Central Plateau of Tasmania Walk – 22nd January – 4th February 2014 – Part 2 – The Walls of Jerusalem

The Walls of Jerusalem are a very beautiful and special place.

I walked up from the lower valley up to the Jaffa Gate and then followed the boardwalk track to Dixons Kingdom. I continued on through the pencil pine forest to the Damascus Gate – which lies between Halls Buttress (Solomons Throne on some maps) and the Temple. I went a short way into the central valley and set up camp under a thicket of pencil pines.

My campsite was very close to the Damascus Gate and from there it is a quick climb up onto The Temple – my favourite place for dusk and dawn photography.

I was also fairly close to the exquisite Pool of Bethesda. Camping is allowed, but discouraged close to this lake. I have camped here on my early trips to the Walls, but now consider the area too fragile.

I spent the afternoon wandering around the central valley – photographing the scoparia in flower and the abundant cushion plants. A few other walkers and photographers were around. One walker told me he had spotted a platypus in the Pool of Bethesda. I headed up there for a look. I had to be patient – and after about ten minutes a platypus surfaced very briefly. Too short a time to photograph. I spent a bit more time sitting quietly at the lake and returned for a while the next day too. I did manage to get a daily poor photo of a platypus,  but when I got home, I found that there was a platypus floating on the surface of the pool in one of the very first of my photographs of it – that I had not spotted at the time! This was well before I had met the other bushwalker and gone up to deliberately look for them.

Platypus (far left) in the Pool of Bethesda

I had arrived at the Walls on the early afternoon, and had decided to spend all the next day in the area. Some places are too beautiful not to spend a bit of time in. You should not hurry through a place like this! My first foray onto The Temple, was on the first evening. The sunset was not particularly good – but there were some sundays bursting through the clouds.

Next morning I awoke early to a light snowfall. It was too warm for much snow to settle on the ground. I headed back up towards the Temple – but the sky was too dull and misty. Instead I wandered through the pencil pine forest.

I spent the day wandering around the valley, walking down to Lake Salome and around to the Pool of Siloam and then back up the main valley to the Pool of Bethesda again. Later I climbed up onto the West Wall at Halls Buttress and another trip to the Temple.

Next morning – again up early and a brisk walk up the track to Temple once more. This time I had nice lighting. No close mist – but there was some down near Lake Ball and shrouding the Chinaman Plains. This was one of those special mornings that make getting up early worthwhile.

I headed back to camp for breakfast and reluctantly packed up and walked back through the pencil pine forest to Dixons Kingdom prior to heading down the Lake Ball and the next part of my walk.

A large set of photos and panoramas from the walk can be viewed here.