Mt Field National Park

Land of the Giants Caravan Park Mt Field NP

I just sat down to write this when a paddymelon (a small, chunky sort of wallaby) hopped past the door of the van-right under our awning! There are lots of them around the place and heaps of a native Tasmanian bush hen that is very noisy.

We arrived here around lunch time yesterday-it's beautiful. The caravan park within the national park is tiny and there are only about 4 other vans and tents here tonight. Our site backs onto the Falls Creek and Russ has headed over there to catch himself a trout. Hahaha. He bit the bullet and bought himself three wattle grubs at $2 each, so he's pretty serious about it. I had to hold them on the way home and the slippery little suckers kept trying to escape the hanky I had then in. Probably suspected that they might be drowned soon!

Russell Falls


Yesterday after setting up and having lunch, we took a walk to the interpretive centre, then on to the falls. We have been here years ago, but I'd forgotten how pretty the walk to them is and how tall the falls actually are. They come down as a gentle veil of water over three or four tiers and are really beautiful. We walked to the top too (216 steep, slippery steps). While the top isn't so spectacular, we got a great view of the valley with a pretty rainbow over it.

From the Top of Russell Falls


It started to pour rain on the way home, so we sheltered in a hut for a while talking to a nice young WA couple.

Last night I made a really yummy dinner of sausages and cabbage braised in beer and mustard over mash. Russ wasn't too keen on the recipe, but we both loved it and it was perfect for the cold night.


Today we drove up the "steep, winding, narrow, subject to snow, ice and fallen trees" road to the ski fields 16ks from here. The road was one of the better dirt ones we have been on in Tassie and not deserving of all those dire warnings! Maybe it's a different matter in the ski season though!

Lake Dobson



We took a few short walks through the different types of forest and across an alpine peat marshe, then took a walk around the very pretty little Lake Dobson. It was just far enough for fatty boombah me and I especially loved the pandani grove with its old pines growing like gnarly old bonsai off the rocks and the mosses and lichen hanging off the trees. The pandani were suprisingly tall-much more so than we see them in the tropics. We stopped and gave a young Israeli couple a lift to the bottom car park on the way home.

Hops About to be Harvested at Bushy Park


After a lunch of home made soup and toast, we drove back out the way we came yesterday to towards New Norfolk through the hop fields. They are quite vast (the biggest in Aus) and produce tons and tons of hops for beer. There are remains of kilns, oasts, big storage sheds and a water wheel on the River Styx. They were owned by one family originally and 30 houses remain on the properties. The hop farmers also grow black currants, raspberries and sheep.

Right now, Russ is home after drowning one $2 wattle grub and catching no trout (he saw about six "rise" though) but they wouldn't take the bait. He's consoling himself with a glass of wine while he cooks us a green Thai fish curry.