camping

Last week Slabs, Juniordwarf and I went camping at Mt Field National Park.

We really love going there, and it’s been the subject of several previous posts (examples here and  here). It’s wonderful to be so close to such a beautiful place, so peaceful and so far removed from the rest of our lives.

I’ve already told the story of how Zoe went swimming on our walk to Russell Falls. Here are some photos to tell the rest of the story.

Slabs and Junordwarf did some fishing
Lake Fenton, where we had hoped to see a glorious sunset, but it wasn’t to be

The amazing colours of these trees almost made up for the lack of a sunset

They were beautiful trees
Pandani on the Urquhart Track near Lake Dobson
Eagle Tarn
Mt Field from Maydena

Russell Falls
A grateful Juniordwarf and Zoe after the great rescue
Juniordwarf is getting the hang of using the camera
Tyenna River, right where we camped
Tall trees at dusk. They really are massive!

We had only intended to stay for two days, so we weren’t too put out when we were told on the Thursday night we would have to leave by 9 am the next morning as they were closing the park due to the forecast high temperatures (forecast 39 degrees, it actually reached 41 in Hobart) and strong winds, combined with the fact that there was a bushfire relatively nearby.

It seemed impossible to imagine, in the cool and still of the evening, that such conditions could eventuate. But eventuate they did, and not long after we got home, the sun came out, the clouds disappeared and Tasmania sweltered and burned.

Late on Friday afternoon, the sky around town looked like this

from the fire that had prompted the precautionary closure of the park. It was nowhere near us, but it was still a fearsome sight. In the following days we heard of heartbreaking losses from communities around the state, especially around the Tasman Peninsula.

Today it is a lot cooler, even though the rest of Australia had its turn for record temperatures, but the fires are still burning and everyone is hoping for some relief very soon.

Share this
No Comments