MOT Tour Day 30 - Bush Walks, Blow Holes, An Aboriginal Legend and Penguins

Apsley Waterhole

A couple of days into the fifth week of our Map Of Tassie Tour and it was time we ventured back into the bush. Our chosen destination was the Apsley Gorge along the Apsley River in the Douglas Apsley Conservation NP. It would also include a much reputed waterhole along the way.

Prior reading was high in its praise for the clarity of the water in the waterhole and the pristine nature which engulfed it. It was also reassuring, that the walk to the gorge, whilst not a doddle, was manageable for scramblers of our experience and expertise.

The drive to the NP like any other entry past neighbours of parks: lots of “private property” signs and “keep out” and the like. Several had even placed their own speed limit signs - 5 kph- on the roads outside their houses. It was about a twenty minute drive until we reached an already crowded car park which soon became overcrowded as we kitted up. One Japanese tour group asked if there were snakes: in some way our gators had them concerned. I told them the bush adage about the third person being the one who gets bitten and they disappeared up the track, seemingly counting the position in the line.

The info was right about the walk: ten minutes of mostly flat track with about 15 steps as we approached the pool. They were right about the waterhole too: it was delightful but as you would expect, bloody cold.

This was the last of the accuracy.

As we set off across a very difficult traverse of a boulder field which was about 35 metres across, folks came the other way with tales of a steep climb up and then a steeper incline down to the gorge. Several had thrown in the towel and returned to the waterhole. An experienced walker who told us other tracks she had taken on, said it was grossly underestimated in the literature. Five minutes into our rock- crossing, we back tracked to find out more.

Finally a young, very fit couple arrived back from the gorge, describing a steep climb and then a very steep incline over unstable ground down to the gorge. An added bonus were the three Tiger Snakes they saw. His honesty, expressed as an audible gasp when he entered the cold water, made him a believable witness.

Our waning enthusiasm ran out and instead we sat for quite a while talking with folks.

Returning to the car park, a stupid prat tried to reverse into the Forester as we were leaving. A polite toot avoided a collision but he was waving his arms like a drunken semaphore signalman when caught in my rear vision mirror.

From there we drove back to the eastern shore, below Waub's Harbour, to checkout the Bicheno Blowhole, whose reputation is underwhelming. No such problems today as the tide was full, the wind from the optimum direction and a decent swell operating. Thar she blew with a small roar and whoosh a column of water rose and then dispersed in the air and left an impressive trail of water running of the smooth rocky surface and back to the sea.

Back in Bicheno - sounds like a 70’s rock band reunion tour - we coffeed and then gathered up some things we needed for the van from the Log Cabin General Store. It is the best general store I have ever been in. It had everything you needed for the days when no one else did. Old fashioned concept of not being a specialist but dabbling in a bit of everything. To top it off, the music playlist in the store was selected by the “bloke up the back” and it was the sort of playlist that would make teens of the sixties and seventies wet their lips. Tell me the last time you were in a store and Led Zeppelin was playing, followed by The Doors, followed by Cream. I bought two caravan brake light bulbs, a clasp for Sue’s new back support cushion (yes she lost another one) and a sliding catch for the van door.

News from Centrelink: on March 8th, I am officially an Aged Pensioner. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to dodge the title “Grey Nomad”.

What used to be
Wauba Debar's grave

We went for a walk this afternoon, down to the grave of Wauba Debar, an aboriginal woman who was buried overlooking what became known as Waub’s Bay. There is conflicting information about her. Some say she was a local women who married a sealer and saved him when his boat sank one kilometre offshore and then his mate, because she was a very good swimmer. Some years after her death (said to be 1832), the community erected a headstone over her grave (1855). In fact, solid evidence says she died in 1816. She would be been 24.

The truth is different, although still shrouded In uncertainty.

Wauba was abducted as a teen, by a sealer wanting her for sex. It was a common practice at the time. The story of the near drowning, probably is true but then she was snatched again, this time because of her swimming ability, to be a diver for an enterprise to the north. Accurate history says she was making her way, under capture, from Hobart to the Furneaux Island group but died after escaping at Wineglass Bay and being hunted down.

Her grave, is not her grave. In 1893, the Tasmanian Art Gallery and Museum, exhumed her body with no reference to local aboriginal people and took it for display and “scientific purposes”. It was returned 100 years later, cremated and disposed of under full ceremony.

In 2014, Bicheno resident Shane Gould dedicated a long distance swim in Wauba Debar’s honour. She remains the only Tasmanian aboriginal to have been given a public memorial in the 19th century and one of the very aboriginal women. These sad stories remain just too common.

Crested Terns 

The rest of our walk was along Waub’s Esplanade and down to Waub’s Harbour (are you spotting community guilt yet) and the Gulch, a narrow passage between the dock and Governor Island. The island is barren granite, at most only a few metres above sea level and a nesting place for Tasmania’s largest colony of Crested Terns but Cormorants, Silvergulls and Sooty Oystercatchers are also easy to spot. The waters on the far side of Governor Island are a haunt for divers but the deep water and strong currents make it a no go for the inexperienced. The narrowness of the Gulch means all this non stop sea bird action is easy to watch and deafening to listen to!

It was a nice way to put some kms in the legs.

Penguin viewing tonight and the guided rookery tour of Bicheno Penguins. Seriously cute little creatures who came up the tracks from the beach at their own pace to find their way to their nests, some of them 1.5 kms from the beach! At the pace they move and the stop/start nature of it, some of them mustn't spend much time in the burrow before its back out to sea at 4:00am. The information from our guide was pretty good, although as the evening got closer to us getting back on the bus, she relied a lot on anthropomorphisms to appeal to the those caught up in their cuteness and to block questions (who do you think was asking those?). This is a private business and the whole thing was professional and well worth the cost. Lots of information. Lots of fury critters. 

Click here for today's photos

Only one negative: the bus driver had a cough. For all we know, he is tested daily but he and a few others on the bus were coughing and making us nervous, despite our state of the art face masks. The rest was outside, so little risk.