We are travelling beyond Dover today and venuring into a forestry area to explore the area around Duckhole Lake.
According to Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service:
Lying within the Southwest National Park the delightfully tranquil
lake is actually a flooded sinkhole. It is part of the extensive
regional cave and karst system that includes Hastings Caves. The lake is
a peaceful place to sit and listen to the birds and frogs while you
have a picnic.
The track follows a late 19th century sawmill tramway for much of the way, and remnants of the tramway can be seen.
The track initially follows the Creekton Rivulet is a great little walk showing of the local vegetation that has regrown since the area was originally logged.
Not long into the walk the track diverges away from Creekton Rivulet and follows another smaller unnamed creek before crossing that on a recently constructed footbridge.
This is the first a seven different fungi that we came across during the walk.
Crossing the bridge.
Fortunately there are still magnificent trees standing in this forest that make the walk worthwhile.
This is starting to look a bit like the forest in "The Lord of The Rings".
Prionotes cerinthoides (Climbing Heath) is endemic to Tasmania's South and South West.
A great example of Anodopetulum Biglandulosum (Horizontal Scrub) where the main trunk of the tree has formed an arch over the track and there are 5 plus new branches emerging from the top side of the trunk reaching for the sunlight.
Native Laurel growing with along side the track two right angle bends in the trunk.
Morning tea by Duckhole Lake.
Duckhole Lake panorama.
After morning tea we set off looking for the track that leads to Creekton Falls.
Chris was enjoying the challenge although both of us kept claiming we could see pink track tape when it turned out to be Climbing Heath.
After walking along a fairly easy level trail we came to a fairly abrupt climb including rope assistance.
At this point some of the group decided that they would return to the Lake for lunch leaving the others to continue exploring.
After a short period when someone mentioned that we had climbed to the 200 meter contour and had another 350 meters in height to climb before the Falls we all decided to return to the Lake for lunch.
Some people will sit any where in the wilderness to experience a moment in contemplation.
Leaving the lake after our lunch stop. Unfortunately we did not observed the resident platypus.
I think there was hope that the creek held fish for the hunters and gatherers in the group.
We had 18 walkers who covered 5-6 kms and climbed a whopping 88 meters in just under 3 hours.
On the return journey to Hobart the group decided to stop for a coffee break at Franklin.
Thanks Sally C for the photo.
An enjoyable walk and Creekton Falls is now firmly on the minds of some of the walkers for the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment