March 12 D-Day = 11.1 kms (est. 3-4 hours)
Packed up camp for the big trek
Around the western side of the peninsula
Back to Wineglass Bay via Mt Graham (579m),
Along the Peninsula Track.
East Freycinet Saddle
Bypassing Mt Freycinet Pinnacle
Mt Graham Down to Wineglass Bay Camp
Camp at Wineglass Bay Camp
After having created excitement for weeks about the view from Mount Graham and the way to and from Mt Graham on both sides, our decision to not suffer of heat exhaustion brought us a cloudy and windy overcast day. Great conditions to keep us cool while walking up to 600m, but jack view!!!
The romanticism of walking through the Heaths at the initial part of the western side of the Peninsula Track was soon overshadowed by the effort of lugging ourselves and our packs in an upward direction. I hear you say that after 3 days our packs should be lighter. Well, not when Paulo has anything to do with it! With his “when I was in the army” mode and water survival strategy we lugged all of our containers full of water again along the longest leg of our walk. Paulo staying patient through my “5 steps forward, 1 30 seconds rest + 4 sips (of water) needed.
We had lunch at what would have been the best view of Paulo’s life with me left with no proof looking into thick white fog – cloud. We continued into the buttongrass alive and dancing in the wind, and as you do, asked the walkers we met coming in the opposite way ho far we had to go so that they could feed our hopes with a standard “not far”. We cheered up approaching the ridgeline when we could see Wineglass and Hazards beach lines swerving around eachother, though, it still managed to seem to take a million years to get the the campsite we could see for over an hour before we got to it.
WE MADE IT!!!
& well, now we have to come back so I can show Paulo the view from Mount Graham to prove my point!!! Having set up camp and got the Trangia pumping we still had a little daylight to run down to the beach andenjoy a beach foot massage and salty foot bath without our packs. I think we were in bed at 6!
March 13
Along Wineglass Bay Beach to Wineglass Bay Track
Back up over Hazards via Wineglass Bay Track
To Wineglass Bay Lookout Back to Car park
Drive to Mel’s parents’ house in the northwest of Tasmania.
Apparently it is “half an hour walk along one of the top10 beaches in the world and an hour back over The Hazards saddle to the carpark” (Freycinet National Park Map and Notes). As If. Rainy and extremely windy it seemed like it took 3 hours jut to get to the other side of the beach at the foot of the Wineglass Bay Track. I guess it probably took a bit over an hour in the difficulty of holding our tent tarp between us in an effort to keep our packs as dry as possible before the last ascent upwards.
We cheered, up though, passing fresh walkers all clean and shaven starting their walk as we slowly but surely came closer to our little Ford Festiva. And we thanked God for having give us the strength to get through the previous day and having left us this weather for the last and shortest day.
We even dragged ourselves to the Lookout for a less than convincing postcard view but still a view. We analysed our past 3 days ad remembered where we had come from, and focused back on the carpark. We enjoyed a meal not from the Trangia and a nice drive to dad’s house for the night, criticising Forestry at strategic parts of the drive and sunk into our comfortable soft fluffy bed in our reserved room at my parents’ house.
March 14
Drive from Dad’s house back to Hobart
Pretty self-explanatory. Back to reality and dealing with the prospect of civilisaion and having to go back to work *sigh* .
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