Wednesday 6th December 2017
Well, it is our last day in Tasmania. How much can we fit in to today? That is the big question. We packed up early and then had a chat for a bit with Paul, Ali and the Girls. We are heading on our way today as they are staying at Ulverstone one more day. We finally got on our way about 11am. A bit later than we expected but it was great to share a last morning with them as we will not be seeing them for Christmas this year.
First stop to Braddon’s Lookout at Ulverstone to see the farms. We learnt that the white flower we have seen growing around here is Poppy, which is very well regulated due to its narcotic properties.
Then on to our last adventure. Hike to the Summit of Mt Roland. We had a choice of a 20km return walk or a 400m elevation to 1200m elevation over 4km distance. We chose the latter as we were a little limited for time as we had to be back at Devonport by 6.30pm to board the boat. The estimated time for this walk was 3-5 hours. And the notes for the walk indicated it was a steep, tough walk. That was definitely not an underestimation. It was very tough. It took 2.5 hours to scramble up the rocky track with many stops on my part. Some of the time I couldn’t even stretch my legs far enough and had to grab on to a stick DB was holding for leverage. By this time it was 4pm which left us 2 hours maximum to get back down as we didn’t want to miss boarding time for the boat home as they are very strict and say if you miss the time you forfeit your fare.
The way down should be a bit quicker but the steep rocky sections were going to be as tough down as they were up. We really needed to knock an hour off our uphill climb to give us a little extra time. So off we went down the hill. Sometimes it was necessary to slide on our bottoms as the steps were very steep. We picked up the pace on the way down even though our legs were a little weary. We both had a couple of slips on the way down without any damage luckily. We finally made it down in one hour 20 mins which was fantastic. This gave us 1 hour to get to the boat which we did in 30 minutes so we were there in plenty of time. Mind you we were the 4th last vehicle to board the boat.
We were exhausted. As always we fit the maximum in to our last day. Now it is time for dinner and a rest for the big drive home from Melbourne tomorrow. (We thought this would mean we were last off, but our level was 1st off YAY on our way at 6.30am)
I hope you enjoyed our travels of Tasmania.
Lots of love Fiona and David xx
- Last morning chat before we head home. Thanks for a great holiday.
- Last photo of the Tasmania travellers
- Last bit of action with the girls
- Ulverstone Beach
- Ready to hike to Mt Roland. It is 1.30pm and we have to be at the boat by 6.45pm when checkin closes.
- Registering for our walk.
- Sign at the bottom of the track.
- No distances on the track so we estimated it would take us 3-4 hours. We have no more than 4.5 hours
- It is a tough scramble up rocks, big and small.
- First Christmas Bells for the season
- First view through the trees
- A short rest to enjoy the view. This is at about the 1/2 way mark
- It was tough going…
- ..sometimes my leg length was not enough..
- to get up the next step..
- Further beautiful views…
- ..and now in the opposite direction. The colours of the flowers was amazing again..
- Not much further…
- Maybe about 20 mins..
- We had our running shoes on as we had been going over 2 hours at this stage
- It was a tough scramble..
- ..for the last 15 mins..
- ..but well worth the view once we got there..
- ..a pity we only had 10 mins to spare as it had taken us 2.5 hrs. The time now is 4pm and the trek down will be tough as it is very steep and rocky.
- ..On our way down. You just had to make your own track down as it was all rock scrambling. We only have 2 hours as we still have a 40min drive to the boat once we reach the bottom.
- Signpost to Mt Roland. We missed this on the way up. We took a different path
- Beautiful views on the way down, but we were moving fast. Have to knock at least 30mins off the time it took us to go up…
- Sounds easy but it is tough on your knees, especially when the drop down is very steep. Sometimes it requires sitting down and sliding along the rock face on your bottom..
- We made it down by 5.40pm which allows 1 hr 5 mins to get to the boat. Phew. We will make it.
- We were the 4th last vehicle on the boat. YAY!!
- Sunset as we leave Devonport..