Now the walls of Jerusalem National Park
has been named (the actual walk has been named) by Lonely Planet as
"One of the best wall walks in the world".
They named that in their 2013 edition from my understanding,
so I thought we'd find out a little bit about
what makes it so special
and who exactly is going on the walk along the Walls of Jerusalem nowadays
and we've got from Tasmanian Expeditions with us this morning
Darren Green, up nice and early in the
studio for us. Morning Darren!
- Good morning, how's it going? 
- Yeah, really good you're up bright and early, is this your end of the day?
- End of the day? Well, I'm definitely an early morning riser
but not up quite so early usually I guess, no.
- Ahh well, it's not too far from daylight
this time next week it'll be a lot
better anyway.
So let's have a bit of a chat about the Walls of Jerusalem.
What makes it so special, why is it such a unique attraction?
- Ah, well, it's pristine wilderness I guess,
You've got the walls themselves up there, there's a whole bunch of attractions
all very close together within probably a four kilometre proximity for Basecamp up there at Wild Dog creek.
You know, you've got the peaks themselves, the dolerite peaks,
King David's Peak which is the North Heights of Tasmania plus
glacial lakes, valleys,
historic huts,  the abundant wildlife
the alpine vegetation, sixty percent which is native to Tasmania.
Geologically, do you know what formed this feature?
Is it an old volcanic plug or something
like that?
Actually, the dolerite covers a lot of Tasmania
it came through in the Jurassic era about 160 to 170 million years ago
It has a igneous intrusion into the ground so
it came up, I guess as molten rock, but never actually penetrated the surface
as it got closer to the Earth's surface it cooled and cracked into what we see now
but it was the 106 million years of erosion and subsequent that exposed what we see now
- When did we come to call it the Walls of
Jerusalem, do you know that?
- Yeah, people first started referring to it as China Walls
in the early 1800s when Europeans first started going up there
but then...
- What, as in the "Great Wall of China"?
- I think it probably was in reference to that, just because the
big walls up there are a very prominent
feature, and then
after that people started referring to it as
"the walls of Jerusalem"
And then it was surveyor James Scott in 1849 who first put it on a map as "Walls of Jerusalem"
- Is there any move to rename it at some point?
- No, not that I know of, it's a pretty fitting name I think
and since appearing on a map as "Walls of Jerusalem" , a lot of the other features in the park
have been named on that biblical theme as well.
- Yes well we certainly see them around Tasmania as well, don't we!
So when it comes to going on the walk for the Walls of Jerusalem,
who exactly is taking that walk? Are they Tasmanians or are they predominately tourists?
- It's it's a good mix.
 I'd say predominantly  Tasmanians though
That's not to say there's not a lot of visitors coming in to the area
- And how are people actually getting to know about this walk that do come?
I think a lot of the time people to come to see us might have started off
elsewhere in the National Park.
Tasmanian Expeditions gets a lot of repeat clients,
so people might come with us on one of the more popular walks
like the Overland Track or the South Coast track
and then while on the trip they'll be asking us about different places
Walls of Jerusalem is definitely the next one on the list as far as I'm concerned.
- So if you're going to do it, what sort of timeframe what sort of timeframe
would you need to put aside to do it properly?
- There's a good circuit you can do through the park,
you should usually allow six days and five nights.
But just to visit the main walls area, which is the area they're talking about
in the Lonely Planet Top 10 List,
probably three nights, four
days is pretty good.
hmm so if you're if you're going to head out and do the walk
what would you tell someone that they have to have packed
- You'd have to have packed all the good safety gear
so group safety gear like a personal locator beacon,
satellite phone, first aid kit, maps and things...
But then your personal safety gear as well, so
you wet weather gear, warm clothing, all your thermals and that kind of stuff...
Be sun-smart, etc.
- We've got the cooler months now starting to close in. Is there a period of time
over winter where you recommend people don't do the walk?
- You know it's obviously can be be more challenging and a bit more of a risk in terms of weather,
You need to be prepared for snow and shorter days
So you're going to want to have better quality gear, a stronger tent I guess
to stand up to snowfall if that happens, and possible even bring snow shoes
Walking around in show can be pretty challenging
and around that time of year when the ground is blanketed in snow,
navigation can be a bit more difficult if you're not used to the area
- The Lonely Planet Guide has featured the Walls Of Jerusalem,
named as one of the best wall walks in the world
Were you aware that they came through?
- No, not until just the last couple
days.
But I am pretty excited to hear about that
and you know it's the only "natural" wall as well.
- I guess Great Wall of China has to be on
the list doesn't it!
- yeah 
- So they actually named it as one of the best "wall" walks in the world
- So are you heading out again and doing
another walk soon?
- I am doing another walk soon, I've got an Overland Trek coming up
that I'm going to do starting Sunday.
and then one more before Winter is out and
I'm planning to head out to the Walls of Jerusalem this winter with my girlfriend to check out the snow
- Is that one of Tassie's best secret getaway spots for you?
- The Walls of jerusalem? Yeah for sure
It's a bit more off the beaten track
with not so much traffic
which is a big part of bushwalking for me I guess
there's lots of beautiful little tucked away spots up there.
- Get away from everyone, a bit of solitude.
- Yeah
- So we are actually talking this morning and asking our listeners about
Tassie's best kept secrets. What would
that would top your list?
Without giving away too many trade secrets.
- It's an endless list, isn't it.
I guess over the Easter Long Weekend I was out at Maria Island
and I've got to say that's definitely up there as a favourite.
On the East Coast.
- Do you get out there often?
- Well, that was the third time I've been out there
I walked from end to end,
there's some good convict history out there
and all the flora and fauna obviously as well
Wombats run crazy everywhere.
- Enough to keep you busy, then?
- Yeah, definitely.
- Well, Walls of Jerusalem has been featured as one
one of the best "wall" walks in the world by Lonely Planet for 2013
so it's good to hear that a bit more
about it this morning
So Darren, thanks for popping in and saying hello to us
- No problem 
- Darren Green from Tasmanian expeditions
with us this morning on ABC Northern Tasmania
