Mount Hartz National Park

06.01.2011
Aside from the stages we have to sit in the bus the day today is totally consecrated to nature – we go to Mount Hartz National Park. First stop is a tree top walk. Everyone may explore the different walking tracks on his own account. Gernot and I at first take the ground level path to warm up and to feel the atmosphere of the rain forest. Then we dare to climb up into the tree tops, even Gernot although he is afraid of heights. I am proud of my husband, he actually manages to go out to the very top protruding freely far above the forest and the river.

Following the program the bus takes us to another walking tour together with our fellow travellers. We want to go to Lake Esperance. On our way there the guide repeatedly pilots us to several places worth seeing, a huge age-old eucalyptus tree, a lookout point with spectacular views across eucalyptus woods that seem to stretch out endlessly…

The actual walk to Lake Esperance seems to be too short for us, we would love to still go on. Generally the hiking trails in Tasmania are very well built and kept up. Often you walk on wooden planks for kilometres so you won’t harm the fragile vegetation underneath.

Gernot and I often pause and just look around or take a closer look at details besides the trail. Just stand still and let the silence infect you, the wind, the buzzing of the insects, the clean air. That is the problem if you travel in a group – the others rush on without stopping. One of our fellow travellers does not even take his camera down for one minute, I think he only sees all the beauty around him on the display – what a shame.