Whymper Crags

We got going early again this morning and headed into Perth and found a little shelter with a bbq to make bacon and eggs for breakfast 😋.

Then headed out to Ben Lomond NP to find that the top of the mountain was covered in cloud, but I was hopeful that it would clear by the time we got to the top.

It was a pretty drive there through Evendale and then very green sheep pastures. The new spring lambs are running around the paddocks following their mothers, they really are so cute.

The drive up Jacobs Ladder wasn't as bad as we were expecting (no worse than going up Bellthorpe range!) But the sheer rock cliffs are just spectacular. It's hard to take it all in, the cloud around just added to the atmosphere.

We drove up to the ski resort which is basically closed down for the season now apart from the Cafe that is closing next week till the new ski season.

We weren't sure if it was worth doing the 3.5 km trail due to the cloud but set off to have a look anyway. The trail was beautiful, lots of lovely different grasses and moss covering the ground and the rocks have orange and black moss markings as well. After coming across a couple of old huts we headed up to the summit (1572m) pretty much climbing over largish rocks the whole way up. We got to the top just before a big cloud bank came and enveloped us and completely whited everything out!

I was glad Bart had his GAIA app running to see which direction to start heading to get back down. Instead of going back down the way we came up, we made our way down the other side of the summit following what we thought was the path but ended up being animal paths 😄 but we made it, without getting our feet too wet.

It ended up being a great walk, but will be good to come back again and do it in summer because apparently on a fine day you can see all the way to Cradle Mountain.

We left Ben Lomond (after stopping in the camping area to make some lunch) and headed towards Launceston. Thought we'd go and do the Cataract gorge walk but you have to pay to park, and once again we forgot it was Sunday! So we headed up to the Sentinel lookout which is a short 2km walk (though our watches said 1.6km) down to a cantilevered platform lookout.

I'm standing there taking a photo and Bart just has to walk up behind me and start jumping (yes you can see through the floor) 🙄 seriously can't help himself. He thinks it's hilarious 🤦🏽‍♀️

We decided to find accommodation in Launceston so we could leave the car there and have a look around tomorrow before heading to Devonport to get on the Spirit. Found a quaint historic hotel The Art Hotel that used to be a bakery, built and run by a convict.

Last night here, has been such a wonderful trip hard to think it's coming to an end!Read more