Day 30: 17 December 2019 (SCT Day 4)
Little Deadman’s Bay to Osmiridium Beach
This special day marked 36 years of marriage. We laughed that we had not only stayed married all these years, but even survived the Ironbounds together. The recommended 36th anniversary gift is bone china, but my Sea to Summit eVent Quagmire gaiters were more highly valued, and Tim reflected that my presence on the trip was the best anniversary present he could have had (Awwww).
There were a few options for our day’s journey. Some groups have a rest day at Little Deadman’s Bay but we were keen to keep walking. How far would we get? Prion Beach, Osmiridium Beach, or Surprise Bay?
The walk began through forest, across a buttongrass plain where the survey team had left their luggage ready for a chopper flight out later that afternoon. Into the forest, we came across the usual multitude of trees fallen over the path. Justin and I quickly dodged under one such section but Tim decided that he had had enough and would take a ‘shortcut’.
Before long we were striding along Prion Beach, a 4 km beach renowned as one of the most beautiful in Tassie’s south west. It was easy walking at low tide. At the end of Prion Beach is another rowing section. There are warnings not to attempt to cross on foot due to rogue waves and quicksand, so it was time for another 3-way crossing, this time with Justin to share the oars. The dinghy waiting for us had a bent oar, but Tim was still able to get us across without incident. Then both Tim and Justin rowed back, towing boat two and having to synchronise one oar over the other as they were too long to row together. The Trek group arrived at the lagoon as they returned to the western shore, and they brought a couple of Trekkies back on their final trip.
We could have camped at Prion for the night, but again, we were not ready to stop so kept on after blue brie, tomato, cucumber, rice cakes and hot tea. Sounds boring, but we really enjoyed these lunches on our favourite chairs. The next section reminded us of the Port Davey Track as we again hit long sections of deep thick mud. No worries for seasoned muddies like us but not the usual wedding anniversary scenario!
The sunlight was brighter and clearer than any other day so far, and as we walked along a high ridge looking over the coastline we were enraptured by the colours – vivid blues of sea and sky and stark white of the beach. In the opposite direction Precipitous Bluff dominated the day and Tim and Justin schemed a future trip to climb it.
The warmer weather brought other changes, and I pulled up quickly on seeing a tiger snake on the track ahead. It had no intention of giving up its place in the sun, and we had to stomp for a few minutes before it reluctantly slithered away. Half an hour later there was another one, already heading into the scrub. We wondered how many other snakes had seen us on our walk so far, as the estimation is that there are 20 you don’t see for every one you do.
By mid afternoon we were ready to set up camp, so took the extremely muddy turnoff to Osmiridium Beach. This protected campground was rather lovely, and from the beach Precipitous Bluff could be seen until cloud formed. We could rinse off in the creek, and after dinner Tim and I enjoyed a romantic stroll along the beach, which was covered by jumping sandflies which made the most of our visit. No gaiters needed and no bone china in sight!!
