That's right, dear reader, we commence today's post with another Jimmy Barnes cover, this time River Deep Mountain High. It is an appropriate title as we began the day on the river and finished it crossing a mountain.
Another reasonably early morning and alarms were necessary again. Have I mentioned the best thing about retirement, aside from the travel, is no alarms? It was still quite dark as we dressed and headed for breakfast. The morning was spent kayaking on the Whyte, Pieman and Savage Rivers. Now I don’t want to be pedantic, dear reader. OK I do, but in Year 7 (waaaay back last century in 1972) I was taught that a kayak is a one person canoe, used by the Inuit people. A multi-person vessel was a umiak. Technically today we were umiaking. Doesn’t quite trip so lightly from the tongue, so I'll settle for canoeing.
The picture perfect Pieman. |
We were riverside at 8:30am for our safety briefing and to discuss who got to sit in the front of the canoe. Apparently the front person is the engine room and the back seat controls direction. There was a rubber mat that ran the centre of the boat ramp and we clambered into the canoe there and Nick and Hayden launched us into the river. After a cursory paddle around to check out styles and ensure the paddles were right way up we went against the current to the Whyte River.
A reflective moment captured by Nick. |
A river, early morning, before the breeze gets up, is one of the most serene, peaceful places. The mist was still rising from the surface of the water and was thicker over the mountains. Our paddles were the only disturbance on the glass-like surface. That and voices. The purpose in making our way to the Whyte River was to see platypus. Sensibly for them and disappointingly for us, they stayed out of sight.
Heading to the Whyte River. |
After that brief side trip, we turned our canoes and headed upriver with the current. It was a peaceful way to travel and allowed us time to appreciate the beauty of scenery around us, especially since so much of the landscape not so far away had been burnt to cinder and ash.
Hayden with our morning tea in the pack. |
Our next stop was for morning tea at a pontoon on the Savage River; a pontoon we would see again that afternoon on foot. Disembarking from the canoes was definitely a spectator sport. For some. Well, us. It was a dance with death. One slip meant a watery grave. Or a boot full of water as one of our number discovered.
The bow of the Croydon. |
While the dissembling of limbs from the canoes continued, we paddled up to the wreck of the Croydon, a steamship that went down in the river and is still there, albeit most of it is under 30m of water. The Croydon seemed too large for the narrow, log filled confines of the Savage and so it proved. Parts of the wreck were still visible above and below the water. Salvage proved too expensive for this remote part of the state and the court-ordered insurance company payment would not cover a refloat. Who'd have thought an insurance company wouldn't pay out on a disaster?
The stairway to the falls. Disembarking was a snap. |
Our next port of call was Lovers Falls. There was no explanation as to why it was so named. Disembarking here was potentially more complex than the spacious deck area of the pontoon and only the brave or foolhardy would try it. Yes, of course we did, dear reader. David is not one to miss out on an experience. We found scrambling out of the canoe no more problematic than at the pontoon and off along the timber walkway we went to the head of the falls.
Lovers Falls. |
Given the dry summer, we weren’t expecting much of the falls and they complied with little more than a trickle. That said, I've walked further to see drier falls, but there wasn’t a lot happening here, much like an Angus Taylor press conference. The most spectacular part was an upended blue gum, with its crown in the pool at the bottom of the falls and its roots being splashed by the trickle of water coming over the edge of the cliff. It was clinging onto life and had a couple of sprouts on the trunk.
Tree ferns bend themselves into strange shapes. |
Back along the boards, through the usual rainforest vegetation and back into the canoes we turned and headed down river against the current and breeze. Those that had chosen not to view the Lovers Falls were far in front. We were unconcerned and had plenty of time to paddle back to Corinna. It was, however, much tougher going than the trip out.
At one stage Dave suggested we move closer to the riverbank where the water was undisturbed. An excellent idea. We were sheltered from the wind and the current was not as strong. Suddenly we seemed to surge forward and close the gap on those ahead of us, even though our stroke rate hadn’t changed.
As we closed in on Corinna, we paddled to the other side of the Pieman. The reeds, although not thick, were a continuous barrier along the bank. Nick had previously told us about the wallabies and pademelons that wade into the water to eat the root stems of the reeds. Paddling back to home base, Hayden spotted a pademelon doing just that. Credit to Dave for the photos.
What are you looking at? |
Mmmm. Yum. |
The lack of break, breeze and current took its toll and while my shoulders were fine, my arms were certainly feeling the burn. It would be interesting to see how they were tomorrow.
Back at Corinna, there was time to freshen up before lunch. For the afternoon activity, there was the option of checking out the fireground by bus and then having a relaxing afternoon or completing the Savage River Walk. Muscles sore after the river expedition, there was only one option for us. Walk.
The Savage River to Corinna walk was just under 6km and we completed the walk in a little over 2 hours. To be fair, we would have completed it much more quickly if it was just the two of us – and that would have been with breaks, time to take photos and absorb what was around us. But, the first rule of bushwalking is that the group walks as fast as the slowest person, and it provides more time to be one with nature.
The Savage River. |
The walk commenced as a stroll through the rainforest along the Savage River. It was flat and followed the meanders of the river. To get back to Corinna we needed to climb up and over a mountain. The gentle walk in the forest was not to last and ended at the pontoon where earlier we had had morning tea. At this point, a set of timber stairs were set in the side of the mountain. It was not a stairway to heaven, but it was the way home.
There are many fungi of all colours and shapes. |
The stairs gave way to the usual track and the proliferation of burrowing crayfish mud spires became much more noticeable. The further from the river and the higher we climbed, the more I expected the mud mounds to disappear. They didn’t. These industrious little crayfish had scaled the mountain to its top and also inhabited the other side down to water level.
The benefit of trudging up a mountain is generally the view at the top. Not here in rainforest country. Any view was obscured by the dense foliage. The reward for this climb was the satisfaction of knowing you had done it and making it home in one piece. Down the other side we walked to where the trail met the Pieman River. Hayden stopped us then and invited us to sit and spend time in contemplation with nature. A very welcome request. We sat and listened to the bush. The only sounds were a Forest Raven and some splashing in the river, possibly a platypus.
More bracket fungus. |
The Savage River trail ended at the conclusion of the Huon Pine walk at the Corinna car park. It is all boardwalk, 250m long, dotted with information markers about the rainforest trees. The noticeboard tagged the Savage River walk as moderate/hard. Yeah, nah, but it was good to stretch the muscles and have a pack on my back after sitting in a canoe all morning.
Dinner was, once again, at the tables out front of the pub. Chicken curry and rice followed by fruit salad. That was after cheese, chorizo, olives and other nibbles. You never go hungry on a Trek tour, nor do you lose weight. Unfortunately.
Until tomorrow.