May 2025 - Tinderbox Hills

The last Friday in May was a cold but lovely sunny day for our walk in the Tinderbox Hills, organised by Angie. The walk passes through two privately managed reserves: The Thinking Frog Reserve and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy’s Tinderbox Hills Reserve.

The Tinderbox Hills track from Estuary Drive to Mt Louis Road is about 5 kilometres, plus the extra bit to the top of Mt Louis. There are several hills, with Mount Louis not actually being the highest!

We met up at the turning circle at the end of Estuary Drive, Blackmans Bay, ready to set off around 10am. The crew comprised Angie, Di, Angie’s friend Lee, Warren, Caroline, Bob, Wayne, Gerwyn, Janet, Di and Dorothy. The Tinderbox Hills track starts out as a narrow trail between private house blocks, but soon connects to an easy-going fire trail through land managed by Kingborough Council.

The yellow dotted line here is our route, with an extension at the end to climb Mount Louis:

Although the track itself is wide, there are quite a few steep sections so those of us with walking poles made good use of them.

After about 45 minutes we stopped just before the entrance to the Thinking Frog Reserve for snacks and to admire the view across the Derwent Estuary to South Arm, the Iron Pot, Betsey Island and beyond. We listened out for bird calls and tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to identify them. The Tinderbox Hills are best known as an important habitat for Forty Spotted Pardalotes and Swift Parrots.

Thinking Frog is a privately owned reserve which is protected by a Conservation Covenant under the Nature Conservation Act.

The track took us through this lovely little private reserve, including past a small pond. The water level was very low, and I wondered how the frogs were coping. A further 15 minutes walking brought us to the entrance to the TLC’s Tinderbox Hills Reserve.

There is another nice spot to stop and enjoy the peaceful bush at the top of the next hill, where a stone cairn has been built.

The track then follows the boundary with the adjacent Parks and Wildlife Service Tinderbox Hills Reserve and continues down to the Mt Louis Road entrance. Most folk stopped for lunch around 11.50am at the Mt Louis Road entrance, as there are some large logs to sit on there. Di and Dorothy continued along the Mt Louis Road and found the start of the short but very steep track to the top of Mt Louis. The rest of us caught them up after lunch.

On the top we explored the remains of the Mt Louis Signal Station. I’ve since found out it was built by convicts for Governor Sorell in the 1820s.

And then we retraced our steps along the track, some of us noticing features and other paths we hadn't noticed on the way through (too busy talking!).

We got back to the cars at Estuary Drive just before 3pm. The total distance we walked was 10.8km, taking about 5 hours with our stops for snacks, lunch and explorations. This is a lovely escape from the city, yet so close!