2009/10 Walls of Jerusalem to Lake St Clair Part 1

Please note that this will be updated with an official entry for the QBW newsletter from Julie, Kerry or Mary...

http://www.tigerwilderness.com.au/ A website to keep in mind when trying this trip. Lee who runs tiger wilderness tours arranged with us to carry our city stuff from Walls carpark to Lake St Clair to meet us there so that we could be presentable in Hobart later. He also arranged fuel supplies and backpacker passes. I think 6 of us paid $120 each to get a lift to Walls and a lift to Hobart from Lake St Clair on top of fuel and passes. Had we arranged for lifts for other walkers it would have been cheaper still. We also had snack stops on each travel day.

The weather for this trip was my warmest driest experience. Most of us were unfit as we climbed 600 m to Trappers Hut marking the beginning of the Central Plateau. From here the rest of the walk was absolute magic. Due to a lack of fitness and packs full of food this was probably the hardest part of the walk (at least for me). Until we reached Herods Gate (the west entry into the Walls of Jerusalem) the walk seemed most populous. We were anxious for the people retuning to their cars as some had been broken into. Anyway Walls was beautiful with the duck board track past lake Salome under the West Wall keeping us awe struck.

We were most pleased to reach Dixons Kingdom Hut beyond the Temple. The camping area is extensive here and there is an entire Pencil Pine forest of 0.5km² to find somewhere peaceful to sleep. 6 of us arrived for our 9 day odyssey. We decided to get an early night and arise at 4 am to climb Mt Jerusalem to watch the sun rise. Not used to the long days I actually woke up at 9:30 thinking the sunset was a sunrise and nearly woke up Mary and Julie before realising the glow was in the west and not the east.

Mt Jerusalem at dawn without a cloud in the sky is one of those 100 things to do before confinement to a nursing home. The walk was about an hour if that and we watched the sunrise for at least an hour. Those hundreds of sparkling blue lakes with the red dolorite sunrise is a sight not seen anywhere else on earth. I had a brief walk up The Temple before a mid morning walk of our group lasting several hours up Solomons Throne and on to King Davids Peak. On the way back I led the group along the high plateau of this mountain to the Wailing Wall over creeping pine, dolorite bolder fields and past some lovely tarns. The wailing wall descent to Damascus Vale and through the pencil pine forest to our campsite for lunch was a worthwhile half day walk. The afternoon was one of rest and tranquility with a little port and zumbucca. Two nights camping in the Walls area is a recommended minimum amount of time needed to see the sights.

On the 29th of December we all packed up slowly and ambled down Jaffa Vale along rough tracks to Lake Ball where a good track forms near the base of Mount Moriah. There were some good camp sites along Lake Ball particularly on a little peninsula near the hut but the walk to the Walls from here is too far to use it as a good base for exploring. Only half an hour after leaving Lake Ball we reached Lake Adelaide. This too is a beautiful lake but is much bigger than Lake Ball and takes a few hours to pass. We arrived at the north end of lake Meston in the early afternoon and were mesmerised by how nice and inviting the water was in the hot weather we were experiencing. Setting up our tents on what is a large camping area we went for some ejoyable swimming. The water was warm up the end of the lake due to the shallow sandy bottom absorbing the heat from the sun over the day. A great swim time was had by all. This site turned out to be as popular as Dixon Kingdom with several other groups arriving over the day. This is due to the various routes one can take in the area that include Lake Meston. My impression was that here as well as The Walls even without toilets, people had looked after the area.