Mountains and Narrows

Mt Milner

Anchored in Bramble Cove

After a fantastic night’s sleep in our calm and protected anchorage we wake to a misty morning. Perfect silence, beautiful and peaceful. After loading up with scooby snacks, we go ashore in the RIBs and 2 crew members join us for the walk up Mt Milner, all of 186m high. The track is accessed from the NE corner of the beach under a tree, and the walk offers spectacular views north to Payne Bay and beyond, as well as west to the Breaksea Islands and South East down to the anchorage. The track is very narrow, a little muddy and overgrown in a few places, a couple of steep bits but overall easy, and around 3kms return. When we get back a few people go in for a swim but the RIB is at the boat and our swimmers are in it - bummer. The water here is very tanin coloured, stained brown by the button grass which is endemic to this area. They say that if you drink button grass tea, Port Davey will be forever running in your veins! Interesting, but I think I will stick to Bushells...

There is a creek here flowing into the bay and that water is super cold; its much warmer in the bay itself. The plentiful supply of fresh, tanin stained water flowing into the estuarine waters of Port Davey creates a unique marine environment. The fresh, brown water layers on top of the saline water, and the tanin blocks out a significant amount of sunlight. As a consequence, a few metres below the surface is extremely dark, comparable to much deeper waters. As a result the marine life here resembles that of the greater depths of the ocean. Plants, fish and invertebrates that would normally only survive on the deep ocean floor are thriving here in relatively shallow water. Check out the National Parks video at the end of this blog explaining this unique phenomenon. Its one of the reasons Port Davey is a World Heritage area.

Overlooking Payne Bay

Map of the area

The Narrows

After a quick lunch and boot cleaning we weigh anchor and start heading east down the narrows and into Bathurst Harbour. First Mate Susie steers and Captain Sarah calls the bearings from the pilot house. The narrows are aptly named, but the waters are plenty deep enough for our 3m draft. There is apparently a sunken catamaran in the narrows, however even its upright mast is not a concern and we easily pass over the top of it. The cloud capped, Mt Rugby dominates the vista along this passage.​

The Narrows, Mt Rugby in the distance

A couple of sails are unfurled and the motor goes off for a while, beautiful silence. Its quite a spectacular fjord-like passage before the vista opens up into the vast waters of Bathurst harbour. The majestic Western Arthurs mountain range also come in to view in the NE of the bay. Vegetation is sparse, alpine-like and apparently unchanged since the glacial valley's formation after the last ice age. The area has not been logged and there has been limited clearing. The sun is in and out all afternoon, the weather ever changing in typical Tassie fashion. We anchor at by the Celery Top Islands, named for their dense cover age of Celery Top Pines. ​

Celery Top Islands with Mt Rugby in the background

Remains of Win's once expansive garden

Another great night's sleep and another damp morning, misty rain but very calm in this sheltered bay.  Today’s excursion is to walk up Mt Beattie at 250m altitude. We take the RIBs to Clayton’s Corner and land on the long jetty. This is where Clyde and Win Clayton relocated their home, having initially built it in Bond Bay, to the west. The house is still here and a kayaker is inside in front of the fire, having stayed for a couple of days. The house is now used by hikers and has full water tanks a basic kitchen some bunks and a bathtub. Long drop toilets are a bit further up the hill. We drag ourselves away from the fire place and Sophie sets a cracking pace upwards. Initially we walk through forest which offers good rain protection. Once we leave the boardwalk the track is narrow and very muddy, and we get light rain on and off. There are expansive views from the top but weather is closing in so after a quick lunch we head down as the rain builds and wind picks up. The track is even more muddy on the way down and we are drenched and dirty on return. We scrub our boots on the foredeck. A quick hot shower and spend the afternoon trying to get things dry as well as having a nap. Spag bol and an early night for us!​

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Misty Mt Beattie track

Below is a fab video from Parks Tas explaining the unique underwater ecosystem in Port Davey.