June 2025 - Coningham Nature Recreation Area

We were favoured with excellent weather for our June walk - cool but sunny, with almost no wind. Nine of us gathered at David's house for a 10am start - David, Di, Kat, Philip, Lyn, Bob, Janet, Angie, David's neighbour John, and we also had David's dog Maya as our friendly companion for the morning.

We entered Coningham Nature Recreation Area at the top of Hopwood St, where David showed us our path for the day on the interpretation map.

After our favourite photo opp, the group shot (and thanks to Kat for most of these fab photos), we headed up into the reserve. The going was up and up, through dry scrubby bush which is well loved by walkers, dog walkers and mountain bikers. Some efforts have been made to minimise the encroach of Spanish Heath and there has been some hazard reduction burning around the fire trails.

The views were good, this from a spot about halfway up Sheppards' Hill.

The day was warming, and so were we. Layers were coming off as we proceeded upwards.

Near the top we found a couple of teepees made from branches, and a good log for resting on. Then it was onwards again and soon the track was levelling out.

We stopped for snacks where the track meets the extension of Coningham Rd (this is gated further back towards Coningham Beach). A few large rocks provided seating, and the chats continued over muesli bars, choc coated hazelnuts and drinks.Then we turned downhill to go to the end of the road where we entered the Snug Point Track. This pretty track skirts along the shore of North West Bay, with Bruny Island seemingly very close to the east and Tinderbox Hills (where we walked last month) just over the water to the northeast.

Legacy Beach feels like an isolated retreat, having no public access for vehicles.

We continued along the meandering clifftop path, loving the views.

Back at Coningham Beach we paused to capture a snapshot of the team.

Compare this to a similar scene on a previous occasion (July 2013):

Saying goodbye to John at the beach carpark, we returned to the clifftop trail for the very short leg back to David's place. We found that that this walk had taken us three hours. Now we enjoyed our picnic lunches and drinks in sunshine and comfortable chairs, before finally tearing ourselves away to return to our busy lives.