0
Next morning was another early one. 5 am to be exact. We got Jessica packed up and we were out of the house by? well early. The images show 5.50 am at the lake, but it I think with daylight savings it was possibly 6.50 am.
Our first stop was Lake Rosebery. At this time in the morning there is no wind so the lake shows a mirror image of what is going on above the water. Some of the images we got I think are natural OOBs, with the mist lifting from the lake creating a natural frame for the trees. What a magnificent sight!!
Lake Rosebery
I remember looking in the rearview mirror and catching sight of Sim looking around and her jaw was almost sitting on the floor. I said at one point, ?where?s the bucket?? I was remembering my own adventure of seeing Tasmania for the first time so could really get inside her head, in a way, and understand her feelings.
There was one point along the road where I just had to stop. The vista in front of me amazed me so much and I?m sure it did to both Sim and Anna as well. I applied the brakes softly, but in a sense that I really needed to stop, at this point, because if I didn?t it would have been sacrilege.
The Pieman Rd early in the morning
The mountains and valleys were just starting to clear. Clouds of mist and rain were rising from the ranges, you really had to be there to see it. There wasn?t anywhere to stop so I stopped on the road and put my hazard lights on. I didn?t think there was going to be any traffic at this time of the day.All three of us piled out of the car in quick time and were snapping madly away, stealing the scenery. That moment in time was captured and great memories were generated, never to be forgotten.
We finally resumed our journey. I drove a little slower and we crossed a couple of rivers. Not too far down the road we crossed the Wilson River. There was a place, the boat ramp, to pull of and we once again alighted from the vehicle.
The river was still and mirrored, just like Lake Rosebery. It was chilly down next to the river but also serene and relaxing. We snapped a few shots and then started to skim rocks across the surface of the water, which was fun. Then we went onto the bridge itself and took some images from the top, looking down. It was a beautiful scene.
Wilson River
I remember watching Sim, she seemed to be engrossed with the plants on the side of the road. Her face lit up with excitement every time she saw a different plant. Her camera flew in front of her face quicker than a fly buzzing around. It was cool to watch.We trundled on and soon we were in a totally different environment. We were driving across the top of the ranges. There were hardly any trees, only short bushes and Buttongrass as far as the eye could see. The skyline was rugged in all directions.
Vista from the lookout
There is a lookout, which is marked a few hundred metres away. You have to park on the right hand side of the road and walk up to it. It gives a complete 360 degree panorama of the area. I would love to get up there on a clear day to see how far we can actually see.Reece Dam wasn?t too much further along the road. It is a dam built by Hydro Tasmania for the generation of electricity in the state. It is about 120 metres high. The spillway didn?t have any water going over it, like it did last time we were there. The water level seemed to be low as well.
Reece Dam from on top of the spillway.
After getting some shots of the dam we moved on. Our next stop was the Heemskirk River. We wanted to show Sim the falls but we couldn?t get to them because there was a lot of water in the river. We managed to get a few shots up river, from under the bridge. It amazes me that we can go to one place and see it then the next time we go it looks totally different.
Heemskirk River from under the bridge.
Zeehan was our next port of call. We needed to grab a few things from the shops before we headed out to Trial Harbour for the night. One thing we managed to snavel was marsh mellows. We hadn?t found them anywhere else in our travels so far and Sim couldn?t find any before coming down. We also showed Sim around the town, well down the main street anyway.Now I was getting really excited. I really love camping at Trial. It is a magical place. I adore the rugged beauty and all the people are nice as well. We left Zeehan behind and headed out the Trial Harbour road.
This road is gravel, so Anna drove. She has driven it many times and enjoys the experience. We were warned before going that there was a fair bit of traffic on it now that the mines were operating. The road has deteriorated a bit since the last time we were on it in October. It took us about half an hour to get to trial itself but we did do a couple of stops along the way because the scenery was absolutely stunning, despite the clouds and showery rain.
Mt Zeehan from the Trial Harbour Road
One place we had to show Sim was the tip. It is definitely the most scenic tip I have ever seen. On a clear day you can see a very long way in all directions.The campground is located to the north of the town and we found that our favourite spot was vacant and pulled in. The first job we had to do was put up the tents. We had ours up in a couple of minutes. Then Anna and I grabbed a few other things out of the car, like chairs and esky and food stuffs. We grabbed a drink each and waited for Sim to finish putting her tent up.
When Sim was finished we took a wander over to the clearing and stood in awe of the Great Southern Ocean. She wasn?t too angry this day, I was surprised because I thought with all the weather we were having it would have been a lot wilder. Sim wanted to go for a walk along the beach so we decided to hop in the car, because we also wanted to scavenge some drift wood off the beach so we could have a fire.
It was windy on the beach. There were some crested terns waddling around the waters edge as well as other birds, like swallows and pacific gulls. We all snapped shots of the terns and then dawdled along the beach a little further in search of wood. Sim was looking for shells as well.
Crested Terns @ Trial beach
There was another photographer on the beach as well with her dog. I nodded at her when she went past us. It looked like the tide was coming in so we headed back to the car, grabbing what wood we could find along the way. It was nice to be back in this area, camping.
Sunset colours
It was getting dark and we decided to make some dinner. We had marinated some chicken and froze them. Anna built a warming fire to build up some coals for the potatoes. We wrapped the chicken in foil and put them on top of the griddle. She also made a sauce with the marinade and some other ingredients we had bought along. It was a very yummy dinner after a very busy day.It was great sitting around the fire after dinner, chatting and watching the flames. We looked up and saw the bright stars. At one point most of the starts were covered by clouds and I thought it was going to rain again, but the sky cleared and we were able to see them again. One of the best things about camping is roasting marsh mellows over the fire. I really enjoy the flavour, sweet but with a hint of smokiness.
We sat up for a few hours chatting, not sure exactly what time we went to bed. Sim said she was tired and going to bed. She took the torch and went to the toilet and so did Anna. I just found a tree close to camp while Sim was at the loo. I climbed into the sleeping bag and curled up. The sound of the waves and wind lulled me into a deep sleep.
I woke a couple of times through the night and heard rain falling on the tent. I listened to it for a while and was extremely relaxed. There?s nothing like the sound of rain on the tent.
