Hartz Mountains National Park

 26 December 2021

After a wonderful Christmas Day with family, inluding a surprise visit from my sister, we decided on a day out on Boxing Day. Julia suggested Hartz Mountains - one of her favourite places, and one we hadn't visited yet. Packing a picnic lunch was easy with so many leftovers to choose from. and all the equipment needed in our camping kit.

The forecast was for the possibility of showers, but nothing drastic, so we decided to drive south to Huonville and make a final decision there. By the time we arrived in Huonville we could see some light showers on the BoM radar, but decided to press on regardless. After a quick stop in Geeveston we turned onto the Hartz Road which would take un into the national park. A Parks Pass is required so we had renewed ours online before we left home.

Arriving at the carpark we were surprised at the large number of vehicles there. We had enough time before lunch to walk to Lake Osborne, a 2km, Grade 2 track on boardwalk and hard surface. The views were magnificent and the weather was everything we expected - cold, cloudy, sunny, drizzly, windy, still.

Returning to the carpark we set up for lunch in the picnic shelter, glad to be out of the cold for a while. There is plenty of room for a number of groups but we were the only ones there at the time. 

Even though it it was still cold and windy we decided to tackle the longer (3.4km - Grade 3) walk to Lake Esperance after lunch. Not far into the walk there was a shower of quite heavy rain which, thankfully, didn't last too long. Again there were magnificent views and mostly boardwalk and hard surface, but this walk also had sections that were uneven and steep. It was worth it for the reward of the views from the lake as well as the alpine and sub-alpine vegetation along the way. Having a botanist in the group allowed us to gain a greater understanding of the eco system and its biodiversity.

After two fabulous walks, and a wonderful lunch we decided that we'd head home to Hobart, needing the warmth of the car. We didn't know what the temperature had been when we were up at Lake Esperance but it couldn't have been more than 5° or 6° - with  a "feels like" probably below 0° at times. We were very glad for our puffer jackets, beanies and gloves.