Where's the coffee?

To continue describing my Tasmania Easter trip: 

Something I really enjoyed, despite its simplicity is what they call Tesselated Pavement.  It looks like a brick wall on the ground.  It is formed from the shifts in the earth that occur in three directions (2 obvious perpindicular ones in the image).  As the water erodes these "fault lines", little rounded bricks begin to form.  

I set off to find coffee.  It looked like the biggest nearby town was Port Arthur.  As I drove, I noticed a tourist "i" sign and pulled on in.  These places always are a sign for coffee.  This place had tons of tourists pouring in.  I grabbed some pamphlets as I went to drink my coffee... which was absolutely delicious.  Apparently this place was a penal colony and is now a historic site, where they hold ghost tours and what not.  Due to the dreary day, I thought... perfect. 

So, I headed on in.  They asked if I wanted a ferry to the Isle of the Dead.  I said, "heck yes."  Any isle with that name is an isle for me.  It reminds me of a song I heard while writing my dissertation on Halloween 2010... called the Isle of the Dead by Rachmaninoff, which also corresponds with a painting that I really like by Böcklin.  The island had over 1200 people buried in it.  The island is tiny.  It was freezing and cloudy out, which went well with the otherwise sunshine and rainbows atmosphere.   

Bad David Kill Camera

I made my way over to the east coast to the Tasman Peninsula.  It was a big National Park with sea cliffs, so I thought it would be a good a stop.  What I didn't realize is that very little of it is actually accessible by car.  I got there just in time to catch the sunset, which was magnificent, as it usually is in beautiful locations of nature.  As a complete aside, all info areas around here were actually just peoples' houses.  It was very confusing when I followed the information signs (the blue signs with the i).      

Anyhow, I managed to stop at all 3 point of interest sites in the NP within 30 minutes.  Unfortunately, a very sad and stupid incident occured at my last stop for the night.  I thought I would get a self-portrait... because mum likes those.  Being the shy guy that I am, I didn't ask anyone to take the picture.  So, I setup my camera on a railing, which had a nice flat place for cameras.  The bad part is that the wind was blowing pretty well.  I thought... hmmm.. my camera could blow off.  Bah, let's do it anyhow.  Well.... please refer to photo.  I think it can be fixed by the manufacturer, but I still feel silly, when I had a inkling for what would happen. 

Then, it was time to find a place to sleep.  I thought about finding a hotel... but eh.  I love the outdoors... and admittingly, I'm a cheap man.  I am what I am.  So, I found a remote location in the park that had nearby tourist attractions.  I stopped the car and took a look around to see if I should setup camp.  To sum up what this area was, was that it was a parking lot, with some sand and a short footpath that leads to another tourist attraction site.  The point it is that it wasn't really a proper place to camp.  Finally, I gave up on that spot as tourists began walking around.  I didn't want to seem like too much of a bum.  So, I drove into the most remote dirt roads of the park and found a nice spot next to a dumped refrigerator and furniture.  It actually was a fairly nice spot... other than the trash.  

Easter Sunday Pilgrimage

I slept surprisingly well in the whipping tent.  I woke up a few times and always thought about getting up to climb the mountain, while getting an early start.  However, the pitter patter of raindrops and the warmth of a sleeping bag, kept me nestled into my tent, despite the pools of water that were forming.  I did unzip to check the visibility... but the fog lingered.  After the sun came up, I could still hear the rain and decided to get up and out anyhow. 

When I stumbled out of bed, I had a had time trying to decide if I should continue on to summit Mt Anne.  At the moment, I couldn't see 10 ft in front of me, so the view would be no good.  I debated whether or not the mountain would rise out of the clouds, but based on previous experience, I guessed not.  Then I tried to decide if I should do it for the challenge and finally I decided that the logical thing to do would be to find another National Park, where I could see more of Tasmania.  So, down I went.. not that this was easy.  I ended up bending my hiking pole.  I was blown off my feet because of the wind and my face was freezing from the wetness and wind.  The boulders were slow-going.  Slickrock is slick when wet.  Once down from the boulders, I met a group of people that thought about going up Eliza.  They had just entered the cloud/fog.  I told them that they were welcome to try, but the view would be lacking, unless the clouds lifted up to some degree, while the sun continued to rise.  I also made sure that they knew the forecast, which called for snow that night.. which is problematic on this rock without the right equipment.  Then I asked if there was decent weather anywhere in Tasmania.  They said the east coast.  So, off I hiked and drove.  First things first, I grabbed a Easter coffee. 

Tasy - Promising Start

I finally made my way down to Tasy (where the 's' has a 'z' sound).  I headed to the most remote location that I could, the Southwest NP.  I had some friends let me in on the little secret, known as the Mt Anne Circuit.  One problem.  It requires good/sunny weather to cross a particular section.  I began with my quintessential stop at McDonalds to get some coffee, Coles to get some groceries, and Anaconda to get some gas for my stove, then finally the ranger office for a Park Pass, in order of priority.   

The climb reminded me a lot of some of the NZ climbs that I have done.  The scenery was beautiful.  Luckily, the rain held off for some good views.     

Then, I walked into the cloud.  There was a nice appealing hut 2/3 up the mtn, right before a difficult 1 hr rocky scramble up Mt Eliza.  I skipped the hut and made my way up the mtn, discovering the swamp, or plateau on the top.  It was very cold, wet, cold, windy, and cold.  I'm not sure if you can make out the ripples in the water from the wind.  Anyhow, I waded through the plateau to get to the next section of rock by Mt Anne.  Night was coming quickly and the rocks were very slick from the fog/rain/snow.  So, I thought about hunkering down.  I found a good spot when I pushed my face into a bush after slipping on a rock.  I setup camp and was too tired to start up the stove, so it was Snickers bars for dinner.  Despite the torrential downpour that commenced and the tortuous wind that whipped the tent back and forth at a frequency of about 1 hz, I had no trouble falling asleep (to remind you, I got up at 3am to get to the airport in time).  Bedtime was 7pm, just like my favorite Goddaughter.  To be continued...

Covering Tangerine by Led Zeppelin vid 3

Covering Tangerine by Led Zeppelin vid 1

English?

I should also apologize for my spelling and grammar issues.  I rarely read over these posts and often neglect the spellcheck.  Usually, I'll get part way through a post and realize I need to get back to work, so I'll rush through the rest.  If it gets too bad, let me know.