Morning Came the 12th Day

 ...a day of "high things"! A few fears for me to conquer. Heading for the deep south on our personalised tour,we made good time. Hastings Caves were about 100 kms away- the last few very winding. The bush smell as we arrived  was fabulous- lush rain forest- a 500m board walk to the cave entrance 

We had visited the caves 49 years ago, so inside little had changed- they were still spectacular. My new knees served me well over the 500 steps. The group was limited to 8, the guide,expert.

From deep in the lush rain forest we wound our way up again, to go down once more- to the Huon River and the Tahuna Air Walk..... this was a very large area burnt out in the fires of 2019. Since then the structure itself and surrounding environment have been rehabilitated, spectacularly. Most impressive were the interpretation signs.

The cantilever at the end was a "bridge too far" for me - the last 5 metres. 

We were going to walk to the swing bridges. Not that I had any intention of crossing them but it turned out to be too far for the time we had.

The walks underneath were equally good to see the regrowth at close quarters.

The Huon River from above the fire damage. It was hard to pull ourselves away- we could have kept walking. But we had one last destination for the day.  Retracing some of our route we took the path less travelled to the base of Mt. Wellington.

I was surprised at the height and distance to the top. Although dusk was closing, there was NO cloud. But there was wind+++! And chill. We were rewarded with a lovely pink moon rise over the city. Couldn't have planned it better.

 

And so ended the 12th day.