Hi! Wow… two days in a row!
I’ve been working on some of the photos from when our friend Yuri came to stay. So I thought I’d start sharing the Main Event… a hike up into the Cradle NP to see what the rangers dub ‘The Japanese Gardens’
When I was in Japan last year I spent a fabulous day with Yuri and convinced her to make plans to come and see us.
The hike was a big goal – the area falls right in the middle of the Overland Track, which wasn’t really a practical option.
Happily, there is a kinda short cut into the track via the Arm River Track.
Its a fair way from our place to the start, so we opted to go the day before and camp closer so we were on the track earlier without having to wake at dawn and do a super long drive first.
We camped at the base of Mt Roland, ate a picnic dinner and Yuri and I took a short local walk just to get into the swing of the thing.
Actually where we camped was literally across the creek and down from where Maureen and I stayed for Steamfest and in future, we will use those cabins for these adventures.
Haha… off we go.
Nothing too difficult or long. It was just nice to stretch the legs after the drive.
Lots of little signs and other bigger signs with local information
I think Yuri was nervous, and I was also anxious (wanting things to go smoothly) So easing into our adventure was a nice thing to do with a relaxing walk.
And it was such a pretty area!
We were mostly all ready for the next days walk. Jeff was taking our tent and I had Yuri’s tent. We were trying to reduce her pack weight as she is only small and wasn’t used to crazy hiking.
My friend Nardia was kind enough to give us a loan of a pack and sleeping bag and a few other handy things for the hike.
The main hike we planned to do over three days.
First day in – a long haul with a mean climb for the first half… hence wanting to start early before the sun cooked us.
Second day to go up to the Japanese Gardens and third day to hike out.
I worded Yuri up about the lack of showers – a shock to the system for a Japanese person I am sure, since bathing is such a cultural thing!
I also said dont worry about the makeup – you just have to carry it and the wildlife and other hikers dont care!!
hee hee… I am pretty sure she snuck some in.
So here we are looking all Genki (Japanese word) ready to tackle day one!
We brought the Triton this time as the road in is a bit rough and I think Jeff was crying when we brought the nice little Mazda last time.
Jeff also brought Totoro along for the hike! (If you are not familiar with the movie, do yourself a favour and go check out ‘Totoro’ and some other Ghibli Studio Movies while you are at it! – My favourite is Spirited Away)
Easy start…
Followed by a bit of log balancing
Yuri looking like a pro and non of us fell off!
Bonus!
Finally a sign to tell us we aren’t lost!
And then came the tough part… up and up with the switchbacks.
I get ridiculously anxious about the start of a trek… esp the going up thing.
I am talking throwing up anxious… which is annoying as I’ve done these things so many times. There is no need for it, but – huh. Body says nope – Drama Queen Time!
I did take some medication to calm the farm and let Jeff do his pace heading off ahead and I planned to stop at every switchback and inch my way up.
The overall combo seemed to work well and we just took our time overcoming the days challenge.
And stopping to take a snap or two!
The switchbacks stop eventually but the up continues for a fair way.
The track got a bit more interesting with the bush closing in
It has been so dry over summer… more than we would usually expect here in Tassie, so the moss and lichen weren’t as spongy fresh as we are used to seeing.
We’ve dubbed this rock, ‘Nectarine Rock’ in honour of stopping here to down packs and enjoy some fresh fruit!
I cannot describe HOW GOOD that nectarine tasted! We were in heaven!
Sometimes you have to do stupid things to enjoy your fruit more…
Clearly revived… Yuri looks like she has lots of energy left!
I always enjoy coming back out into the open spaces after spending a while in the scrubby bush areas.
I forgot to ask Yuri how many photos she took on this hike! She outdid me by a long shot!!
And I love just stopping to take in the views, catching my breath and generally trying not to break land speed records when doing these hikes so I enjoy hiking buddies like this!
Anyway, I am going to leave you on the track here as I have an early (ish) night.
Plan to head up to Jude’s in the morning for some gardening and in the afternoon attend a talk about fossils in Tasmania (is that nerdy?)(I am totally there for it!)
Hope you are all doing well
xx
