April 2026 - Nierinna Creek, Margate

This month's walk was organised by David. At 10am on a lovely sunny early winter morning, we gathered at the quiet carpark at the end of Burnaby Drive in Margate.

Our walkers were: David, Catherine, Peter, Fin, Angie, Lyn, Di, Maryanne and Dorothy. Maryanne was celebrating her brand new EV - we almost had a majority of clean electric vehicles over smelly ICE vehicles bringing us to the walk today.

The walk started with an easy stroll beside the level Nierinna Creek, skirting some lifestyle blocks above us. The poplars were glowing with their autumn colours, it was very pretty.

There were some quaint little bridges to cross, these are great spots for lingering and taking a closer look at the creek, which was actually pretty low today, not much water flowing.

We stopped for a drink at the top of a set of steps. Then it was onwards and downwards to drop down beside the creek again. Here we were in damp almost rainforest bushland, the air was quite moist.

Then it was up and up some more steps, till we reached the end of the trail at the road. Here we caught our breath, chatted some more, and then turned around to return back down to the rainforest.

At the bottom we found a bench to sit on for our morning tea. A leech found Fin's lunchbox (yikes), but no others were reported. We strolled back to our starting point.

We then drove to nearby Hopfields Brewery in Margate for some refreshing drinks and a very pleasant lunch. Our booking was for 1pm and I think we got there a little earlier than that. It was a great finishing touch to a very pleasant day out with our friends :)

March 2026 - Clarence Foreshore Trail

Thanks to Wayne for organising this walk, and writing its story. The March walk was originally planned for Cape Queen Elizabeth on Bruny Island. Unfortunately the weather forecast was not great for Bruny Island, plus a few people couldn't make it due to other plans the day before or the day after the proposed walk. It was then determined to move the walk much closer to suburbia, so we settled on the Clarence Foreshore Trail from Howrah Beach to the Bellerive waterfront, partaking of lunch in Bellerive and meandering back to the starting point on Howrah Road.

The starters from Howrah Road were Catherine, Peter, Bob, Angie, Summa, Gerwyn & Wayne. A few of us met Angie at Atmosfire Cafe, Howrah, for a drink before the walk.

Along the track we passed the Howrah Primary School, where a few students were partaking in physical exercise, probably more energetically than us. At the Wentworth Bike Park & Play Park there were some parents and children enjoying a pleasant Friday morning.

We walked around the headland towards Bellerive Beach, and the headland is where we met Gary, who joined us there for part of the walk.

Coming down from the headland, we walked along Bellerive Beach toward Ninja Stadium, then walked around Victoria Esplanade to the Bellerive waterfront. Here we lost Gary, who had organised to have lunch at the Waterfront Hotel.

We checked out the boardwalk, then headed through the backstreets to find The Fish Bar at Bellerive Beach for a feed of fish & chips.

After lunch we headed back along the walking trail inside the dunes from the beach to provide a bit of variety in the walk. It was on this part of the walk that we saw a southern brown bandicoot, which is fairly common in this area. Unfortunately it was quite shy and didn't want to pose for a photo.

We continued back along the Foreshore Trail back to Howrah Road, said our goodbyes and went on our merry ways. All in all, a pleasant 3 hour walk (including lunch), not too strenuous and fine weather.

February 2026 - St Crispin's Well, Pipeline Track

Nine of us presented for our February walk, which would be a relatively easy stroll along the gently inclining Pipeline Track to find St Crispin's Well, and then a simple return along the (now) slighty declining track. Di, Bob, Wayne, Gerwyn, Summa, Janet, Angie, Heather, and Fin arrived at the carpark near the turnoff to Morphetts Rd at 9.30am. It was Heather's first walk with our group (hi Heather), and our leader today was Di. The day was warm but not hot, perfect for a walk.

There was a short steep section up a fire trail to reach the Pipeline Track, then we turned left and enjoyed the pleasant (almost flat) gravel path which runs alongside or on top of the historic water pipeline which has carried water down from the back of the mountain towards the city since the early days of the colony. ...

When we got to the all weather shelter and the turnoff up the hill to St Crispin's Well, we were a bit confused by the signage. We pushed around the barrier, determined to see the Well since we had walked all this way. The path up the hill is very pretty.

It wasn't long before we reached the small lookout platform. It had taken about an hour and a half to walk to here.

Here we saw that there had been some damage, with parts of the decking out of place. So we carefully avoided the gaps while we had our drinks and snacks. The Well is still working well.

We didn't stay long here, as the cool breeze generated in the glade by the falling ice cold water was quite chilling, despite the warm day. We headed back down to the main Pipeline Track again, and headed back down the hill. In about an hour we were back at the turnoff from the track down towards Huon Rd. Those of us at the head of the pack waited for the others to catch up. It had taken about an hour to walk back. So total time taken was about three hours.

Wayne entertained us with some Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band songs after we suggested he might have ants in his pants from sitting on an ants' nest.

We regained our cars, and drove back along Huon Road to the Ferntree Tavern, where we enjoyed a nice counter meal, before heading back home.

January 2026 - Spring Beach to Orford

Kat chose this nice little walk along the coastline of Prosser Bay. Nine of us drove to Spring Beach, gathering there at 10.30am. We were Kat, Philip, Bob, Lyn, Janet, Caroline, Di, Angie, and David.

The day was already warming up as we set off and dealt with the steps which would take us up onto the clifftop. Up there, the breeze was perfect and we strolled along under the sheoaks and coastal bush, enjoying the glimpses through the trees toward Maria Island.

All along this trail there were paths entering at regular intervals, offering different starting point options for this pleasant walk.

On this first headland there was soon a little sign marking a path down to the right, to an historic sandstone quarry dating from the early days of the colony.

We went down the stone steps, to enjoy our morning tea at the quarry site, perched on old logs and sandstone boulders.

After climbing back up to the main trail, the walking was very easy. Kat spotted an orchid:

Later on we saw some wildlife:

We passed lots of comfortable looking beach houses and descended to walk along first East Shelley Beach and then (you guessed it) West Shelley Beach.

We spotted some collections of blue stinging jelly fish in places, and the walkers who were planning to swim at the end of the walk started to wonder how safe that would be. The jellyfish were identified as Bluebottles and Lions Mane, and there were other types sitting on the beach too.

Half the group (the organised ones!) stopped at the picnic shelter at Our Park, while the other half carried on to the Orford Coastal Cafe to find takeaway focaccia and coffees. Back at the picnic ground the storytelling and chats continued as we cooled down in the shade. Then it was back along the track again, back to Spring Bay, where most of the walkers went in for a swim to cool off.

Sadly there were some stings from the jellyfish, but apparently they weren't very severe, phew! This is a pleasant walk, about 11 km if you exclude the cafe excursion, and probably took us in total about 4 hours, including our couple of stops.

December 2025 - Platypus Tarn, Mt Field NP

Once again, Bob got the guernsey to organise this month's walk. A visit to Platypus Tarn had been planned a couple of times in the past and postponed due to weather conditions, now was our big chance. We expected it would be a pleasant stroll, with excellent views of a pretty mountain tarn, hopefully with a platypus sighting thrown in, and then a congenial nosh up at the cafe at the Visitors Centre.

A large group of thirteen convened up at the Lake Dobson carpark by 10.30am. We were: Bob, Summa, Gary, Philip, Kat, Janet, Wayne, Fin, Catherine, Peter, Di, David, Brenda. It was about an hour and 45 minutes drive from the city, and the drop in temperature up there was very noticeable as we poured ourselves out of the cars and quickly into additional layers! Some slight showers seemed to be imminent despite the weather forecast, which had just mentioned "haziness". Now we realised that the haziness was due to clouds - we were in them.

We set off a little after the appointed time of 10.30am. Thanks to Kat for this and many other memorable photos.

First we took the trail around the left side of Lake Dobson, the Pandani Grove Nature Walk. This is a beautiful and popular little walk, one of Tassie's "60 Great Short Walks". It is packed with pencil pines and the eponymous towering Richea pandanifolia. Also the more humble Richea scoparia.

Spring flowers were plentiful, and we could focus well on them as the more distant views of the Lake were obscured by a romantic mist.

Emerging from the Pandani Grove trail, we turned left onto a fire trail which skirted around the right hand side of Eagle Tarn. Then we turned right onto the trail signposted for Lake Webster and Twilight Tarn. Finally we found a signpost to the left for Platypus Tarn.

The track now descended fairly steeply into the mist, requiring a fair bit of concentration to navigate the rocks and tree roots.

The track was damp and slippery, and kept going down. Most of us were taken by surprise, realising we had not paid much attention to the topographical lines on the map!

We finally reached the tarn, which was swathed in thick mist, at 11.30am.

It was time for snacks, and peering around for a platypus sighting.

The clouds shifted now and then, offering glimpses of the lake.

No platypus sightings today, sadly. Twenty minutes later we set off back up the hill.

Half the group took the quicker route back directly along the fire trail, rriving back at about 12.50pm. The other half revisited the Pandani Grove trail, and took a bit longer to get back. Then we rolled back down the Lake Dobson Rd to the Visitors Centre, where we settled in for a late lunch. Our chatting continued non-stop of course, and the day made a very pleasant end to our year of walking and talking.