Mt Earnslaw

Another beautiful day down here.  The only disadvantage with being in a valley between the mountains is that the sun doesn't come up so early in the morning.  A relatively late start then, and we walked around the lagoon for this view of Mt Earnslaw.  I've nearly been to the top of the East Peak one time, years ago, but the weather turned, and we had something of an epic crossing the Rees River on the way out.  Mt Leary was the consolation prize.

This afternoon we drove to Chinamans Bluff, the end of the Dart Valley road, and walked through the bush for a while, alongside the river.  The track is closed further up because of washouts due to severe flooding earlier in the season.  There is now an active stoat trapping program along the valley which is greatly benefiting the bird life.  We saw parakeets, brown creepers, and riflemen as well as the usual run of bush birds.  Yellowheads are here too, but we weren't fortunate enough to see them today.