January 2015 - Mt Gnomon

We had been thinking about climbing Mt Gnomon for a while, and decided to make it part of a weekend in the Northwest (see Wanda's blog).   Mark Hanna, in his blog, recommended opting for Mt Gnomon instead of Mt Dial.  Jan Hardy and Bert Elson's NW walks book was out of print, sadly.   I found a walk in John and Monica Chapman's "Day Walks Tasmania", which described a 5 hour walk from the northern side, including Mt Dial and Mt Gnomon in a loop.

After a large and enjoyable lunch at the new Mt Gnomon Farm Restaurant, we asked Eliza for her advice on the best route for climbing nearby Mt Gnomon.   She was unaware of the loop we had in mind, and advised a nearby route which sounded shorter and quicker than the one we had in mind.  So, a little bloated with good food and wine, we turned right as we exitted the farm and continued up Ironcliffe Rd.  We immediately entered the Mt Dial Nature Recreation Area.

Very soon we found the parking area for the start of the walk to Mt Gnomon.  There are several other walking options from here, including a Tall Trees walk.

The walk was dry and pretty, mostly fairly steep, and there is no water.

Here's where the walk from Mt Dial comes in:

Here's me at the top:

and some of the views from another little knoll near the top: 

more of the Dial Range to the south

east to Mt Roland

over the farmlands to the south

Having done this short walk, the maps of the Dial Range make a lot more sense!
Our walk took about an hour and 10 minutes.

November 2014 - Mt Wedge

Caroline, Warren, Wayne, Girwan, Bob, who else?  made this walk at the end of November.  Here are a few of the stunning photos to remind them of the walk and to inspire others of us to get there another time.

Wayne and Caroline

Telopea truncata

Federation Peak, the Arthurs, Lake Pedder

Lake Pedder and the Arthurs

Pedder and the Arthurs

Lake Gordon and a few strays

Mt Nelson, Bicentennial Walk - January 2015

Robert and I have commenced training for the Mt Amos walk at the end of March :).  Yep, this is up a mountain, and we're not ready!

Our training is starting out with (almost) daily walks of 1 hour, preferably with a climb involved.  I know, we're taking baby steps to start with! To assist with this, the walks in our Walk a Month collection are now being labelled by approximate duration.  Currently we can search for walks that are about 1 hour, and walks that are from 1.5 to 2 hours.

Today's after work walk was along the Bicentennial track on Mt Nelson, with an entrance point at the end of Acushla Court.  From here to the Signal Station and return is a nice little walk and takes just on an hour.

Bellerive Foreshore ride, November 2014

This was a first group ride with our Walk-a-Month buddies.  We gathered at Peter and Catherine's place at Bellerive, aiming for an 11am start,  and got our bikes ready.  Angie had her ebike (Ezee Street), while Di and Robert had their new non-e-bikes out for their first real ride in public.  Peter, Austin and Sophie were the other eager riders.

The weather was gorgeous as we headed off with Peter in the lead.  Here's our route:

We cut the ride shorter than originally planned, deciding to avoid the hill in Tranmere.  So the ride only took about an hour, but it was very pleasant.  And the barbecue lunch and wine at Catherine and Peter's was very tasty.

Wineglass Bay Lookout - September 2014

Robert and I enjoyed a great weekend with our friends Kerrie and Richard, at Swanwick. The weather was glorious, more like summer than spring.  On the Saturday Robert and I walked to the Cape Tourville lookout and discovered that the path had been very professionally upgraded since we were here last.  Top quality stainless steel railings and winding modern timber decking mean there are no irritants to detract from the fantastic views over the cliffs.

Richard and Kerrie told us that the Wineglass Bay Lookout walk has also been upgraded in the last few years, so we decided on the Sunday that we had to take a look.  Unfortunately Kerrie had to work in the morning, but Richard, Robert and I set off.  The newly extended carpark features strong use of the fabulous pink Hazards granite in the stone walls and steps.

The gathering area at the starting point of the walks to Mt Amos, Wineglass Bay and beyond has been enlarged to cater for the busloads of visitors who come to this famous National Park.  

The path up to the wide saddle between Mt Amos and Mt Mayson has been extensively re-routed and widened since we were last here.  There are many stone steps to provide a safer trek up the hill, and there are lots of well engineered granite retaining walls, benches and drains.  

The new balustrades here have a smooth treated steel railing and rusty-look iron uprights.  This look and feel complements the rugged granite outcrops and the muted greys and greens of the pristine East Coast woodland of the Hazards.

There are many artisan made wooden and granite benches for people to catch their breath on.

The viewing platform overlooking Wineglass Bay has been extended to accommodate the increased visitor numbers, but is still a very inviting spot to rest and enjoy the view.  

I was intrigued by this metalwork embedded in the path near the lookout:

Coming back down, we found that the new return loop to the carpark is actually the old track.  A new section towards the bottom veers to the right and features the same upgraded handrails and superb stonework as the new uphill track.

What a great place to sit and enjoy the view.  These rocks were massive.

The walk took us 1 hour 9 minutes.

To top it off, back at the carpark was a very tame wallaby with joey in the pouch.

Tinderbox Hill and Fossil Cove - August 2014

We had quite a crowd for this duo of short walks at Tinderbox, on a beautiful Spring day (or is that Sprinter - an Australian season between Winter and Spring?).  Our plan was to visit the top of Tinderbox to see the view from the hill, and then go down and around the peninsula a little to see the fossils at Fossil Cove.

Meeting up at Bob's place at about 9.30am were Bob (of course), Di, Robert, Wayne, Julie, Gary, Sophie, Austin, Lyn, Catherine and Peter. Several of us were feeling a bit flat, no doubt because we hadn't done a walk for a while! Our convoy drove to the end of Estuary Drive on Tinderbox Hill.

We probably set off at about 10am. The track was firm, dry and pleasant, through dry schlerophyll bushland, initially passing a couple of houses and then following the ridgeline at a fairly steady slight incline.  The time for the walk was estimated at 1.5 hours return.

The walking was easy enough that we could do a lot of catching up with each other's news and a bit of gossip, which was great.

The open bushland seemed to be in good condition and the views were good, over the Derwent on the north side to South Arm:

and to the south over Margate.  Apparently the forty-spotted pardalote lives on Tinderbox, and there were certainly lots of birds around.   But we were perplexed when we came across a Council sign saying that no-one was to proceed beyond this point as it was private property from here on.  We didn't seem to be at the promised Lookout and the track stretched out ahead.  What the hell!?   There was a bit of milling around at this point.

Some of us ventured on to the next rise, but we are all such law-abiding citizens that we felt we shouldn't go further. We turned around and headed back down the hill.  Just before we reached the road we spotted a very professional looking wildlife protection system around a thriving vegie patch, which Lyn, Sophie and Austin took great interest in.

It was about 11.30am when we regrouped at the cars and drove down and around the hill to Fossil Cove Rd. The walking track to Fossil Cove is estimated at 30 minutes return.

The track started out very dry but became noticeably greener and damper as we descended through a steep gully towards the river.  The beach at Fossil Cove is a gem, secluded and a great spot for snorkelling in the kelp forests. There are views across to South Arm and Oppossum Bay, and down the river to the Iron Pot lighthouse. At low tide, you can walk through a large rock archway on the left side to an even more secluded little beach.  Sadly, we were there at high tide.

It was a great spot for a beach picnic, and we spread our 21st century bodies and lunches over the ancient split and layered mudstone rock platform.

Robert took this beautiful panoramic shot:

There were lots of fossils, of course!

There seemed to be more steps going back up the hill than there had been on the way down.  But we made it. Another lovely outing with friends, a great cure for tiredness and low moods.  Thank you everyone.

Cascade Track, Mt Wellington - June 2014

Winter arrived in Tassie this week, with "penguins in the southerlies", as our favourite cartoonist Kudelka would describe it.  Sunday dawned with steady light rain and bitter temperatures, and a prediction of snow to the 600m level. Oh well, there's nothing for it but to get out there.  Caroline had organised a fairly easy walk up the nearby recently refurbished Cascade Walking Track and a second leg up the Myrtle Gully Track to the Junction Cabin.  Braving the poor weather outlook were Caroline, Warren, Di, Robert, Pauline, Girwan (spelling?), Wayne, James, and Gary.  We parked just behind the Cascade Brewery, right where the track commences, and pulled on our layers.  Gary was sent home due to already having a cold and not having brought enough layers.

This is the map of the Cascade Walking Track:

At 10.10am we set off up the track, hoping that the drizzle would clear.  And what do you know, it soon did. So we had a lovely cool, only slightly showery, walk along this track.

A lovely new arched stone bridge has been built on the track, dedicated to Peter Graves, founder of the Cascade Brewery. Apparently this land belongs to the brewery and they have kindly worked with Council to encourage public access along the creek.  Here's another nice bridge:

There are other neat little curated experiences on the track, such as:

We reached the carpark at the top of Old Farm Rd at 10.50am (only 40 minutes), and decided to continue up the hill towards the Junction Cabin.  At the junction of Myrtle Gully Track, Old Farm Track and the firebreak road, we took the Old Farm Track option.  Not long after, we selected the Myrtle Gully Track option (against the Old Farm Track option) and walked up this beautiful little gully.  There was a good amount of water in the falls, following the rains.  

Robert, Di and Pauline decided to call it quits about 20 minutes into this stretch, and headed back down the hill.  The rest of the group continued up to the Junction Cabin (which happens to be at 600m!) for a short break before heading back down again.  

Wayne reported that it was "a bit of a slog with lots of huffing and puffing.  Just to show that we made it:

Just as we were leaving, it started snowing, sleety snow really, but unfortunately not heavy enough for the phone camera to pick up. We all agreed it was a magical moment, but it didn't last long as we wandered back down the mountain". 

A nice spot to rest on the Cascade Walking Track:

One for Bob:

Di, Robert and Pauline were back at the cars at about midday, and were back home, warm and dry by 12.30pm.  This shorter version (at 2h 20min) was an enjoyable short walk and very handy to home.