# Hartz Mountain NP, TAS



## moloch05 (May 17, 2008)

It may be late autumn in Tasmania but the weather this past week was surprisingly mild. Thursday was clear and fairly warm in Hobart (18C), so I decided to take the day off work. I headed with my wife to Hartz Mountain National Park in south-central Tasmania. I have visited this park on four prior occasions since mid-summer and always, the weather was bad with snow or heavy cloud cover. I took this photo during a snowstorm in mid-February (late summer). Obviously, conditions were not good for sigthting reptiles.







On this visit, there was a light wind and it was mostly clear. My wife and I decided to walk to the summit of Hartz Moutain. This was only a five hour walk and the gain in altitude was not much at all, only about 400m. 

... habitat near the start of the walk:






Further along, we could see Hartz Mtn (centre). The trail passed mostly through open, alpine country like this.






This is a photo of the Ladies Tarn, a glacial lake. King Billy Pines and Pandani were numerous around the shore of the lake.






These small shrimps were common in the Ladies Tarn. They often swam inverted near the surface of the lake.











Further along, the trail passed another tarn known as Hartz Lake.






Cushion Plants were common in this area.






Here is a view of the 1255m summit of Hartz Mtn.






The upper slopes of Hartz Mountain were rocky:
















We had a fantastic view of the surrounding wilderness from the summit of Hartz Mtn. It was a stunning place.






... the southern ocean can be seen in the distanc:











This is Federation Peak, a popular trekking and climbing destination. It is only about 1300m high but it is surrounded by cliffs. In addition, it is remote and it takes up to 9 days to walk in, climb it and then walk out again. This peak is located near the southern tip of Tasmania and it is often cold with foul weather. 






One of the reasons that I have repeatedly visited Hartz Mountain was to try and find the Mountain Skink (_Niveoscincus orocryptis_), a species that is new to me. This is one of the 7 species of snow skinks that are found in Tasmania. Mountan Skinks are restricted to a few mountain tops in the southwest of Tasmania. On this visit, I was finally lucky enough to find and photograph these lizards. They became active on the upper talus slopes of Hartz Mountain around noon. The air temperatures would only have been in the low teens (C) but these are cold-adapted skinks and they emerged to sun themselves.


























We had a very enjoyable outing.





Regards,
David


----------



## Vincent21 (May 17, 2008)

Awesome photos and glad you had a great day.


----------



## mattmc (May 17, 2008)

ripper of a place tassie isnt it......i really wanna go there one day ....cheers buddy


----------



## yeldarb (May 17, 2008)

Hey They Are Some Great Pics Of The Scenery And Skinks. Thanks For Sharing This With Us.


----------



## smacdonald (May 18, 2008)

And finally we see the face behind the camera!

Stewart


----------



## tnarg (Jun 12, 2008)

Hear any moss froglets up there (Bryobatchus nimbus)?


----------



## moloch05 (Jun 12, 2008)

Hello tnarg,

Sounds like you know the frogs very well! No, I did not knowingly see or hear the Moss Froglets. I saw a photo of them on a sign at the start of the trail along with a number of other froglets. It seems that area has a good diversity of tiny frogs. I heard calling froglets in wet areas (second photo) but I could not find any.

Regards,
David


----------



## tnarg (Jun 12, 2008)

Ahk yeah I went up there a couple years back specifically looking for em but I didn't find any (all I got was Crinia signifera) but it was a horrible day freezing cold and raining. Looks like you had great weather! Well some at least..


----------



## DDReptiles (Jun 14, 2008)

Incredible Pics  The landscape is just incredible!!


----------



## dragon lady (Jun 19, 2008)

them pics look like post cards... very nice!


----------



## caustichumor (Jun 19, 2008)

Mate you should work for tourism Australia.. great shots.


----------

