Day 17 – Saw Back Range Track    

 Today we have stopped to camp earlier than usual, at about 4:30.  We left our nice spot by the streams at 10:00 and headed to the parks office to collect the key and permit for the Saw Back track. The parks lady had only just come back from 8 months away so it took a while, but eventually we were given a key and permit.  I also got some cake from the little ‘waterfall café’ near the parks office.  It was a rip off, but still better than eating cereal.

 We headed off after the usual warnings about needing a high clearance vehicle.  The track was nice, starting off in the ferns and being quite enclosed by the bush on either side, it was a bit muddy but a nice little track.  The forest was thick and dense and old, it was as if nothing had touched the area for a long time, no bulldozers or fires had been there to clear it out, We were half expecting to se a Thylacine jump out.  The bushes on either side were close, and kept scraping new patterns down the paintwork.  The track opened up when we reached the top and followed along the base of the Saw Back ridge.  Funnily enough it looked like a giant saw towering up above us.   

We had found there was a good reason for the high clearance warning, mostly because of the water run off mounds they had built into the track everywhere that were often deep enough to bang the back of the car.

There were a couple of boggy bits that looked a bit scary but most of it was good enough to be taken nice and slowly.  At one stage down a steep hill the car dropped off a rocky ledge and banged the back a bit hard on a rock, which put a dint underneath on the corner of the tow bar, but nothing serious. I think it was one of the more enjoyable tracks we have done, because of the amazing dense old growth forests and the track was a good challenge to get through.

 We reached the end of the track a couple of hours later, happy that we wouldn’t be bumping around so much, where the road became a much easier dirt road, and lead up to a hut and past an old open cut mine.  The hut is maintained by a local 4x4 club, but is still a bit messy, it’s a shame there are too many morons around who have to write filthy slogans on walls and loose their brains as soon as they arrive.  It used to be an office for the mine near by in the 60’s.  We had ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch.

We carried on and drove past the ruins of an old town called Adamsfield.  All that is left are some old bottles, a chimney and a power pole, all the rest is has been removed or taken over by the bush.  There was not much to see after that, until we came to our camping spot, which is a nice grassy clearing in the bush.  Jo has decided to have a sleep in the tent early because her neck was a bit sore today after going over a bump and she's itchy and tired.

 Jo has had her sleep now, it was about 2 hours worth.  At about 7:00 we made fishato cakes for dinner.  In case I haven’t described them yet they are made from deb potato (packet potato flakes that turns to mash), tuna, some frozen vegetables, egg, some flour, vegetable stock and some curry.  They are then turned into patties and cooked in a frying pan and taste really good.  The flies also agreed with me and came buzzing around everywhere.  They were the big stupid flies which wasn’t too bad because they didn’t really land everywhere like the small ones do.   They just kind of swarmed around.  We had another visitor come along, a Pademelon Wallaby and its little baby in its pouch came to nibble on the grass.  It wasn’t very scared of us, and wondered around near by eating.  It was good dinnertime entertainment to watch her.

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