The next morning, we had a better day with a bit of sun light.
The trapper’s hut and the creek next to the hut.
Today’s aim was to get to Dixon’s kingdom!!! SOund somewhat fantasy right??!! That’s how the different features in this small national park are named!!! When i first saw all these names while reading on the net, it make me anticipate and looking forward to it so much because i like fantasy stuff!!! LOL. The walk/hike wasn’t really hard all the way, it’s kinda undulating but the weather wasn’t great and it’s pretty wet from the rain yesterday.
Everywhere was filled out with water. Having said that, the Walls of Jerusalem National Park is an alpine wilderness dominated by dolerite peaks, tarns, lakes and alpine vegetation.
As written in http://www.discovertasmania.com The Walls of Jerusalem National Park will mesmerise you with its contrasts - the drama of its Jurassic peaks, the rich textures of its conifer forests, the delicacy of its cushion plants and the stillness of its tarns and lakes.
John Chapman: The Walls of Jerusalem is part of the extensive central plateau of Tasmania.The plateau is covered with thousands of lakes which are depressions that were gouged out by an ice cap during recent glaciation. The Walls are a series of higher craggy hills on the western side of the plateau and are a significant feature of the area. Exterbally the higher peaks seem to be the feature but once in the Walls you quickly realise the major features are the u shaped glacial valleys and the pretty lakes.
The Walls of Jerusalem National Park is not as popular a destination when compared to its neighbour, The Cradle Mountain National Park. But that doesn't mean that it is not as good. It is at a higher altitude, for a start. I suspect it is more to do with it is not as easy to get to and you need to be fully prepared. What I mean by this is the only way to get there is by car or a hire vehicle as no public transport goes anywhere near it. (http://www.wises.com.au/wallsinfo.htm)
All in all, I SIMPLY LOVE THIS PLACE and will let the pictures below tell you why!!! haha.
Countless numbers of small and big tarns while walking through and couldn’t even how many rainbows we seen so far since the Overland track!!!
There's diversed vegetation here.
The lake overflows into the walking paths, our boots were not spare from the water, lol.
The markers are sometime on the trees so one have to look out for them but it’s not easy to get lost here, though we did went the wrong way once here, lol. We failed to see the log that blocked the path.
The pic on the upper right showed we were heading to the mountains in front of us.
Along the way countless tarns and small running creeks again…
We got to a point where we had to descent to cross a low flat land full of water overflowing in order to get to the mountains, lol.
But the view was just FANTABULOUS!!!! All the cushion plant and coral ferns!!!
Passing through wild dog creek …lol
A bit of a hike got us to the 1st camp official campsite of this national park
Another bit of hike took us to the view of Herod’s gate!!! AMAZING!!! It just looks like a portal into the magical mother nature or another dimension!!!
Climbing up Herod’s gate and looking back, can’t remember what bluff or peak is that now.
The ascent passed Herod’s gate brought us to a valley with rocks and walls high up surrounding us!!!!
Simply breathtaking view of the valley even in a weather like this!!!! That’s lake Salome in the middle of the valley greeting us!!!
Looking back over Herod’s gate and Lake Salome.
The weather was really unpredictable, it was pretty misty and rain came down in between.
While walking across the valley, heading towards Damancus Gate, the entry into Dixon’s kingdom!!! LOL, sound playing a RPG Final Fantasy game, lol.
The view back into the valley with King David’s peak dominating on the left of Lake Salome.
The hike towards Damancus gate passed by Solomons throne which is shown on the picture above.
Into Dixon’s Kingdom where there’s plenty of snow and wet snow, lol.
Dixon’s kingdom!!!! OMG…….it’s like entering another realm!!!! Richea Scoparia almost blankets the valley ahead and provides a spectacular display of colour!!!
Dixon Kingdom’s hut!!! An atypical hut, haha. It’s very low on the roof and pretty small, lol. You have to bend your head to get in. The hut is located next to a patch of pencil pines with a pretty flat land in front.
Alex walking back to the hut under a full rainbow after collecting water from the icy creek nearby the hut.
Unpack our stuff, quick hot drink, we were back on business.
To tackle the Solomons throne!!!
Not very high but high enough to provide a good view below on the valley, the mist was so thick that we have to wait for it to clear.
Viewing south from the peak. Lake ball if i'm not wrong, haha.
We decided not to push towards King David’s peak as it was pretty misty though we kinda can see it from Solomons throne peak.
When the weather cleared for a while, we have one of the best sneak peak on the panoramic view of the East walls and Mt.Jerusalem which is the highest peak on the East walls.
Going back down through the narrow gully
THis time we headed over to the Temple which is directly opposite of the Solomons throne.
From the temple, we could get a grant view of the West walls that includes the Wailing walls, Solomons throne and King David’s peak!!!
We were trying to find a ruin, but couldn’t find it and the weather wasn’t just treating us very well, haha.
Went back down…
Part of the West walls again…
That’s the weather, one second you can see clearly, another second it’s blur, lol.
Back in Dixon’s Kingdowm, I was able to capture this view that stretches far enough that you were able to see Lake Ball when the skies cleared off a bit. There's an unmark track that extend from here to Lake Ball and links up with Junction Lake track back to Trapper's hut to form a circuit.
Wet and soggy, lol. Luckily again there’s no one staying in the hut, we can have it to ourselves!!! We spent a bit of time reading through the hut’s log book, and there’s poo all over that we have to clean it a bit, lol.
Dinner and zzzz…At night we have an unexpected visitor!!!!
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