Cathedral Rock & Montague Thumbs Loop - take 3

Although I've been to the top of Cathedral Rock about 10 times, today was only the third time I've done this 14ish km loop which continues along the ridge of Montague Thumbs and drops down to Wellington falls before descending back down to North West Bay river.

At the summit I noticed that some of the bushes which died in the extreme heat a few years ago are growing back, and others have been completely overcome by moss:

Each time I've done the loop I've had nervous moments about being on the right track, or even on a track at all, as it's so poorly marked in some parts. 

This time I noticed that a fair bit of track work had been done in the first 1/3 of the loop (left photo), but then the route transitioned to overgrown sections where your feet were on a track, but the rest of your body was bush bashing. The most difficult part of the circuit is thick and barely marked at all, and you have to be really careful not to stray from the occasionally cairned slightly trodden path. It's always a relief to hear the water and drop down to Wellington Falls which confirms that you won't have to spend the night in the bush like other lost bushwalkers before you.

It was such a nice day that I dilly dallied a bit by the river above the waterfall before continuing onto the very well marked remainder of the route which crosses the pipeline track.

It's always nice walking in Tasmania in December as the waratahs start to come out. The shelf mushroom reminded me of Zali's cake from this week.