January 2024 - Randalls Bay

A new start in 2024 – our name and walking day. Friday 26 January pioneered the re-brand with two short walks at Randalls Bay, followed by an overnight camp at Garden Island Creek. The six walkers/campers were Angie, Di, Gerwyn, Wayne and co-organisers Fin and Summa. The meeting time was 10am at the Randalls Bay picnic shelter.

From here we headed along Randalls Beach to start Walk 1 - Sugarloaf Hill circuit walk. This well-formed track is the work of the Friends of Randalls Bay volunteer group.

It is a loop with lovely views over Randalls Bay from the trig point at the top. It is best done in a clockwise direction and the uphill part is a gentle grade. Along the route there is interpretation signage, and a feature dam where we heard croaking frogs.

There was fruitcake, the buskwalker's friend.

The downhill section is steeper and features many zig zags through the dry schlerophyll forest, habitat of the endangered Swift Parrot and Masked Owl. At a leisurely pace it took close to 2.5 hours to finish the walk, including retracing our steps along the beach to the picnic shelter. There we welcomed Kat, and over lunch she shared her hair-raising tree pruning tale. Although she suffered a bad fall and needed an ambulance (and fire brigade!) to be rescued, it could have been much worse. She reported no broken bones or damaged organs which was a great outcome from the accident.

Wishing Kat a speedy recovery we left the picnic shelter and walked in the opposite direction to start Walk 2 - Mickey’s Beach. This is an out and back, flat walk (after an initial set of steps up to the ridgeline) and follows the coast.

This is a shorter walk and is signed as 1 hour return. It is well signed in both directions.

We descended to the quiet little beach and spent some time exploring, which included fossicking amongst the rocks and admiring the views.

We were amazed by the iron inclusions in the sandstone and the heavy weathering of the sandstone cliffs.

If you don’t want to walk there is also road access to Mickey’s Beach. Wayne and Summa investigated the carpark for camping potential before we all turned around and strolled back to the picnic shelter. On the way back we also strolled to the end of the headland to look out over the lower Huon River.

There was some very healthy looking giant kelp waving in the surges and Angie found a midden at last.

Having finished our walking, the fun continued as we convoyed our way along toward Garden Island Creek. Fin’s relatives had kindly offered the use of their shack and paddock for our overnight camp. We made use of the shed’s large verandah to enjoy each other’s company over a well catered BBQ dinner. Gerwyn showed her talents as practised cook around an open fire - marshmallows anyone?

The evening's commentary was lively as we enjoyed each other’s company. Topics included Wordle, the wording of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and the Australian Open (yes, Djokovic did get knocked out). Even some spirited singing of old almost-forgotten pop songs! All in all, a splendid start to 2024!