Note: Yes, it's been a while since I posted anything. Unfortunately the computer stopped working on me and we have had to do without until Hobart where we managed to get it fixed. So…on with the story…

We woke to blue skies and next to no wind - unusual for the trip so far which has generally been under scudding clouds or a grey overcast coupled with winds which at times threaten to take you aloft.

The rangers at the NP Station in Arthur River have to be the two friendliest and most helpful we have ever come across. They loaded us up with terrific information much of it not in the guide books or on the maps. Here too, across the single lane wooden bridge that spans the Arthur River is the point that is called "The Edge of the World", with rough, contorted rocks reaching out into a sea that is foaming and roaring with breaking waves.

Heading south there are small dirt tracks into tiny settlements nestled in small coves. They are generally just a few shacks, with the odd flash dwelling being built as well, and seem to hunker down protecting themselves from the Roaring 40s that blast this coastline all year.

We drove down the roads, if they could be called roads, to four of them. Each was different with its own flavour, some spread out, some with the houses huddled together, some with ramps and jetties, others with no place to do so. The most interesting was Sarah Ann Rocks, a small curved fine-sand beach with stunning geology, its rocks on the beach and headlands weathered into jagged and twisted spires with green layers overlaid by the weathered brown ones, their rock types undiscernible under the coatings of lichen, tiny mussels and concretions.

We intend to head down the road along the west coast called the Western Explorer but first we took a detour inland into the forest region of the Tarkine to drive the South Arthur Forest Loop. The rangers had told us the not-to-be-missed sights of the loop, so we turned down a side road to the start of a walk to the Trowutta Arch. The path is not at all well-defined but marked with small orange or blue arrows or pieces of tape attached to the trees. Once into the forest, the experience changed completely. Here is a world that should have been inhabited by goblins or trolls. Huge trees with trucks covered in spongy moss and epiphyte ferns; dead trees carpeted with moss or fungi; huge tree ferns filtering the light to the understorey lending an atmosphere of constant gloom. The arch was a wide piece of rock, not really an arch but the remains of the ground between two sinkholes that have collapsed. One sinkhole drains the water away and is marshy with tree ferns and ground ferns covering it. The other has its drain blocked and so is filled with water that at first appears a deep black, but really only looks this way because of the gloom. The water is, however, stained the same deep red-brown that we have seen in most of the streams and lakes here.

The walk back was just as beautiful but we had noticed on the way in that the signs pointing the way were not enormously reliable. We had thought how easy it would be to go the wrong way when there is no actual path. At a couple of places we had to look carefully for the markers - and at least once we were going the wrong way before we pulled ourselves up and searched for the missing markers. How easy it would be to be completely disoriented and really become lost.

Another diversion form the loop was the track to Wes Beckett Falls. The rangers warned us that the track was rarely used and not to worry if it looked like it was seriously overgrown! It was nice to know that beforehand because the track rapidly deteriorated and did indeed get narrow and overgrown with no place to turn around if we had wanted to. Eventually we reached a car parking area with the sign indicating the falls were a 1 hour return walk. What the rangers hadn't mentioned was that the sign would also proclaim: Caution strenuous walk. Hmm. So we decided to see how we would go and turn back if it looked iffy at any stage. It did get very iffy… the downhill path suddenly decided to turn into rocky ledges down a very steep slope. We pressed on. More steep descents and then the path became a narrow muddy ledge with a sheer drop to one side. We pressed on. The waterfall was beautiful and well worth the walk down. But I had yet to determine whether it would be worth the walk back. Russ searched for and found a couple of sturdy sticks to act as walking poles (of course we had left ours in the car hadn't we) and with those to help steady us we managed the climb back without any drama. In fact, including about 15 minutes at the base of the waterfall, we took a total of 1 hour 3 minutes to do the round trip so we were pretty chuffed with ourselves!

Although it was getting late in the day, we drove on to Lake Chisolm. This short walk to the lake was the most stunning so far. Here were enormous trees in both height and girth. Again the tree ferns filtered the light and moss covered everything in its soft green blanket. The lake was a haven of peace, another sinkhole with stained water and home to some ducklings and, by the noise, a large number of frogs.

The long twilights in this part of the world mean that getting to a campsite late is still in full daylight. We rocked into the Julius River Forest Reserve, parked up next to a running stream and settled in for the night.