Mt Eliza, Tassie

Howdy,

Today we climbed Mt Eliza in the South West NP. This baby is the second highest in the south of tassie. The weather at the start of the walk was 11 degrees C, with a nippy wind and splatters of sun coming through the very high cloud.

From the start I knew I would not be friends with Eliza………would you????.......a 6 hour trail, steep up to the peak with some climbing, then straight back down! From the start it was tough with large steps cut into one of the many hills at the foot of the mountain we were to conquer. It was tough, with some real hairy climbing involved near the summit. On the way up we saw two very rare birds, the Southern Emu-wren, and the elusive Ground Parrot. Emma was most pleased……and I was too, especially as the ground parrot is an endangered species.

Some trekkers stay overnight near the peak of Eliza in a little hut, then tackle the Anne peak, a few saddles over, We neither had the time or inclination to do this, despite Anne being the tallest (only by a bit) and nastiest peak in the south.

The views from the peak were splendid, we could see many tarns (small bodies of water that exist from the melting of snow), a large glacial lake with amazingly steep rock sides, as well as a huge lake with many islands to the west, of course with the menacing Mt Anne peak shrouded in cloud.

A horrifying experience was the almost full pit toilet at the Hut near at Eliza’s peak,,,,,,,,but that is another story!

We are doing some twilight walking to Russell falls tonight to see if we can spot an Eastern Quoll, which is another endangered little bugger which is thought to be extinct on mainland Oz. We walked through there last night and apart from the nocturnal animals that emma has already mentioned, we were amazed by the glow worms spread about the forest. They were like mini glow sticks in brightness, and with so many they looked like the fairy lights you put up around Christmas.

Anyway, all for now…..off to lake St Claire NP tomorrow.

Ciao……A + E xoxoxoxo