Orford to Scamander via Freycinet National Park, Tasmania

Thursday 16th May 2019
Today we get off to a slow start as it was quite cold. We drove from Orford to Freycinet National Park which was about 1.5 hours away. It was a pleasant drive and the sun was shining brightly with minimal clouds for the first time since we arrived here. David said this is what he was expecting for our entire holiday, cold but clear. Oh well, you live and learn. Just a little unlucky this time with the weather, but we have had a great adventure anyway.

We arrived at Freycinet National Park at about 11.30am ready to climb Mt Amos. This was a 3-5 hr hike but only 4km, 2km up and 2km down, an elevation of 454m above sea level. This is quite a challenging track with lots of rock scrambling for the last 1km. It was a tough climb for me today as each step on the rock scramble you would be looking at your hands then up again then back down. It affected my balance and left me a little dizzy which meant I had to stand and wait before I continued At one stage I was thinking I should maybe pull the pin on the summit but was almost there so I kept going slowly and managed to get over the difficult sections and eventually made it to the top. The views were very rewarding and we spent about 2 hours up there chatting to some young backpackers from Ireland and Finland, some Melbournians who had done a few of the hikes we want to do and we had done some they want to do, so it was good to exchange experiences. We then chatted to some young girls from Germany and France. We love sharing their journeys and ours as we take in the amazing view. After about 1.5 hours up there I realised we hadn’t even had our lunch and it was almost 2pm.

SO we had a quick lunch, with amazing views (my lounge room is going to be somewhat lacking when we get home) and just enjoyed the sunshine. Then it was time to head down. I wasn’t too worried as figured I could shimmy down on my bottom where necessary. This was the case, there were a few tricky bits but it was much easier on my balance than on the way up. David’s childhood bush adventures held him in good stead, he just walked up and down without too much problem at all, only occasionally using his hands. I slowed him down a lot today.

Anyway I made it. We left Freycinet National Park around 4pm and drove to Scamander. A small town further north on the east coast.

Today was probably our last rock scramble, summit hike for this trip to Tasmania. We have a few more on the list for next time:
• Walls of Jerusalem
• Mt Freycinet and Mt Graham loop
• Mt Eliza and Anne, Strathgordon
• Malaleuca to Cockle Creek
• Mt Fields National Park
• Cape Pillar
• Hartz National Park
So I think we will be back before we are too old to enjoy the hikes as a few of these require overnight stays and big packs to be carried.

We still have a couple of days left on our Tasmania adventure but I don’t know where we are heading except we will be in Devonport by Saturday afternoon