Walls of Jerusalem
Our second time hiking in the Walls of Jerusalem NP, a stunning national park nestled between the Great Lakes and the Cradle Mountain area where the Overland track runs.
map of the Walls of Jerusalem, we walked from the You are here sign to Dixons Kingdom on the first day, then to Lake Adelaide site for the second day before returning back to the carpark at the You are here sign
Karen, Blake and Tristan were going to drive up from Hobart on Friday afternoon. We had just finished the Mt Anne circuit on Wednesday, giving us time to connect with John and Celia, as well as John and Ann, for lunch in Ross on the Thursday. It worked out brilliantly and it was great to hear their stories.
catching up with John, Celia, John and Ann in Ross for lunch
To meet up before the hike in the Walls of Jerusalem, the plan was hatched to meet at the Mersey River campsites. As it was going to be a long weekend we expected it to be pretty full early on Friday. But we could already be there on Thursday late afternoon and keep a spot free for them too. The Mersey River campsites are in the Mole Karst national park and are right on the river. Each campsite has its own little access track.
packing the final bits for the hike, Karen, Blake and Tristan arrived the night before at the Mersey River campsites where we had already spent one night
There was no reception in this area though, so on Friday morning we drove to Mole Creek to send some messages and call Blake to finalise details. That evening they already arrived at 7.30, having driven all the way from Hobart after school. We had already finished our dinner, but they had theirs at the campsite and we loved starting the catch up. We’d have plenty of time to chat, so soon after dinner we all brushed our teeth and hopped into our beds. They had pitched their tent, and Tristan could sleep in the tent we had used to keep the site ‘occupied’ during the time it took us to drive into town and back.
We all remembered the hike into the Walls of Jerusalem to be a really long, quite steep slog through the forest. But it didn’t feel like that at all this time. Things looked vaguely familiar at times, but the huts definitely triggered memories. It had been 20 years (!) since we were up there, and last time we woke up with snow outside our tent. This time we had very mild weather, almost warm overnight, and it was all dry, very dry. Many of the smaller tarns were all dustbowls, or at best mildly damp patches. It wasn’t looking very healthy in a lot of places.
the team at the start – Jude, Blake, Karen, Tristan and Jon
after the initial climb it is easy hiking on the alpine plateau
hiking towards Dixon’s Kingdom
Luckily for the environment it rained a bit on our second afternoon and into the evening. It wasn’t heavy rain, which meant it didn’t stop us from having dinner sitting outside together, and trying to get some pictures of the eastern quoll that visited us at our second camp at Lake Adelaide. But the first night, when we stayed at Dixon’s campsite, we had some epic stars, several eastern quolls, and a one-eyed muscular possum we nicknamed Popeye, to entertain us without rain.
Jude on top of Mt Jerusalem
a very cute eastern quoll comes to investigate our campsite
our million star hotel for the night…
our stunning campsite at Dixon’s Kingdom
Dixon’s Kingdom hut near our campsite on day 1
There was, like on every hike we have done so far, lots of square poos everywhere. The tell-tale sign of wombats in the area. But apart from Maria Island, we hadn’t seen any wombats. Luckily Jude’s bladder is so tiny she often has to get up in the middle of the night. At Lake Adelaide the midnight pee stop was rewarded with two shy wombats. Jon, who took his time getting out of bed nearly missed them but caught a glimpse of one before it disappeared into the scrubs.
Karen and Jude managed one skinny dip in Lake Adelaide, there was unfortunately no tarn or creek near the campsite at Dixon’s. But we did manage to summit Mt Jerusalem and Solomon’s throne in that area before retiring at the campsite for some great camp meals.
Jude on the way up to Solomon’s Throne
Jon and Jude on top of Solomon’s Throne
view from the top of Solomon’s Throne
Jon next to one of the small huts by Lake Ball, we had lunch here on the second day
Karen and Jude go for a swim in the rain in Lake Adelaide
The hiking was great, we loved the scenery and being out in the wilderness with good friends. There was a lot of chatting on the trails! From camp food, to dragons, mutual friends and life in general, everything was discussed.
Jude making chocolate pudding for dessert at Lake Adelaide campsite
We loved seeing the Walls of Jerusalem again, and visiting some places we have been before. Who knows when we will be back here again….
we found a weird fungus called anemone stinkhorn (aseroe rubra) growing next to the track, it attracts flies with its rotten meat smell
about to have lunch just before returning to the carpark on day 3
the team at the end of the hike – Blake, Jude, Tristan, Jon and Karen