Mt Field

 After Maria island I hit the road to Mt Field to meet back up with Quentin for a few days. I arrived well after dark but was delighted to find a roaring fire to take the edge off the 0 degree (32 F) weather and warm dinner of potatoes and sausage. We caught up on our adventures for the past few days over the fire. In the morning we decided to make it an easy day and did a series of short (40 minutes to 3 hour) walks in the lower part of the national park. The forest had lots of magnificent 70m (210ft) eucalyptus trees that towered over the forest with short fern trees underneath. We saw a bunch of beautiful waterfalls and enjoyed a leisurely day. When we returned to our camp in the afternoon we were approached by a man, who asked us about our day and future plans in a very leading way. I hesitantly answered his questions until I discovered he and his wife were looking for a ride up the mountain the next day. They are in a motor home and the road to the alpine area is too windy and narrow for a motor home. They had come to the park in hopes of seeing the fall colors of Nothofagus (an endemic Australian beech tree) that grows in the alpine regions of Tasmania and is notorious for its incredibly colorful fall foliage. I told him I wasn’t sure if they would fit in my car, Clancy isn’t exactly spacious especially with all my stuff inside, and we planned on spending the entire day up there, but he was tenacious and I eventually agreed I would clear out my car and drive them up with us in the morning in exchange for breakfast. It took a good hour for me to rearrange all my stuff to make it suitable for 4 people to fit, but it was good to get everything sorted a bit, plus do some laundry and a bit of clean up. It ended up being a productive afternoon. We had another lovely fire in the evening before heading for bed. The next morning we went to Tom and Kelly’s motor home where I was thrilled to sit in a heated room and we had a delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon and homemade bread. Tom and Kelly told us about their life, recent retirement and move from the Sunny Coast to Tasmania, and I learned that they both grew up around Townsville and he was a principal at Maggie Island at one point. After a nice long chat and breakfast we headed up the mountain to see the beautiful fall colors and it did not disappoint. It was however, extremely cold. It was very windy, overcast, and freezing, but we persisted. After about an hour of climbing we made it to the alpine lakes where the nothofagus grows and it was incredibly beautiful. At that point Tom and Kelly decided they had enough of the cold and headed back, planning to find another ride down the mountain while we continued on. In the end, we did about 9 miles, and got back to the car around sunset. Very cold. Very hungry. We had lunch, but nothing substantial. We made a huge pot of soup for dinner and I went straight to sleep after. The next day we said goodbye to our friends and headed back up the mountain. Still cold and windy, but at least with a bit of sun, we saw even more of the Nothofagus. We wandered off trail a bit and found this incredible stream full of water falls, vibrant mossy rocks, and a plethora of Nothofagus leaves ranging from bright green to cherry red. It was fantastic. The day was full of short, muddy, and beautiful hikes and after we drove 30 minutes into town to get a burger and a drink and get groceries for the next few days. Mt Field was astonishingly beautiful and I am once again in awe of this place.