Wednesday February 15th, and Thursday, February 16th, 2017 - Which Way to Antarctica?

The old adage, 'red in the morning, sailors take warning' did not seem to apply this day. Although the sky was red, it had been the previous night we had experienced the strong wind and rain.

Our next two days in the Bathurst Harbor/Port Davey region revealed treacherous seas and access to land that few feet have trod previously. The weather was very changeable, rapidly switching from sun to rain to wind. Our guides Greg and Mick had a well grounded sense of the weather and did a great job of planning our activities to minimize its negative impact on our movements.

We traveled around by boat - a small group of nine people. We really came to appreciate why the early explorers preferred to access new land via the water, as the land beyond the beaches was tangled, muddy, rocky and and much harder to get around on.

One special experience was a visit to the beach where a Tasmanian cousin (Richard Marsland) had come to scatter some of Dad's ashes. It was a place called Balmoral Beach and on this overcast morning it was still quite cold. As we left the boat and came ashore, one of the guides pointed out a small patch of bright sky opening up off in the distance.

This is the view from Balmoral Beach, which looks across the beautiful Joe Page Bay. I thought it is very lovely. There is also a hill behind it and a marshy lagoon.

Just in case you want to orient yourself better, here is a map of the area!

Following Balmoral Beach, we turned through the Bathurst Channel to a set of Islands at the mouth of Bathurst Harbor. Keep in mind that the entire harbor is comparative to Sydney Harbor in size, but is only 7 meters (23 feet) deep. At its mouth are the 'Breaksea Islands'. These islands block the worst of the swell from Antarctica and hid the harbor from the sailing ships passing by. Hence this area did not ever become a stopping ground for any other than the most adventurous, foolhardy (or lucky) souls.

You can see the Breaksea Islands across the channel behind Nadine's head - on the right.

Close up, they are formidable rocky slopes with blowholes........

.......crevices....

....and are covered with green grassy slopes that may have never known human feet.

And here's the answer to the question of the day - there is nothing between here and Antarctica. The winds that arrive are cold and wet - characteristic weather is cold and wet. We were very fortunate to see it on a sunny day.

One sad story we heard was of Critchley Parker, a 'young man who walked alone into the remote wilderness of south-west Tasmania, seeking a promised land for the Jewish refugees of Nazi Europe'. It was a sad misadventure that resulted in his death sometime in April or May 1942. If interested, you can read the details of his story at this link Bathurst Harbor Haunted By Vision of Chritchley Parker Jr. It seems that poor soils, atrocious weather and lack of minerals would have made it almost impossible to sustain a viable settlement. We were unable to get there on our visit due to unfavorable winds.

However, we were able to visit another pretty beach, Bramble Cove. It looks pretty peaceful here!

The tannins in the water (from all the surrounding button grass) were very evident and I was pretty excited to set the first footprints of the day on the beach.

One of the coolest experiences for me was our stop in Schooner Cove to visit a cave that had been used by aboriginal peoples. It was a source of ochre, which they used to cover their hair and skin and had a substantial shell midden, along with a layer of charcoal on the floor, indicating the use of fire. It was pretty cool sitting there, looking out from the cave and contemplating how these ancient peoples may have experienced this place.

I would not have found the cave on my own - it was quite hidden.

You can see the cast off shells on the floor of the cave and evidence of fire.

On our last day, we traveled to the north-east corner of the harbor to the Old River.

This is one of the few places where there are still ancient Huon Pines standing. This slow growing and long lived tree was highly prized for its golden yellow color, fine grain, and natural oils that resisted rotting. It was probably not logged here because of the rapids in the river, that prevented boats from going up very far. It was a very beautiful area as you see from the photos.

The leaves have a lovely soft look.............

............the roots are really deeply entrenched in the rocks......

.....and the trees are very hardy!

Sadly, it was time to go home. We spent a little more time at Melaleuca, visiting a trail dedicated to the Needwonnee people of the area and sharing some of their stories. Our route back to Hobart took us over the area we had been visiting and allowed us to see the land from a different perspective.

 

By the time we arrived back in Hobart, my eyes were startled by the scars of development after our luscious time in a place mostly untouched by human hands.