A nice twelve degrees when we woke up this morning and what a restful sleep. It's a lovely misty morning.
Heading through the park, our first stop was at Devils Hole Lookout. We're told by Margaret and Arthur, who were here not so long ago, that the view is spectacular. Well, it was pretty spectacular this morning - spectacularly white. You could see no further than a few metres in front of you. Even on the road Arthur (driving in front today) was disappearing into the fog less than 100 metres in front.
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| Devils Hole |
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| Thunderbolts Lookout |
No view again at Thunderbolts Lookout Track but we would have to say the 400m walk is pretty spectacular with lots of trees dripping with moss. One gets the idea that days like today may be a common occurrence up here.
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| Honeysuckle Walk |
Now, if we thought that Devil's Hole was spectacular than the 1km Honeysuckle Forest Track takes that up a notch. What a lovely spot with the majestic Antarctic Beech trees all covered in moss and reaching up into the fog. Apart from the beech trees, there's also an abundance of tree ferns and mountain banksia (honeysuckle). The Antarctic Beech's are just amazing. Hard to imagine that they are 2500-3000 years old and relics from Gondwana times.
A quote I came across:
I find it staggering to think these trees are so old - some
sources say approximately 3000 years old. They were alive during the rise and
fall of the Roman Empire, the birth of Christianity, the dark ages and the
crusades, and the renaissance period. They would have seen Captain Cook's ship
(the Endeavour) sail up the east coast of Australia in 1770, and the slow
deterioration of the vast forests that once covered this land. Now they are
living through the modern age and most likely will see our demise if we don't
lift our game. It does my head in! The weather today was cold, windy, and very
misty with occasional drizzle - conditions that these trees love, I'm sure.
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| Gloucester Caravan Park |
From the Tops, it was a very steep drive down the mountain to Gloucester. Had to take it easy as brakes were overheating on both vehicles.
Booked into the very pleasant caravan park at Gloucester. Lot's of space in the unpowered section and lots of green grass.
Went for a walk into town to pick up some information on Gloucester Tops (our destination tomorrow). Coffee and cake at Roadies followed by a visit to the IGA and Driftas Camping shop (Gloucester being their home).
Back to camp for "happy hour" and dinner.
