Day 10 – Ferns, Falls, Friendlies & Foes

A bit of a restful morning as Kevin wasn’t cooking our breakfast until 07:00. Got talking to a lovely Swiss couple over our meal on the communal table.

The young man has just flown out to see his girlfriend who had been touring the east coast of Australia with her friend. They had started on the Gold Coast and worked their way down to Sydney before she flew to Tasmania on Monday. Talk about coincidence, she had been on The Grand Canyon Trail the same day as us, though she saw a brown snake (very poisonous) on the path, luckily we missed that one. Her and her friend had also been to Manly Beach and Shelly Beach on the day I nearly drowned. They were ushered out of the water by the lifeguards on jetskis at Manly Beach. Their adventures would now take them around the East coast of Tasmania in a hired car while we were getting ready to jump on a bus and head half way back up Kunanyi to pick up some tracks and trails to trek.

After a nice cappuccino it’s time to go hiking. Hmmm, with Australian wildlife having very mixed reviews from the cute koala bears to the monstrous anaconda or the tiny but deadly spiders. There are some places we just won’t go.

We really had to have our witd about us as we made our way through the forest following paths that the animals also follow. We spotted a wallaby in the trees, but by the time the camera was ready he’d hopped off on his own adventure.

With some very strange noises coming from the forest and the skies above, as well as the terrain changing all the time then walking and defence aids were needed. We didn’t bring our poles as the Internet was very sketchy about whether you should bring them as hand luggage. Some people had them taken away at security and loads said they had no problems at all getting them in. So it was natural poles for us, choosing two sticks from the surrounding ground. Long enough to be effective for walking, heavy enough to fight off any foes.

We had been out a couple of hours so it was time to find an appropriate lunch venue.

After a bite to eat we headed for the falls.

Off for the next trek and falls. Time is starting to play a factor as we definitely don’t want to be here at nightfall. Most of the hunters are nocturnal, plus we’ve already had a couple of close calls.