The Bush Inn, built in 1815 and reputed to be the oldest continually licensed pub in Australia is in a picturesque setting almost on the banks of the Derwent River. The rooms were decidedly spooky. We chose the one least likely to be haunted and walked into town to collect provisions for a trek to the National Park next day.
It was a long drive from the pub to the National Park but we were soon at the visitors centre, picking up a map for the area. The Russell Falls, one of Tasmanias photographic icons are just behind the visitors centre. We'd seen them lots of times on postcards, captured in that blurry, ethereal way that most photographers use to shoot waterfalls and rivers, bet were a bit underwhelmed by their rain starved trickle.
We drove up a dirt road through a unique landscape to the start of the Tarn Shelf walk. In winter this was a ski area but the glacially carved valleys were devoid of snow and from a distance looked more dead than alive. Bone dry and leafless gum trees seemed to poke out of bare rock for as far as the eye could see. This was far from a true picture though and as we descended onto the tarn shelf there were all manner of grasses, bushes and palms carpeting the area around the tarns.
Along the way we came across a hut which had been used by pioneering skiers from the 1920s. Amazingly some of their equipment was still there, dirty and dusty maybe but there was a strong vibe there and it was easy to imagine the skiers returning to the hut after a long day on the slopes, propping their cumbersome wooden skis against the wall and settling down around the smoky stove for a glass of wine.
The next day we returned to the park and hiked over boulders and through bush to the rock strewn east summit of Mount Field. There was a circular stone built shelter right on the summit and we hunkered down in it, ducking out of the howling wind. We shared the shelter with a couple of skinks which I fed and nearly choked with a corner of yoghurt coated flapjack.
The sky was darkening and we could see black clouds rolling in over the hills. We hurried back in the direction of the car but got caught in a downpour. Despite the obvious disadvantages, the rain streamed down the snow gum trees, making their multicoloured, camouflage patterned bark glisten and giving the impression that the trunk had been moulded out of lots of colours of plasticine.
On the way back down the road to the park entrance, a wallaby hopped across the road in front of us - our first marsupial! We hoped we'd see lots more of Australias fauna at our next stop - Coles Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula.
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