Central Plateau Trip report plus some photos:
In an attempt to encourage the family on a walk in Tasmania I planned what I would have called an easy walk from Lake MacKenzie through to the Walls of Jerusalem.
This managed to encourage my wife and 3 of my 4 children. The 4th was working, and one of the daughters who came had never done an overnight trip before.
It turned out to be quite an adventure for all of us.
The planned itinery ran to what I call the "Heysen Trail" rule - one hour per 3 kms plus an hour for each 300 m climbing.
I had also included a number of side trips.
This was also my first experience of the central plateau in an untracked environment and a few lessons resulted.
We were lucky to accomplish 2 kms per hour walking - and so the itinery reduced to more direct walking with some longer loops and hill climbs cut out.
There was also a lesson in ensuring comfort, as we used some older and thinner sleeping bags for the 2 girls who do not regularly walk.
After the first 2 nights when they were too cold we decided they needed more warmth and my wife and I swapped sleeping bags with them. That night we had ice on the tent.
Even with several thermal layers on, I still sure felt the cold that night - but the girls were nice and toasty.
Details of the resulting walk:
We went from Lake MacKenzie to Lake Explorer. The MacKenzie Lake level was down quite a bit (is it ever full?), but the lesson was to keep to the track and avoid clambering over the boulders with full packs.
Due to a late start, we set up rough camps on the west side of Lake Explorer instead of at Ironstone (Lake Nameless) Hut.
Next day we finished the distance to the hut which we found to be occupied by fishermen.
My son and I decided that being this close we should at least get up the ridge to Ironstone. We encountered some tough scrub on the way up - and then he decided to take the more vertical route up the nearest bluff.
Although short of the trigpoint by 1 km, the views were great - and we went back by a more gradual descent and kept to the scree on the way down to avoid the scrub. Much better!
The 3 girls had enjoyed relaxing at the hut, but we then put on packs and circled around 40 Lakes Peak to then climb up over it - do a short side trip to the top - before descending to Lake Halkyard.
The wind was coming in very strong from the SW - and very cold. I was not happy with a rather exposed spot we had found, but they had erected 2 tents by the time I came back with a better suggestion.
So, after showing them it was much more sheltered - we proceeded to march the 2 tents - still erect - over the small ridgeline for 50m. Any onlookers would have thought the site of erect tents moving over the rise was quite odd!
Next day arrived with a continuing cold stiff wind - right into our faces. But it was a great walk up the hill in front of Turanna Heights before working through the gap down to Lake Lexie.
Very pleasant spot for lunch watching a black swan - and it was definitely warming up.
Still easy walking to just above the Long Tarns, although we were tricked on how many valleys we needed to negotiate on the way.
I noticed a very lovely little Pencil Pine ringed tarn with a good camping spot just before descending to the top of long Tarns, so we camped there.
Great views of the sunset and sunrise from this vantage point - and higher up, some mobile phone coverage.
The 4th day was tough. Past the north Daisy Lake was fine, but heading directly towards Lake Tyre led to lots of scrub and difficult ridgelines.
I suspect that most parties would head past the South Daisy Lake to Lake Nutting and in - rather than directly towards Lake Tyre?
The day was much warmer, but once past Lake Tyre we entered the Walls and it was like entering another world.
Directly ahead was the vast flat swamp of Zion Vale and to the left the inviting verdant green slopes up to Jaffa Gate.
After dropping our packs at our camp site, the older daughter coaxed the youngest all the way up Mt Jerusalem for a memorable highlight of the walk.
On the way back, we filled up with water from the very beautiful upper tarns to avoid the stream in Jaffa Vale.
The last day began with my son and I going up for sunrise on the Temple.
We did not see much of the sun - but the bank of cloud drifting down from the North was magic as it wrapped around Clumner Bluff, with a mirror smooth Lake Salome below King David's Peak
Day 5 had a mix of a light shower followed by a hot afternoon as we passed through Solomons Jewels - picked up water at Lake Loane and tested our knees descending to the car park to await the bus.