Our Great Adventure: Mount Field National Park Day 124 20/01/2015

Despite being at sea level it was cold overnight and we were glad that the sun was on the van when we woke up. After breakfast we packed up and headed north for the ferry back to the mainland. We stopped off at the 5km sandy isthmus called the Neck (it was a bit too windy to stop on the way here). It's a beautiful place with great views on both sides of the causeway and luckily the wind had dropped. From here we drove back to Roberts Point for the ferry. As we queued two low loaders arrived which, along with the lorry already in the queue, clearly weren't both going to fit on. In an effort to reduce space a local loaded his truck on the back on one of the lorries which we thought very practical! The journey across the bay was definitely calmer than the one out. The guide on our boat tour the previous day, had told us that burning ashes from a bushfire on the mainland had actually reached the island back in the 1960's and burned most of the vegetation. Scary to think they can travel that kind of distance. We were heading to Mount Field National Park and our route took us back through Hobart and then north west along the Derwent Valley. We stopped off at New Norfolk for provisions and lunch, finally succumbing to Ozzy pies (they were rather tasty). New Norfolk is a bit of a strange place but then it was home to the insane asylum. It had more than it's far share of antiques shops for no apparent reason. From here we continued west through hop fields to Mt Field, 80km northwest of Hobart. We registered at the Land of the Giants campsite, parked our van, met the very chatty Tasmania guy parked next to us and then walked to Russell Falls. The falls are very close to the park entrance along an easy path. We continued past Horseshoe Falls to Lady Barron Falls before returning back to the campsite, spotting another echidna on route. The walk is through fairly dense forest with huge trees, hence the name of the campsite. Back at the campsite we settled down for the night, watching out for the possums who apparently are very keen to steal anything they can including boots!