North Queensland wildlife and the environment
We have been out West again, to Porcupine Gorge and Undara Lava Tubes. We have been impatient to go inland ever since the rain stopped but there is a frustrating period every year between the end of the rain and the re-opening of flood-damaged roads and flooded parks.
Continue reading “Porcupine Gorge and Undara Lava Tubes revisited”
Cockle Creek, Tasmania, is famously the end of the road, the furthest south you can drive in any Australian state. The road from Hobart is sealed as far as Ida Bay just south of Lune River. From there it is gravel, in good condition at first but dwindling as you pass through smaller and smaller places. Moss Glen may count as a village but most of them are just cleared camping spots with a composting dunny but no other facilities. And finally there’s Cockle Creek. Why would anyone go there?
This, the last day, is the biggest (hardest) day of the walk, according to the rangers. The distance is not quite as great as on Day 3 but there are lots of steps: 800 up and over Mt Fortescue, then 2200 out to Cape Hauy and back, and some more on the last section which trends gently down to Fortescue Bay. The ranger told us to expect to take three hours to the Cape Hauy track junction, one hour each way on the Cape, and one more down to the Bay.
Most of us were up early on Day 3 of the four-day Three Capes walk because it is the longest, distance-wise, at 19 km. It’s not as hard as it sounds, however, because the first 16 km were an out-and-back walk from Munro Hut to the tip of Cape Pillar, carrying only a day-pack.
Day 2 on the track is more strenuous than Day 1 (previous post), proceeding from Surveyors Hut (130 metres altitude) to Munro Hut (240 m) by way of Arthurs Peak and Crescent Mountain (300 m), a total of 11 km which should take 4 to 4.5 hours according to the track notes.
Most of the route lies close to the cliff tops and the spectacular views present plenty of excuses to stop and rest for a few minutes. My camera will do most of the talking.
We didn’t see a lot of wildlife (it was the end of summer and the country was very dry) but wallabies grazed around the huts at dusk and dawn.