As I wrote briefly about in my Bruny Island entry, we observed fossils on our last day of walking on the Cape Queen Elizabeth track. Having looked into this more closely, I believe these are paleodictyon fossils.
See the wikipedia entry here, and the pbs youtube video about them here.
Fossils! Possibly paleo dictyon?
Fossils! Possibly paleo dictyon?
Fossils! Possibly Paleo Dictyons, see the pbs YouTube video about these
It appears to me that these might be impressions of paleodictyon as they are the inverse of other images I have seen on the web, regardless, they otherwise look very similar. I initially thought that these rocks were the dolerite that is common around here, but now having read more about the fossils I believe they are sandstone, (or mudstone) which is also present nearby. Apparently, they are found in these sorts of sedimentary layers, especially mudstone which was formed by turbidity flows. I recall hearing about a turbidity flow event occurring in recent years off the Indian sub-continent.
It is incredible that these date back to the Precambrian/early Cambrian (see Wikipedia) period, which I understand to be around 500 million years ago, before the dinosaurs! Seeing these fossils, and knowing this information about their age is incredible, those creatures left their mark on the world half a billion years ago, and it is still evident, and will continue to be so for a long time to come, regardless of what we hominids do to the planet.
Paleodictyons are also trace fossils meaning that they are traces of biological activity rather than the remains of an actual creature itself. So fossil footprints are trace fossils. Trace fossils can also be fossil poo (coprolites).
Frev were joined by close friends for a walking trip with Parktreks to Bruny Island, a trip that always seemed to be in the distant future, but now was suddenly upon us.
The four of us travelled to Brisbane Airport together from the Sunshine Coast to catch our earlyish flight to Hobart. Amazingly it was bitterly cold in SE Queensland in the morning, which meant that we were primed for the cold that was to come!
Our flight landed in the early afternoon, when the ambient temperature was still below 10 degrees. We found it very difficult to get an Uber that would take all four of us with our luggage, so we ended up splitting into two Ubers for the trip to our hotel.
As we were checking in, the receptionist asked for a credit card, before the words were even out of his mouth, I had the dread realisation that I had left my wallet on the plane! An immediate dampener to the holiday which was resolved wonderfully by Virgin as I ultimately collected it from baggage services in Brisbane when we returned. It had had an adventure all on its own. The only thing I could see that was missing was the lotto ticket that I had purchased, otherwise all the cards and cash, even the $7 fijian note, were there.
Dinner that night was at an expensive restaurant called Mures, which had been preceded by a few, outside, at the Hobart Brewery. Dinner was amazing, Fran had the best Seafood Chowder I've ever tasted. I had a very tasty, but less memorable Salmon.
Australian Geographic has a guide to Bruny Island here.
Day 1
We were picked up Emma and EJ from the front of the Hotel Grand Chancellor as planned at 830am on the Wednesday morning. We met our guides and the other folk who were also joining the tour, all lovely people.
The journey to the ferry was quick with a short stop at a coffee shop to discuss the plans for the trip.
After the ferry trip and an enjoyable drive which included a Stop on the "Neck" to admire the views.
We arrived at the lodge which was situated in a remote part of South West South Bruny Island. The rooms were very comfortable although the bathroom facilities were shared but that was fine.
We unpacked and had a quick lunch before we set off for our first walk on the Luggaboine Circuit, which was on the Labillardiere Peninsular. I managed to contact Virgin Lost Property again on this walk and they confirmed that my Wallet was in Brisbane and could be picked up from the Baggage Counter at Brisbane Airport - phew, that was a relief.
After this short walk, we then visited the Cape Bruny Lighthouse, located in magnificent surroundings. The weather was very dramatic with the sun setting low in the sky across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. This was truly beautiful.
Day 2 - the Big Walk
Day 2 dawned cold but calm and sunny. Today's walk was a 12km out and back route from the mouth of Sheepwash Creek on Cloudy Bay up to East Cloudy Head.
The walk started with a tentative stream crossing of Sheepwash creek. The water was flowing quite rapidly but was shallow enough to tiptoe through. This was the first real test of our new boots and they passed with flying colours!
Crossing of Sheep Wash Creek
off the beach and on the way up to Cloudy Head
Taken with Skyline - Compass Heading : 313°, Version : 3.7.19(202109160929), Field of View : 67.1, Device : iPhone14,5(16.3.1)
Back towards Cloudy Bay, where we have come from
We were glad to have our full shin gaiters as the path was overgrown in places. The walking poles were also very useful on the rocky and steep sections.
Everybody seemed to cope well enough with the fairly challenging terrain, there were a few tumbles but thankfully no body hurt more than their pride.
I regret not taking photos of the Shongololo (millipede) creatures on the beach. They were fairly common on this walk and I assumed we would see them again but alas no. I also asked our guides about them when back at the lodge by neither EJ nor Emma new what I was talking about.
Highlights of this day were definitely the glorious sunny day coupled with the magnificent views across the stretches of water. the wildlife was a bit lacking in inspiration, just a few gulls, terns, Oyster Catchers and the like.
Day 3 - Funghi and Seals
So today we were going on a boat, but before that we went for a delightful walk through a temperate rainforest to look at gorgeous and numerous fungis in the forest. We took so much time looking at them that we didn't make it to the end of the walk and had to turn back to avoid being late for the boat trip out of Adventure bay.
I have to admit to being a bit meh, about the boat trip at first but it turned out to be a highlight of the trip. The fluted Dolerite Cliffs dating back to the Jurassic period (we were told) were magnificent. We were shown caves, and an impressive blow hole that blew spray all over the boat when we can in close.
As we made our way further south along the cliffs, the wind became stronger and stronger as we were moving out of the protection of the land mass and into the teeth of the strong Sou'wester that was blowing. We arrived at the Australian Fur Seal colony with a sense of pity for these creatures who were perched on the rocks seeking warmth from the sun amidst the freezing cold wind. Of course, pitying them is ridiculous as they would have been perfectly happy but it still looked like a miserable experience. Apparently only male Australian Fur Seals gather here with the females being further north with the kids. The thinking is that this is to husband the resources more carefully. We also so a colony of New Zealand or Long Face seals nearby, these guys included boys and girls and their pups, they were on the rocks, but in the shade of the adjacent cliff, I felt that I wanted to yell at them to move around a bit.
Another highlight from this trip were the Albatross that we saw on the wing on the way back. Such elegant birds that apparently spend almost all of their lives on the wing, with only occasional periods were they will come to land to breed and raise a chick. Incredible birds.
Only 5 of us from the gang went on the boat trip, the rest did a walk up the adjacent headland. It sounds like that was another tough walk but I was sorry that we didn't get to do that too.
Day 4 - Cape Queen Elizabeth
It was with some regret that we packed our bags that morning and loaded them into the trailer as this was our last day. The plan was to walk on Cape Queen Elizabeth.
It turned out that we didn't get to the end of the Cape, but we still had a lovely day. The highlights were the rock formations (Dolerite, Sandstone and some mudstone) and fossils.
Fossils!Fossils!Fossils!
Closing
As always, we had a hugely enjoyable trip. Emma and EJ from Parktrek were great, as were our fellow participants. We were reminded of the cold climates we used to live in in Londan and Christchurch, and, while we enjoyed all those locations, and Bruny Island, we are glad to be able to return to warmer weather.
The most memorable things from this trip were the fungi, the rock formations, cold wind and glorious views.
We will definitely be back for another trip with Parktreks, either in Tassie, or elsewhere in Australia. As an aside, they do walks in every state of Australia except Queensland (huh?).
Sunrise from our room
Drunken Admiral
HMAS Adelaide in the background, invisible on MarineTraffic.com
