The following morning was a much brighter looking day so we did a quick walk through the holiday park with Mel before breakfast. The narrow Steavenson River was a delight to see and hear.

After breakfast we loaded up our water bottles in a daypack and made the short 700m walk to the trailhead of the Michaeldene trail.

It was a very warm day already but the well formed trail was well shaded by the eucalypts and the ferns along the way made it a lovely place to be walking.

Again it was well marked

with bridges crossing streams along the way.

Here’s the rapid running stream below the bridge in the previous photo.

Little side diversions were possible. We didn’t take this one as we felt it was aimed more at youngsters.

After about 50 minutes we came to the Taggerty River View

with a welcome seat

and a good view of the fast flowing but narrow Taggerty River.

After a drink we continued our loop, pleased to know there would be no horses or mountain bikers on our trail.

The photographer in me couldn’t resist taking a photo of these logs seemingly artistically arranged for the shot.

Back at the caravan we were happy to rest over lunch for a while. However the sunny day enticed us out a again. This time in the car.

Lake Mountain

We decided to drive to nearby Lake Mountain, a family favourite for experiencing snow in the winter. (Yes I know it was summer but as we hate the cold we won’t be going in winter!) It was a lovely drive that should take about thirty minutes.

As we ascended the scenery changed. Once beautiful trees were now ghosts of themselves due to the bushfire damage.

It was a windy road

with plenty of warning signs which we thought more applicable to winter driving.

However at the end of a straight stretch as we came to another bend a fast moving motorcycle came towards us, losing control. The bike slid from under him and came across the road in front of us with him following it. We screeched to a halt and jumped out to see if he was alright, only to see him jump to his feet and grab his bike again. We asked was he okay and received a quick, “I’m fine,” as he zoomed off again. If you look carefully at this photo, in the shade you can make out the marks across the road.

Fifteen minutes later we arrived at the chalet at Lake Mountain.

We wandered over to it. A cafe was just winding up business for the day. We looked at a map on a noticeboard and took a short walk in turns to a viewpoint but technically, as we discovered, dogs shouldn’t be there so we returned to the car and began our descent. Back at the caravan we settled in for dinner and another peaceful night.

Black Spur drive

The next morning we packed up and headed back over the Black Spur, caravan in tow. As you can see the summery weather of the previous day had disappeared and it was a foggy, atmospheric day.

Needless to say we took extra care on the approaches to all the bends and eventually were happy to be safely home on the Peninsula.