australian wildlife – Dreamtime Van

Tasman Peninsula an unforgettable trip of spectacular proportions.

This coastline is the Tasman Peninsula, officially Turrakana / Tasman Peninsula, and is located in south-east Tasmania, Australia. With its lush forests, sheltered bays, beautiful beaches and close proximity to Hobart, the Tasman Peninsula offers an abundance of fun for the adventurer. Every year, this nature rich Tasmanian jewel provides nourishment and shelter to thousands of sea creatures. Humpback and southern right whales, dolphins, seals and sea eagles are everywhere.

Have you ever been totally gobsmacked at the sheer beauty of nature around you. Has it been one of those overwhelming experiences that you just feel you could never put words to the beauty to explain it to someone else. We if you have you will know the difficulty we are having to explain just how magnificent the Tasman Peninsula is.

Sure you can tour it by car or by walks, but to experience it’s sheer awesomeness is to see it from the ocean. Ok right you know we are sailors so you would probably expect a comment like that from us. But it is truly the only way to see this incredible coastline with the highest vertical towering sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere, there are waterfalls, unusual rock formations, archways and deep-sea caves and an abundance of sea life and for us it was all up close and personal.

We saw it all the feeding frenzy of diving gannets, albatross and sea eagles wheeling on the wind, cliff-nesting cormorants and peregrine falcons and a playful pod of dolphins surfing the bow wave of the boat. We had the front seats to Mother Natures show. Dressed in our red condoms to ward off the bitter cold wind we embraced this amazing opportunity to take in everything we could that this wild seascape offered.

We started our tour just down the road from where we were camping in the NRMA Park. From the tour office we took the option to take a 15 minute walk to where the boat was moored in Stewart’s Bay. Once dressed (in our red condoms) and seated onboard we were asked to place all belongings off the floor and to fasten our seatbelts for a ride like no other. This purpose built boat offers covered but open to the air, tiered seating with an excellent all-round view to connection with the environment. The boats are comfortable and gentle on the environment due to their fuel efficiency and low emission operation.

Being environmentally friendly is of particular important to the operators of this tour company, family run with a 21 year history, Pennicott Wilderness Journeys has become a highly acclaimed environmental tourism operator and has won 29 Tasmanian, 1 Victorian and 14 Australian Tourism Awards. Driven by a desire to share their success and give back to the environment and community, they established the Pennicott Foundation as a flagship for important philanthropic activities. A portion of our cruise ticket goes to the Foundation, which has contributed to eradicating feral cats from Tasman Island and rats from Big Green Island. Since the successful eradications, over 100,000 breeding seabirds are saved each year, and breeding is now well established back on the Island. The foundation continues to work and support many projects close to it ethos.

Leaving the dock at Stewart’s Bay, we first toured Port Arthur the skipper gave a running commentary which we must say with the wind in our ears was very hard to hear most of the time. From Port Arthur itself we headed along the protected shores overlooked by Arthur’s Peak. This is where we picked up some hitchhikers on the bow wave and they were certainly in a playful mood.

One of the most fascinating behaviors of dolphins is when they ride the bow pressure waves of boats. There is often quite a bit of jostling for position at the bow, as dominants of a group edge others to a less favourable position, or as one is displaced from the bow by another one approaching. It was great fun to lean over the bow and watch these interanimal antics. For us we have seen it many times but you never tire of seeing it and it was a delight to hear others onboard seeing it for their first time.

We continued on with the dolphins staying with us for quite sometime, but as we neared the open water the swell increased and the dolphins probably knowing that we had more to see peeled off one by one into the deep ink blue sea. Coming out through the heads of Port Arthur there was certainly a change in the sea conditions we were all asked by the attentive crew member if we were all feeling ok. Everyone was doing fine, though the swell had increased it was a moderate day with no white caps to be seen just a good size ocean swell, the weather gods had looked kindly on us today. It’s worth mentioning at this point that the cruise is weather dependent and the route that you take may vary due to weather as well. But it was all good so far.

At the start of Tasman Passage we encounter the sheer dolerite cliffs rising 280 metres from the sea. Beyond The Blade is Tasman Island, and ahead we could see Cape Pillar in the distance, what a spectacular sight.

Continuing on through Tasman Passage we encountered our first of the sea birds, sea eagles circling high catching the thermals and looking for prey. On the cliff faces we saw nesting cormorants perched high on the smallest of outcrops. How can they sleep and not fall off. Then we turned the corner to see Tasman Island. One of the most isolated light stations, the island is now part of the Tasman National Park.

Separated from Cape Pillar by the narrow Tasman Passage, the island’s formidable appearance is awe inspiring. With the highest operating lighthouse in Australia, since 1906. Automation of the lighthouse was in 1976 signalled the end of light keeping as a way of life with keepers withdrawn in May 1977 Tasman Island is an icon of Tasmania and is known as the home stretch for the world famous Sydney to Hobart race. Now a safe breeding sanctuary for fairy prions and safe haven for a seemingly endless number of and sea life. It is here that we see our first seals, leisurely taking in the sun rays beating down on the rock ledges they really didn’t take much notice of the ooo’s and aah’s of the tourists on the boat so close I could feel I could reach out and pat them.

Now it is time to follow the spectacular sweeping coastline to Cape Pillar. Cape Pillar is the jewel in the crown of the Tasman Peninsula’s colossal coastline, with cliffs rising to 300m high. The rock is Jurassic dolerite, the remains of a drowned escarpment, with kilometres of columns, stacks, chasms and great walls rising abruptly from the deep ocean waters, but with just as much below the waterline. Cape Pillar itself is quite extraordinary and descriptions such as “awesome coastal scenery, once seen, never forgotten”, “one of the world’s most fearful sea cliffs” are the quotes that come back to me as I stare at this magnificent landscape before me. It is simply breathtaking.

Climbers abseil down to then climb the Pillar

From Cape Pillar we ventured our further into the ocean to spot more beautiful creatures of the sea. These boats move fast so you real do get a lot packed into your 3 hour tour. Heading back towards the coast you get a true perspective of the grandeur of this landscape. This is as close as we would dare bring Our Dreamtime to the coast and this cliffs still look huge. We are now going into see some unusual rock formations, if we hav yet seen some 😜

Tessellated Pavement this unusual geological formation gives the rocks the effect of having been rather neatly tiled by a giant. The pavement appears tessellated (tiled) because the rocks forming it were fractured by earth movements. The fractures are in three sets. One set runs almost north, another east north east, and the third discontinuous set north north west. It is the last two sets that produce the tiled appearance. This tessellated pavement is one of the largest in the world. This was very hard to photograph from the ocean with the wrong tide, but this is a photograph taken from Eaglehawk Neck on our walk.

Tasman Arch A natural arch which is an enlarged tunnel running from the coast along a zone of closely spaced cracks and extending inland to a second zone that is perpendicular to the first. The roof at the landward end of the tunnel has collapsed but the hole is too large and the sides are too high to form a blowhole. The tunnel was produced by wave action. The arch ceiling is 52.7 m above sea level. Most people only see the land-side view – but from the boat alongside the coastal cliffs offers a different and amazing perspective of the arch.

Tasman Blowhole the largest blowhole on theAustralian coastline, it takes the form of a long tunnel which opens out into a large collapsed cavern into which the waves of the ocean blow. On days where rough seas occur, the water can spurt over 10 metres high. It is best seen at high tide, but is attractive at any time. We were there on what is considered a calm day. Because of this we were able to get up close a personal to all of these amazing costal features.

The sea was very calm today so the blowhole wasn’t in action

This has truly been an unforgettable journey to the island’s most south-easterly tip.

In summary, we totally enjoyed this cruise and recommend doing it, however it is expensive and for some it maybe out of reach but if you know the costing before venturing to Tasmania you could budget for it in advance and we believe totally worth it.

Photo above provided by Pennicot Wilderness Cruises
this shows how close to get to this magnificent landscape

Take a camera with a good lens to capture the wildlife. The boat is constantly moving and this is an iPhone pic you can see the difference.

If you would like to ride along with us whether it be on the high seas or on a dusty road out west, consider being a patreon find out about it here Dreamtime Patreon every little bit helps to keep us on the road producing Youtube and writing blogs as we hope you enjoy them.

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If you are interested in the products we used on our van build, our product page has a list. Many of these items we sourced secondhand, others we purchased from the manufacturer or retailer. We have found them online and listed them for you. Some of the links supplied we have an association with and we will receive a small commission if you purchase through the link, but it is free to look and do your research we can not promise all links to work as retailers may remove items, but we will do our best to update them

Join us next time when we discover Launceston.

Taste Testing Tasmania’s Best (part 1)

Bruny Island is a small island accessed only by ferry off the south-eastern coast of Tasmania. It is a microcosm of the Tasmanian mainland. Blessed with an extraordinarily diverse range of distinct environments – spectacular coastlines, geological wonders, beaches, rainforests, mountains, lagoons, waterfalls, abundant flora and fauna.

The island is about 50 km long but appears on the map to be two islands with North and South Bruny joined by a narrow strip of land called The Neck. This isthmus is an important habitat for native wildlife.

Tourists are drawn to Bruny Island for many reasons but the main attraction is the amazing walks through the South Bruny National Park with towering cliffs overlooking long sandy beaches, coastal heathland, and underwater gardens of kelp seaweed with some amazing bushwalks to take it all in.

However in recent years Bruny Island has been promoted as a foodies heaven and this is what has drawn us to spend some extended time on the island. It is home to producers specialising in oysters, cheese, wines, honey, berries, spirits and chocolate. What more could we ask for?

First however we need to get to the island and this is via a vehicular ferry. A 20-min crossing from Kettering, around a 35-min drive south of Hobart. The service runs seven days a week. Now there are ways of saving money on the ferry by taking it during off peak times and for us being seniors we also received a further discount. Sometimes age is a benefit. Bruny Island Ferry Information

We hadn’t booked anywhere to stay on the island. We were planning to stay in one of the National Park campgrounds. Whilst on the ferry we discussed what our stay on the island would entail.

There is no public transport on Bruny Island, with the island 50klm long, we needed to drive to all of the tasting sites we wished to visit. One of the disadvantages with having a van and touring, is you take everything with you when day tripping, leaving nothing at your campsite. So when you chose to stay in a National Park, which is first in gets the site, you are not always guaranteed of having a site when you return after your day out. We have a free standing annex and this is a great solution for this situation, as we can leave it standing in our campsite.

We however did checkout the National Park Campsites. Very close to the beach with lots of wildlife roaming freely.

our free standing Annex see our product page for more information

However we were expecting rain on the last day of our stay, and really didn’t want to repackage a wet annex. Our solution was to stay at one of the caravan parks or the local Landscape Supplies. Strange as it might sound this local business has sites available for self contained vans. On calling them we discovered they had lots to offer, so we booked for two nights at $25 per night.

On arrival our host was very welcoming and showed us to our site. All sites have power, water, level and are grassed. There are only 5 campsites and are well spaced. They provide an awesome camp kitchen which has a wood fired pizza oven and a great outdoor fire pit for social gatherings.

So naturally after a quick set up we grab a bottle of red wine and head over to meet our other campers. This is certainly one of the highlights of Vanlife, meeting people from all walks of life that are enjoying life on the road.

So after a few wines it was back to “Le Frog Box” for a great nights sleep. We woke in the morning to a beautiful day, now time to enjoy the famous local produce; Bruny Island is pretty well known for the amazing local produce. Indulging in fresh oysters, seafood and artisan cheeses was high on our priority list for the next few days. Karen had made provision for extra $$ in our budget for eating at all these gastronomical delights. We didn’t have an early start, that maybe caused by the couple of extra reds last night but we are soon on the road to our first stop Bruny Island Cheese. Mmmmmm …. 3 coach-loads of tourists are there before us, ok let’s come back.

Apart from tempting your taste buds Bruny Island is full of natural wonders and history. We had marked on our must sees as the place Captain Cook arrived and placed a plaque on a tree to commemorate his landing, that simply read “Cook 26th January 1977”. Does that date ring a bell with Australian’s? It is quite a significant date and is now a national holiday we call Australia Day.

A Bicentennial Memorial to Captain Cook, at the far end of the road around the bay, which was the site of a plaque which marked the site of Cook’s Tree.

On arrival at the site we learn that the plaque was lost. In 1989 it was reported that barely the roots remained of the tree which had stood forgotten above a beach, weatherworn, vandalised and burnt.

In 1930 it had stood over three metres tall, with Cook’s carving still intact. The site has recently been cleaned up by ‘Friends of Adventure Bay Inc’, with Callistemons (Bottle Brush) planted beside it. The small piece of trunk that remained was removed to the Bligh Museum for safe keeping. The Bligh Museum is a small building a few hundred metres away, so off we trundle to see this famous stump.

Historic photo of the vandalised tree.
Photo courtesy of the Bligh Museum

The remains of the stump in the Bligh Museum
photo courtesy by the Bligh Museum

Bruny Island figured prominently in the early exploration of the southern seas, and was partially charted by Tasman in 1642. It was inhabited by the Nuenonne band of the South East tribe of Aborigines. Truganini. The Museum is small but is packed full of interning history from the first discovery of Van Diemen’s Land and if you are a history buff well worth the visit.

Samuel Clifford, ‘Adventure Bay where Captain Cook landed in 1771’, c 1873 (W.L. Crowther Library, SLT)

Adventure Bay, which is the large bay on the eastern side of the isthmus that joins North and South Bruny Island, could be called the birth place of Van Diemen’s Land – Tasmania. Its list of 17th and 18th century European visitors reads like a who’s who of leading Pacific explorers from the golden age of world exploration. British navigators James Cook, Tobias Furneaux, Wiliam Bligh and Matthew Flinders all visited Adventure Bay during their exploatory voyages. Adventure Bay became a centre of the whaling industry with whalers using the Bay as early as 1804. By 1829 the Bay supported some 80 to 90 men, two sloops and up to twenty whale boats.

But today Adventure Bay and Bruny Island’s other pristine beaches are a playground for holiday makers to watch and marvel at these majestic giants of the ocean not harpoon them and for a bit of beach combing or swimming.

With the history tour over it was time to find some of that great seafood. We had been told not to miss the platters at Bruny Island Hotel. I’m not sure what you conger up when you think about pub food but ours is soggy parmy and chips. The hotel is a very unassuming 1970’s lowset building, our thoughts were still “soggy parmy” …..

Well DON’T miss the platters at the Bruny Island Hotel. Though the day was blustery and we couldn’t sit outside we were shown to a table with the view of the water across the road. And the food was superb, no soggy chips to be found. Everyone seat was commenting on the food, not sure we even saw the view once our Fish Platter arrived. Did we mention DON’T miss the platters at the Bruny Island Hotel.

With our bellies full it was easy to curl up and have an afternoon nap, but we had other things in mind. Wine …. Carved from bush and pastureland on the outskirts of the sleepy little island settlement of Lunawanna. Richard and Bernice Woolley bought the Wayaree Estate property in 1997 and they established their vineyard the following year, planting Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines. This family owned winery now has a beautiful tasting room and restaurant. As we had already filled our bellies, wine tasting was all we partook in.

The vineyard produces premium quality, cool climate wines. Bernice has been making the wine on-site since 2004 and has now passed on her knowledge and love for wine to her son Joseph. Mid to late April all grapes are hand-picked on an annual picking day which attracts around 100 pickers in a day of vintage celebrations. Oh what fun that would be. All wines are made on site and include such varieties as Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. After enjoying a tasting of their premium selection we headed to do some sightseeing and then back to finish our day with some artisan cheeses.

The historic Cape *Bruny Lighthouse*, built in 1836, is the only southern Tasmanian *lighthouse* open for tours.

If i could give you anything in the world what would it be?

On arrival at Bruny Island Cheeses we found it was still packed with people. Unfortunately when something is so very popular you need to share. We lined up to speak to the “Fromager”. We were taken through each of the cheese’s that were available for tasting that day. Even though there was a considerable line behind us, we didn’t feel rushed and each of our questions were asked fully. Bruny Island Cheese Co was foundered by Nick Haddow in 2003. It was started after Nick spent 10 years working with specialist cheese makers in many different countries around the world.

As a traditionalist, who recognises that great cheese was made for centuries before modern technology. His cheese’s are made and matured using traditional techniques, the range of cheeses changes seasonally. Reflecting the seasonal nature of the Huon Valley dairy farms and the companies own herd of rare breed cows.

FREE tasting board at the Bruny Island Cheese Co

These cheese’s are truly unique to Tasmania. We made our many purchases both at the cheese counter and from the range of other Tasmanian products on offer and head back to the campsite for well another glass of Tasmanian wine and cheese’s. We can alway diet tomorrow.

Follow along by subscribing to our blog to find out what we devour next …..

8 Top Things to do and see Bruny Island – from this blog

Visit The Neck – Free

Follow the History of the Explorers that discovered Australia Free / $ – Captain Cook Memorial Free – Paid entry fee of $5 into Museum

Lunch at the Bruny Island Hotel $ – Shared Fish Platter $45

Wine Tasting – $15 per person Wayaree Estate Bruny Island Premium Wines

Adventure Bay – Free Beach walk, watch for Whales, beach combing, take a swim.

Visit the World Sculpture – Free

Bruny Island Lighthouse – Free / $ you can enjoy the grounds of the lighthouse or you can take a tour.

Cheese Tasting – Free / $ Enjoy free cheese tasting at Bruny Island Cheese Co. Then purchase your favourites to take home.

If you would like to ride along with us whether it be on the high seas or on a dusty road out west, consider being a patreon find out about it here 👉 Dreamtime Patreon every little bit helps to keep us on the road producing Youtube and writing blogs as we hope you enjoy them.

Please subscribe to the blog so you will be notified each time we post. To subscribe head to our home page.

We love to read your comments if you have any questions pop them below, we will be sure to get back to you.

If you are interested in the products we used on our build on our product page is a list. Many of these items we sourced secondhand, others we purchased from the manufacturer or retailer. We have found them online and listed them for you. Some of the links supplied we have an association with and we will receive a small commission if you purchase through the link, but it is free to look and do your research we can not promise all links to work as retailers may remove items, but we will do our best to update them

East bound taking in Queenstown, Derwent Bridge and Mount Field National Park

Up early we leave Strahan to allow time to checkout a few of the tourist hot spots along the way to Mount Fields National Park. We have had a mix of weather on the west coast and have used more winter gear than we do in a whole winter in Queensland so we were looking forward to the 30 degrees that Tasmania promised us today.

Nestled in a valley between Mount Lyell and Mount Owen, Queenstown is the largest town on the West Coast. Surrounded by dramatic hills that provide stark evidence of a history that once made it one of the richest mining towns in the world.

Today, Queenstown is experiencing a rebirth with a growing tourism and arts culture. But it will never rid its past for its unique landscape was formed by Copper smelting and excavating stripped the hills around the city bare and has stained them with unnatural colours. The hills have had a hard time regenerating so much that the moonscape is still there all these years later for you to enjoy. It’s a beautiful but rather haunting reminder of man’s greed and his responsibility to Mother Earth.

East of Queenstown we have the 99 bend challenge…. The staging ground for one of Targa Tasmania’s toughest sprints, the 99 Bends may not actually have quite as many twists and turns as its moniker suggests, but it is still an incredibly challenging drive that any hillclimber will love.

However Karen reminded Rob “we are not in a Porsche, but a distant European cousin called “Le Frog Box”, watch them sharp bends boy”. You can thank nature for shaping the winding roads that cover the island state – and the stunning, movie-set views you see from them. Believe it or not, the speed limit through the 99 Bends is 100km/h.

We wouldn’t suggest you try hitting it given the big drops off to the side – the elevation change in these 4km of

driving is around 200 metres. Surely someone is taking the p …. out of us, with those speed signs.

Our next stop has become quite a phenomenon in Tasmania. Wherever we went people remarked “have you seen the wall” … well no we haven’t and it hadn’t really come up on our research radar. Mmmm …. what is this wall about. Only the night before had we been told “Oh you must book, they don’t allow walk ups”. So onto the internet and sure enough “Bookings are now essential. To avoid disappointment book online before midnight the day before”. We booked and pay for our tickets $20 each, our only problem was we could only get a 1pm booking, once booked we received our booking confirmation, including very strict details on conditions of entry no photographs, no video and if we missed our time slot by 15 minutes we would forfeit our tickets. Oh dear best be there on time, which unfortunately meant we would be missing a particular walk that was on the way to Derwent Bridge, as we couldn’t risk being late.

Derwent Bridge is at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and surrounded by wilderness country. There are a number of accommodation options for walkers and those wanting to play in the winter snow. On arrival at “The Wall in the Wilderness” down the very long driveway we came across an extremely long building in the middle of nowhere. The building itself is impressive so it set our expectations high.

We think this hawk is the most photographed piece of artwork at the wall.

The Wall itself was created amidst adversity. The artist Duncan and his wife sold all they had, purchased the land and, as he says, “went for it”. It was a huge gamble. Was it too far out in the middle of nowhere? Would people travel? Construction issues also plagued the first years with Duncan building a lot of the shed himself in harsh winter conditions. The gamble has definitely paid off with more than 75,000 people visiting The Wall each year,

The artist’s statement reads “On the 1st March 2005 in one of the most beautiful parts of Tasmania I set out to undertake sculpting a wall that would be 3 metres high and over 100 metres in length. The material would be Huon Pine. Through an often arduous at times but also immensely satisfying journey and over a decade and half later I welcome you to visit what is simply known as The Wall”. – Sculptor Greg Duncan

This fascinating piece of instillation artwork was created from the determination and ambition of the artist, to pay homage to the history of the Central Highlands of Tasmania and the grit and resoluteness of the people who make up its history.

The wall, features beautifully scented and rare Huon Pine, represents an ongoing project in which the artist has sculpted the story of the area. He depicts the history right from the beginning when the indigenous population lived in the area, to the pioneers who began harvesting timber from the ancient forests. Following the pioneering era, there are images of the pastoralists, miners and hydro-electric scheme workers, shown along with the many animals found in the area and the horses who worked alongside pioneers. Throughout the work you can read the political statement the artist is making about the environment and mankind’s effect on earth.

Though you are not permitted to take photographs the internet is full of them and following are a series of photos available.

After doubling back to the local servo to fill the tank of very expensive diesel we devoured the best chunky steak and mushroom ”hot” pies from the Hungry Wombat Cafe, in the front cab of froggy with the heater on …. Where is that promised 30 degrees …. It’s currently 17.

As the winding road ascends through Mount Field National Park the stunning natural flora transforms, offering a constantly changing view as you climb to higher altitudes. Known as ‘the park for all seasons’, Mount Field is Tasmania’s first National Park and part the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site and home to some of the world’s tallest eucalypt forests, as well as a unique array of alpine vegetation.

There’s a wide variety of wildlife in the park, including many of Tasmania’s native mammals and endangered species, such as the eastern quoll and the eastern barred bandicoot. Eleven of Tasmania’s twelve endemic birds can be seen here, too. Spectacular glaciated landscapes compete for attention with cascading waterfalls, including the breathtaking, three-tiered Russell Falls arguably Tasmanian’s say one of the most impressive waterfalls in Tasmania.

We pull in late to the campground to find it absolutely full. It’s a Sunday what’s going on we haven’t seen this many people forever it seems. Karen goes over to the ranges hut to see if there is availability at another ground, Oh it’s a public holiday weekend, well that tells a story.

Ok back to our trusted APP WikiCamps. Just down the way is “Left of Fields Campground” their marketing spiel reads “So much more than just a campsite but a destination itself, boasting beautiful gardens, a unique 18 hole golf course, regular live music and generous space”. Yep it’s quirky to say the least. The sites are big, you are encouraged to have a campfire, it is a must to have a game of golf and to soak in the fireside bathtub. Oh and don’t forget to feed the chickens and if you find any eggs they are yours.

Fire pits are supplied for you to use at Left of Field Campground

The chooks are very friendly at Left of Field Campground

It Valentines Day, and not that we need to remind ourselves of the special relationship we have but it is rather fitting that we are going to visit what Tasmanian’s call their most romantic waterfall. Now it is going to have to be good to out do Lovers Falls and our very own private waterfall at Trial Harbour.

Beginning our Mount Field visit with a leisurely hand in hand walk through the towering tree ferns and giant eucalypts on the short walk to Russell Falls sounds just the thing lovers should do.

Russell Falls is the star attraction and even featured on Australia’s first stamp. It deserves allthe attention it is simply breath taking. It is very popular so having the falls to yourself is difficult. However if you wait for all the lovelies to get their instagram pose just right you to can try one with your selfie stick.

These Fairy Wrens are a joy to watch as they flit about

The falls are only a short, wheelchair accessible journey from the visitor centre, through enormous fern forests and some of the world’s tallest trees. The wildlife is abundant with the potaroos enjoying the fresh shoots and seeds by the pathway.

But …. If you have had your weetbix this morning start the climb of numerous flights of stairs to take in the breathtaking view over Russell Falls to the valley below.

Ok there are steps to climb, lots of them.

Now that we have your breath back, If you continue the climb you will be rewarded with Horseshoe Falls and then beyond to Lady Baron Falls.

The view from the top is worth the climb

Horseshoe Falls may not be tall but they are delightful

With stunning vistas, great walks, abundant wildlife and excellent visitor facilities we understand why with an easy drive from Hobart, Mount Field has been popular with nature lovers for well over a century. If you are here during the winter season, Mt Field National Park becomes a whole new playground offering downhill skiing and snowboarding, with tows operating and good cross-country skiing across the higher plateau. We were happy to see the blanket of green not white.