Tarn Shelf Walk

Sunday, 24 March 2013

This post should by rights come after the one I'm going to put off until tomorrow - but I'm going to go right ahead and do it anyway as we all know that tomorrow sometimes doesn't come until like a week later...

So today was day two of our (Jackie - who has come down from Sydney for the weekend and my - hmm didn't think that through) two day bushwalking bootcamp / catchup.  Yesterday we did.. well you'll have to wait to see what we did yesterday..and today we drove to Mt Field and did the Tarn Shelf loop.  14k all up.  The forecast was for 11 degrees and showers at the entrance to the park so we were expecting it to be a bit colder and wetter on our walk. Sure enough it delivered exactly that.  In fact lesser walkers would not have even left the car as we arrived at Lake Dobson.

View on the way up looking down onto Lake Dobson and car park

We're tough though, so despite the tracks resembling creeks and the promise of howling winds we set off up the hill towards the ski tows. Unfortunately just as we arrived at the most exposed part of the walk thus far, the showers turned into a full on stormy squall and we got soaked - at the same time we also managed to miss the turnoff from the muddy road back onto our track due to some road works, the sign lying on the ground, and restricted peripheral vision due to having the hoods of our coats as far over our heads as possible! This led to 10 minutes of faffing around in the worst possible place to be faffing around.  Eventually we found the track just metres from where we'd passed by at the height of the squall. Annoying!..

hmm.. sign on the ground - not so handy..

The tarn shelf itself was wet  and not as sheltered from the westerly winds as I'd hoped. In fact it was really windy. and wet. and cold. and my raincoat was not as waterproof as I might have wanted! Nethertheless we plodded along occasionally being able to appreciate the amazing alpine surroundings and occasionally stopping to brace ourselves from the wind and rain!

My poor camera was getting pretty wet every time I took it out to take a photo so I didn't end up with too many.  

Despite the fact that we're really tough, I was happy to see the Newdegate Hut at the end of the Tarn Shelf - after about 2.5 hours of walking. As we arrived I was surprised to see some other people there as it felt like we were the only crazies out there today - but in fact there were about 10 people from three different parties sheltering in the hut.  They headed out as we arrived so we had room to sit and eat our lunch.

My teeth were still chattering as we left the hut with more than half the walk to go, but luckily the worst of the rain was over and amazingly the sun came out for small periods as we dropped down off the shelf and into the wooded valley below.  After 30 minutes I warmed up enough to enjoy it all again and we chatted away as we walked through the beautiful forest.   The paths were still like streams though but it was just lovely.

 One thing we noticed as we walked where how green some of the gum trees looked whereas others looked quite pink..

I also liked the banksias on the ground which looked like fireworks..

After four and a half hours we arrived back at the car not nearly as wet as we were thinking we would be.  It was a great walk but a real pity Jackie didn't get to see the Tarn Shelf in all its splendour. Next time.  

The drive home included well deserved hot chips in Bushy Park and a diversion to the airport as I booted Jackie out of the car and drove straight home to a hot bath.  After two days of long walks my legs are completely shot. Thank goodness our new studios have a lift.  Despite the pain I'm feeling great for doing it and it was fantastic having time to catch up with Jackie properly as it's been a few years. Yay us.