Monday, 7 March 2016

A journey to the southernmost tip of Australia (a metaphor for "rock bottom")

Come along on another armchair travel adventure where we will stretch our legs for a total of 15.4 kms (and the first 7.7 kms of the South Coast Track).

Our trek begins at Cockle Creek in Tasmania – the furthest south that we can drive by road. We commence our walk by following  the side of a spur along a rocky, muddy track (with occasional bridges and short sections of board walk), and through forest under-storied by Spear grass. Here we try to avoid stepping in the patches of black mud.





We descend to a series of Button Grass plains and then walk along kilometres of wooden board walks as we cross them. Here we can see La Perouse Peak and another unidentified snow streaked peak behind it, when it appears between the racing clouds (it is winter – which means that we don’t need to worry about encountering any Tiger Snakes).



Finally we reach the World Heritage Area and follow a fern-lined creek set in a rainforest which, to our tired feet, seems to go on forever.



Then we emerge quite suddenly onto a huge black sloping rock platform edged with eroding cliffs and amazing views to South East Cape on one side, and further around the remote rugged wilderness coast to the west. The wild ocean casts waves onto the rocky shore way below us to our west, and the whole desolate scene gives an impression of what “rock bottom” might feel like (and creates a huge adrenalin rush).





After a rest, and exploration (we find a makeshift sign proclaiming that we are at the southernmost tip of Australia, even although technically the inaccessible South-East Cape is – but we do have views of this Cape from our rock platform) and some refreshment, we use the adrenalin rush for energy to begin the 7.7 km trek back along the way we have come. Like-wise, when we hit “rock bottom” the only place we can go is up.





As we drive back north from Cockle Creek we can finally rest our weary legs and aching bones and revel in a huge sense of achievement, enjoying the sunset tinted clouds (at 4.30 p.m.) as we bounce back over a rough gravel road to Lune River (the way up from “rock bottom” tends to be rough at first), before the tar gives us a smoother ride.

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