - by sharing his account of revisiting the falls, after first seeing them as a child. We’re only here once, we might as well go.

He was right about the track on the way there. It was an experience to descend into a steep ravine filled with Eucalyptus reaching into the sky and man ferns shrouding the forest floor below. As we crossed the creek and came around the next bend, poofs of moss that looked like caribou moss lined the sides of the track. The water fall was a long but thin stream of peanut-butter-colored water spilling into a pool of frothy foam blocked by what looked to be a fairly recent fallen tree, now cluttering the pool and obstructing any picturesque full scale photo of the falls.

We took a short snack break and headed back up with some haste, realizing we were pushing our luck to arrive back at Boat Harbour before dusk (the only time we may have beaten the posted time on the track sign). And then, of course, just after reaching the intersection directing us back to the end of our loop, the mist started and quickly turned to rain. We had no choice but to put on our full rain gear, or risk getting slowly soaked around the edges of our umbrellas. It was now nearing 5pm.

By the time we arrived back at Sisters boat ramp, we were ready for dinner, but an orange was all that was left on our menu. We had done about 7 miles and still needed to cross to the other side of Sisters to find the start of the Postman’s track back to Boat Harbour.

Nivaun had calculated it was only about 3 miles from the start of the Postman’s track, but it was seeming less feasible, especially if we had to find the last trail markers in the dark. We decided to stick to the beach front road rather than walk the beach to ensure we could find the start of the track.

After reaching the other side of Sisters, it was close to 7pm. Nivaun realized we had better let our host know we were running late and just about to start the next track. I had wondered whether he would be waiting for us back at the boat ramp, but dismissed it realizing we hadn’t discussed a return time. Of course, if we had actually “hiked”, we probably could have finished in about 4 hours, returning about 5 or 6pm at the latest. What we failed to let our host know was that we “hike” at a photographer pace, which is really no pace at all.

Rescued from Ourselves!

As soon as Nivaun called, our host offered to pick us up. He had already been to the boat ramp and checked the Postman’s track after the rain started. Expecting us to be grizzled and soaked, he was surprised to find we were still talking to each other, excited about our trek, and not as soaked as he had envisioned. It turned out, he was as relieved as we were, assuring us that if we had tried to push through after dusk it would have been an extraordinary challenge to not lose the track and be wandering the bush for hours. Instead, we were whisked back to a hot shower and a home-cooked meal that our hosts had waiting for us. Australian hospitality beyond our expectations indeed!

Deborah