Five minute read: Amanda Bull has an almost biblical adventure scaling Kings David’s peak in Tasmania.
Tasmania. A small island state packed full of adventure and surprises. So, it has proved for this ‘mature’ lady with the dodgy knees who is not really the best with heights! It turns out though that climbing and scrambling over nearly every boulder on the King David’s Peak Walk was my thing.
The recent adventure was in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. This is a popular circuit walk these days which can be done in however many days you like – the young (mostly) ones run it in a day, or some zip around in a couple of days and stay one night. There are three official camping grounds. And a few side trips which can be done from the base of Dixon’s Kingdom or some on the way to (or from) Dixon’s Kingdom camp.
Therein begins my story. The side trip to King David’s Peak. To reach this peak, you first need to climb up the rocky steps to Solomon’s Throne and through the narrowing of the tall rocky sides, conveniently split for passing through. Achieved that. Then on and beyond King David’s Peak is full in view. But the track is not so much in view. The first part going down Solomon’s other side was fair and reasonable. But then the track disappeared.
We searched in vain for some sort of sign but none materialised. The next train of thought was that we could see the peak and the general direction we needed to go. OK, we went with confidence. After scrambling up and over many boulders and testing my contortion skills, we reached the top – only to discover we were not there at all! Still, way over yonder was King David.
Nothing like an extra peak to climb when you don’t really need to. Still, it was a perfect calm and sunny day. So we set down this little peak and back up towards the real King David. We tracked the odd cairn on top of the boulders, the only way really of heading in the correct direction. Many more up and down and around and over boulder after boulder ...after boulder ...after boulder.
I was beginning to think that King David had vanished. The perfectly calm weather continued. Eventually I heard the “ahoy” from my buddy slightly further ahead…a Eureka moment for sure! King David’s Peak was real after all.
The agreed consensus for the return trip while on the peak was to take the most direct route down. This still involved many down and around and over the said boulders and sideways and then down over some more to reach the plains.
And what stunning plains they were with the variety of grasses, flowers, moss mounds and springs along the way – the sun still shining brightly. The long way around to Solomon’s, mostly on the flat, was well worth it. The one and a half, perhaps two hours walk turned into five and half hours! Loved it – I think it’s the best way to absorb nature’s beauty and the natural environment.
Words and photos_Amanda Bull