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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