A few weeks in the past, the meteorologists and native media have been all frothing on the mouth as snow was predicted to succeed in sea stage! The final time that occurred was in 2015 and earlier than that 1986, so a fairly uncommon deal with. The sea stage prediction didn’t eventuate however the hills round us in Dulcot acquired a pleasant sprinkling.
Mount Wellington, at 1,271m is much extra susceptible to a little bit of the white stuff come Winter time and certain sufficient has been properly coated since that first large snow of the season.
We hadn’t been on a bushwalk in months, by no means thoughts one within the snow and have been so excited to be heading out with Hannah, the previous mountaineering gang again collectively ultimately! Our formidable aim for the day was Devil’s Throne, a rocky outcrop positioned down the again of the mountain. Things didn’t begin nicely as we acquired able to set off from the Big Bend carpark, I’d forgotten my gaiters! My mountaineering boots are low tops, that’s the mere sniff of moisture on the bottom and my ft are getting moist. Gaiters assist alleviate this fairly nicely so not having them wasn’t ultimate.
We set off anyway, crossing the highway and coming into the wilds alongside the Mount Montagu observe. Within about…..ooooh…….10 seconds we knew this wasn’t going to be occurring. The observe is essentially unmarked and has various moist spots…..and that’s in good clear climate. When mountaineering you ALWAYS need to be smart so we determined to not danger it and as a substitute opted to discover alongside the hearth path main off from Big Bend. Scout Hut is a enjoyable facet journey from the Big Bend path, so we determined to go verify that out.
A enjoyable scramble in nearly knee deep snow later and we arrived at Scout Hut, albeit we had gone across the again slightly than approaching it from above, which is the standard route. Rock cairns are nice for navigation however they’re not a lot use when beneath snow 🙂
The final time we had visited Scout Hut, we have been ready to have a look inside however alas it’s now closed pending some a lot wanted renovations. It was constructed in 1969 by a gaggle of youngsters from a neighborhood scout group in Hobart. The building of the stone footings alone required them to maneuver over 1.5 tonnes of stone by hand. And they are saying youngsters are lazy!
We frolicked by the hut for a bit and Gemma and Hannah constructed a snowman….of kinds earlier than scrambling up the rocks and again in the direction of Big Bend Trail. With loads of time to kill, we determined to proceed on down the path slightly than returning to the carpark. The going was fairly straightforward with just a few streams to be hopped over alongside the best way. The scrub lining the observe has probably the most stunning muted colors and the distinction offered by the snow solely served to spotlight their gorgeous tones much more.
When we acquired again to the automobile, we STILL had loads of time to kill, so we determined to pile into our automobile and head on as much as the summit for a goosey. Sure sufficient, the views have been excellent as you’ll see under 🙂
We’re very fortunate in Tasmania with the present scenario. There’s lots of people across the World lacking out on this sort of freedom and exercise so I’m very grateful to have the ability to get out for walks and see the gorgeous sights of Tasmania. It’s been actually fairly nice having the place to ourselves truly.