Mt Agnew (Trial Harbour)

On this trip we tackle Mt Agnew and try to find Cumberland falls and enjoy some spectacular west coast sunset’s whilst camping at Trial Harbour.

Mt Agnew

After work on Friday we where off to Trial and it was a beautiful day in-fact apparently it was that nice that there where some crazy people skiing in Lake Roseberry.  Must have bloody good wetsuits.

After the long 3 hour drive we finally arrived set up camp

enjoyed the afternoon sun and had a beer or two. 

Got inspired by the late afternoon sun and had to get a couple of shots of the sunset over Trial.This marked the end of our good weather at least for the night anyway the wind decided to blow a gale which unfortunately seems to happen quite a bit here and the rain came.  This made for pretty much a full sleepless night which wasn’t ideal as we had a big climb the following day.  Luckily enough though by the time the morning did roll around the clouds had cleared the rain had stopped and the temperature had dramatically dropped which was a good thing as I could sweat in a minus 50 degree temp.

So after a big feed of bacon and eggs for breakfast we where off  the start of the walk is direct opposite of Avebury Mine and the first 300m can be driven. The first kilometre of the walk although overgrown and leach infested is pretty easy

but that is it the rest is just hell.  It isn’t a walk at all it is more a scramble or a climb even.

Although it is only 2km from the start of the track to the top it took just over 3 hours.  We seen some interesting things on the way up.  and the snippets of views we got every now and then kept us going. 

Some kind of Native Snail???

Some kind of Palm looking plant. (Richea Pandanifolia.  The worlds largest Heath and only grows in Tasmania)  We have seen these before around Magnet and didn’t think it was native but seeing it up here in numbers has got me thinking otherwise.

After quite a few stops…… every 10m we finally clawed our way out of the low canopy forest and into the tough windblown summit  but it was worth every leech, slice from razor grass and step as the view was spectacular.  

Lake Cumberland.

Looking down on the Little Henty and the Start of Ocean Beach 

Checking out if anything was happening in Avebury but it still looks pretty quite unfortunately.  After taking in the spectacular views and catching our breath we decided to slide back down the mountain (at least Jacinta did anyway I walked down quite normally). The trip down was quite a bit quicker and only took 2 hours thankfully because any longer and I reckon my knees would have gave way.  From here we made our way back to camp had a late lunch and then went and tried our luck for some Sea run trout 

but unfortunately unlike last time we didn’t get a thing so I decided to go and make some noise on the beach and giggle like a little kid.  Now I didn’t fully plan this photo but the areal on the bus is pointing to exactly where we where only a few hours earlier.  After playing in the sand and making the V8 roar we decided to go and check out the very peaceful waterfall behind Trial and have a beer.After this we went back to camp and I enjoyed the most spectacular sunset whilst Jacinta…. well…  was just being Jacinta and god knows what that is.   

Cumberland Falls

The next day once again after very little sleep as the wind blew again through the night we packed everything whilst it was dry checked out the rough sea  coming in  and headed out to try to find Cumberland Falls.  We have tried to get here before but where ill prepared so gave up. This time we where ready or at least we thought we where.  The first track we went on was very over grown and marked with pink markers 

and was looking the goods before it started to head in the opposite direction and then the markers just stopped. We searched everywhere for more but there was nothing so we walked back to the cruiser and decided to try another track in.  This one was worse and in the end just had to bush bash and rely on the GPS on the phone and bring out a bit of the Bear Gryils 

This got us to within 180m of the falls and then we came across horizontal scrub that was pretty much impenetrable. At this point even though we where so close we decided after a lot of hesitation to turn around and go back before we got horribly lost and disoriented.  I will be back Cumberland Falls even with a chainsaw if need be.

From here it was the long trip back home and wishing that we where on holidays the whole way home.

Hope you Enjoyed

Cheers

Brendan & Jacinta