Sounds like bowling for dollars. We’ve been clearing drainage ditches along the lighthouse road and my body only lets me do that every other day, so we explore or relax on the off days.

We’ve (mostly Tim) cleared the major tracks and have looked at old maps and surveys and found other places to explore. One map shows two cairns on a hill near the house. I had read somewhere that in the 1800’s when they surveyed this area, they placed two survey markers (maybe cairns?). The cairn on Barn Hill on the southwestern bluff is easy to find and has a track to it. I’m not sure when these were placed but the Parks Ranger confirmed they were there and they would mark the north.

Before we started, we wrangled a baby wallaby out of the inner compound.  It was trapped inside while its mother was still outside and they would hang out on either side of the fence near one another.  The mother didn’t seem too concerned.  We had to get her near one of the gates to lure him out.  Once reunited, he tried to get back into the pouch, or at least stuck his head there.

So off we went, bush bashing. We worked our way through tussock grass to the trees on top of the hill. We passed a tree with what looked like funnel spider webs to me. I wonder if other spiders spin funnels?

The first cairn was easy to find.

Then we walked along the plateau and saw other perspectives of Erith Island.  

We think we could see the entrance to the cave on the northern end of the island.  An archeaologist, Rys-Jones, found evidence of aborigines living there 7,000 – 10,000 years ago.

There used to be a mountain range connecting Wilson’s promontory in Victoria, northwest of the Kent Group of Islands, and northern Tasmanania, to the southeast.  The range included these islands and Flinders Island to the southeast.  These mountains were occupied by aborigines until the sea rose and isolated it from both the mainland of Australia and Tasmania.  Now they are islands and the water is about 50 meters deep.  The findings in the cave and elsewhere, suggests the land bridge closed thousands of years later than originally thought.

Lichen growing on a tree near our lunch spot.

Gnarly old man rock.

We continued north, over two saddles and found the second cairn.     

The bonus is that we think we also got a glimpse of the elusive Pulpit Rock.  We missed that during our previous bush bash to Pegleg Cove.

We ran into the three stooges on our way home. A good time was had by all.