Well, it finally happened……we got out for a hike! There’s been a bit of a (very much expected) dearth when it comes to visiting the great outdoors since Lachie was born, so it felt absolutely amazing to be out in the bush once again recently. A quick perusal through the marvellous 100 Walks in Tasmania book and we settled on a short one in Mount Field National Park, Lake Nicholls; which is on the way up to Mount Field East.
Obviously being a little out of practice and indeed fitness, we were very glad to have chosen this particular walk. It’s a super easy 5km or so return that only takes a couple of hours. Of course you can take as long as you like or run it if that’s what floats your boat but yeah the gradient is nice and gentle and we’ll definitely be bringing the little man on this one when’s he a bit older.
The walk takes you through some really beautiful forest on the slopes of Mount Field East. There’s abundant mountain berries of varying colours that really gave a lovely festive atmosphere to the walk. It was New Year’s Eve when we did it so somewhat fitting to the season. We were a little late to catch the beautiful red Tasmanian Waratah, synonymous with the Keep Tassie Wild patch that you’ll see on bags, coats and car bumpers throughout the state and indeed the World. The few we did find were a little scraggly but still beautiful nonetheless.
It wasn’t long before we reached the first point of interest on the walk. There were many points of interest before this I think personally but I suppose the guidebooks would call this the first. That being Beatties Tarn, named after John Watt Beattie who undertook numerous photographic expeditions around Tasmania in the late 19th century. It’s a lovely little body of water with crystal clear water and a fine harbinger for its larger cousin further up the mountain.
We pressed onwards and upwards, albeit only slighty on the latter as the slope is very gentle indeed with only a couple of steeper sections. There was a lovely moment as we passed through the thicker wooded area below Lake Nicholls when a Black Cockatoo sang out from the treetops above us. A couple carrying binoculars passed us shortly afterwards so hopefully they managed to spot it.
Eventually the path started to descend down to the lake and after a fun little hop across a creek, we were there! We enjoyed a nice lunch inside Nicholls Hut before taking a look around the edge of the lake and admiring the beautiful serene view around us.
I would highly recommend this return walk for anyone looking for a relatively easy hike in Tasmania. The higher up walks past Lake Dobson all involve a slog up to the ski huts so I’d definitely suggest either the Lake Nicholls walk by itself or if you have a bit more time, you can do the full loop out to Mount Field East and back around.
Czeching Out Tasmania 
Love the photos and your story.
Lovely imagery, clear writing, great photographs, one man’s relationship with his environment. What an antidote to all the publicity in this part of the world about Australia burning. Not that the fires aren’t catastrophic. They are tragic, profound lessons in what we have to do individually and collectively. Tassie, which has had its fires, nevertheless provides the image of nature as it should be, of how Australia can be made great again.
Pretty ok, with that very nice report about my own past back-yard home territory. So favourable! Feel free to also suss out a few items on . Whoa, Duh, Nuh!