July 2015 - Crescent Beach

Gary organised our July walk, and this was a return to the beautiful Crescent Beach, past Port Arthur.    Our last visit here was in July 2010, exactly five years ago!

The walk was deferred by one week due to predicted terrible weather (and it was).  The forecast for the second Sunday wasn't much better, with the weather bureau recommending (again) that people stay safe and warm indoors.  But we decided to proceed (admittedly fewer of us than usual), and were blessed with reasonable conditions and no-one else on the track!

Bob took these great photos of the day. The weather was clear and the views excellent at the start of the walk.

The walk starts at the Remarkable Cave carpark.

Crescent Beach beckons

 We had beautiful Crescent Beach to ourselves, how lovely.

Crescent Beach

Crescent Beach

Conditions on the return leg were not so bright

June 2015 - Mt Hartz

The weather forecast was sobering leading up to the weekend.  Most of us were expecting to see snow at Mt Hartz, and bitter weather was a distinct possibility.  As we drove southwards, the weather was variable, skies clouded over and then seemed to clear, and there was a little hope of glimpsing perfect views from Hartz Peak.  That was lucky, as we hadn't been able to come up with an attractive Plan B in the area.

Austin was our walk leader today (sadly Sophie was absent on a warm Pacific island at the time), and he was pretty chuffed at the numbers who were prepared to brave the conditions.  The sturdy walkers today were Austin, George, Di, Robert, Warren, Gary, Lyn, Wayne and Gerwyn.   With rain holding off, we met in the carpark at Geeveston at 10.30am, piled into three cars with 4WD capability (just in case!) and headed west towards Mt Hartz.

Hartz Road was in reasonable condition, 4WD was not required. Getting ourselves ready in Hartz Shelter, the walkers hut, took a little while - there were many layers to put on!

 Once we'd set off, at about 11.15am, conditions were clear (although low lying cloud meant visibility off the mountain wasn't spectacular) and we made good progress.  There was no snow, but it had clearly been raining a bit!

 

The track was in good condition but some patches were slightly under water. The wind was scudding across, but it was beautiful in its ruggedness and you certainly knew you were alive.

Suddenly we noticed that Gary was missing - he'd decided to do his own thing, walking to Lake Osborne instead.  We reached Lake Esperance quite quickly.  It was beautiful, but the wind ripping across the water towards us didn't make for a relaxing stop. 

We pushed on to Ladies Tarn, where conditions were no better.  Beautiful, pristine, but windswept.  Mt Hartz was hidden in clouds.

As going any further along the Mt Hartz track would have meant climbing up Hartz Pass, moving from the montane plateau to an even more windswept situation (and still no views!), we turned around and headed back to the hut.  Revisiting Hartz Peak would have to wait for another day.

A map of Europe

 

Here we had our picnic lunch and Gary materialised again.  We decided we had time to visit Lake Osborne as well, so off we went. This was a different walk, a gentle uphill climb, sheltered from the weather in fairly dense and varied montane rainforest.  Pathside signs described the glacial history of the region.

The Leader

Around  the lake the King Billy pines were stunted due to their exposed lifestyle.  It would be a lovely spot to linger, on a warmer day!

We were back in the carpark at about 2.15pm, well exercised.  Gary invited us to visit the Waratah Shelter, the first picnic hut that you pass on the way up.  This was a revelation.  He had prepared the fireplace there with kindling and lit a roaring fire for us.  Wowsers, it was lovely to sit around the warm fire.  The hut also had free gas barbeques, which looked very efficient.  And a composting loo with a view.  After warming our toes for a while, we passed our fire on to a family we had met on the trail who were now enjoying the barbeque, and we headed towards home.

On the way back, we decided to visit the Turkish cafe in Geeveston to check out their coffee.  It wasn't bad, although the cafe got more points for quirkiness.  The shop/cafe had had many lives, and they were all still on show.

A lovely day out with good friends, in beautiful wild Tasmania, what could be better?  I'm reminded that one of the first walks of our Walk-a-Month group was to Mt Hartz - five years ago, in summer and the views were fantastic.

June 2015 - Cradle Mountain

This walk was organised by Bob and was a valiant attempt to capitalise on the Queens Birthday long weekend to venture a bit further afield than usual - we took on Cradle Mountain.  As it was a bit of a drive to get there from Hobart, we shared cars and travelled up on Saturday afternoon, planning to stay two nights up there and get in some good walks.

Bob, Jules, Kat, Philip, James, Leanne, Wayne, Gerwon, Caroline and Warren stayed at the Waldheim Chalets.  These are now very comfortable, with all mod cons, and you can drive all the way in. Di and Robert travelled up separately in Wanda (because Di wanted to attend a community event in Hobart, and we wanted to take Wanda for a spin!). 

Unfortunately, the weather was horrific, with heavy low-lying cloud, rain squalls and bitter cold wind sweeping over the mountain all weekend.  Early on Sunday morning, groups from the Chalets walked around Dove Lake.  Wayne and Gerwon almost made it to Wombat Pool but were beaten back by the conditions.

 

   

Cradle Mountain covered in cloud

When Di and Robert arrived on Sunday morning from an overnight camp at Lake Barrington East, we found the Visitor Centre carpark busier than we had expected and a decent queue waiting for the shuttle bus to Dove Lake.  Given the bitter conditions, it wasn't much fun to hear that there was a 20 minute wait between buses.  Later we heard that staff had been surprised by 5 times as many visitors on that holiday Sunday than there had been just the day before.  Extra buses were to be put on, which sounded good.

Despite claims by Parks and Wildlife, phone communications were pretty patchy - text messages could take a long time to arrive.  Later I tried Messenger, but that was no more reliable.  Photos took a long time to upload.

When we reached the shelter at Dove Lake, we ran into the first mob returning from their Dove Lake circuit.  Warm invitations were extended to come up to the Chalets for coffee, wine and good cheer.

Robert and I thoroughly enjoyed the easy walk around Dove Lake.  Well, we were well rugged up and with good wet weather gear! 

Cradle Mountain is up there somewhere

Most of the path was in excellent condition, with safe duckboarding and artful corners and steps.

Stopping for our mandatory gourmet snack at the southern end of the lake, we were delighted to be joined by a self-assured wombat, who strolled up the duckboards and snuffled around the picnic platform for quite some time.  He/she was thoroughly enjoying the native grasses and quite oblivious to the excitement created amongst the strange two-legged animals.

Getting things to stay on the bench was a challenge.

M. Wombat

The enchanting Ballroom Forest

Finishing this circuit, and with the weather not showing any signs of improving, Robert and I decided to cut our losses and leave the park, head north to Devonport for dinner and find a more peaceful campsite for the night.

We became part of a small melee of walkers trying to self organise an orderly queue inside the Dove Lake shelter.  Rangers came in to replace the sliding door which had been taken away(!) during the day for repair to the runners - I'm sure they were thinking this was not the best day for this job to be needed.   I spotted a ranger checking the registration book, possibly to see if there was anyone well overdue from their walk.  Thankfully the extra bus was finally put on before tolerance limits were severely tested, and we made it back to the Visitor Centre.


The weather continued to be shocking on Monday, and the main group of walkers also decided to call it quits on Monday morning, checking out of the park without tackling any more walks.

Despite the challenging conditions, it was a memorable experience, and it was great to see the park still beautiful and pristine while managing very large numbers of visitors.

April 2015 - Mt Wellington, Lenah Valley to Knocklofty

Wayne organised this walk to explore the Lenah Valley and Knocklofty end of the Wellington Park.  Wayne, Gerwyn, Greg, Ann, Bob, Angie, Di and Robert met at Wayne's place in Mt Stuart and bundled into a couple of cars for a convoy to the carpark at the top of Lenah Valley Rd. 

We enjoyed the sculpture at the beginning of the walk:

 The entrance to Wellington Park at this point is over New Town Rivulet:

We headed upwards along the Lenah Valley Track, which was pretty and well maintained.  An early stop as we were climbing the contours was for a little detour to look at the Lenah Valley Falls.  And  at this point Angie suddenly felt a little dizzy, so a rest and some food were in order for her.

Soon we were crossing over the popular North South Track, and did not see a single mountainbiker.

From here on the Lenah Valley Track was fairly level and rather pretty.  Then we turned left and headed along the aptly named Breakneck Track.  This has some steep downhill stretches, with loose gravel patches.  Thank heavens Wayne had recommended we bring our walking poles.  Despite this, Di managed to fall on her back, thankfully suffering only a few scratches.

Then it was time for lunch:

 

We crossed the Main Fire Trail (and what looks like the boundary of the Wellington Park) onto New Town Track and headed across the valley toward Knocklofty.  On the steep uphill stretch here Di suffered her second leech attack of the day (yech) and Angie felt faint again (not due to seeing the leech). 

In hindsight (a wonderful thing) when we reached Knocklofty Reserve we should have turned left  and headed home to Wayne's place.  Instead we strode on, to complete a loop of Knocklofty.  This is a nice little walk, but Angie had a couple more dizzy attacks on this section, and this was getting quite concerning.  Di was glad that Nurse Bob was equipped with a bandaid for her obstinately  bleeding leechbite.

It was interesting walking through the old Lenah Valley quarry, and lovely to finally reach Wayne's place.  The walk had taken about 5 hours.  A car went back to pick up the two cars at the start of the track, and then we convened at the bistro at the State Cinema for coffee, beer, wine, cheese and cake - yum.  Thanks for organising this walk Wayne!

P.S. Angie has been checked out by the doctor and all seems fine.

March 2015 - Mount Direction

Di, Robert, Kat, Philip, James, Austin, Wayne and George set out on this walk which is very close to Hobart (so why haven't we done it before?). We were planning to follow the directions in "100 Walks in Tasmania" by Tyrone Thomas and Andrew Close (but ended up with a few variations).

 
We met in the carpark for Risdon Dam at 9.45am - gee it was busy at the Dam, with walkers, runners and radio-controlled yachties galore.  We set off in a clockwise direction around the reservoir, over the dam wall and along the circuit loop, in pleasant (if overcast) weather.

Our first deviation from the plan was to head left at the first creek crossing, where a nice little track with a walker's gate beckoned to us.

The track was along a firetrail and fairly level at this stage.  It runs through pretty and fairly sparse eucalypt forest on dry slopes.  We surprised a group of Forester Kangaroos:

After this we got a bit confused, not quite sure where we were on the map.

We headed up the hill too early, and had to return to the firetrail, before eventually meeting up with the track which came up off the reservoir loop.   Back on track again, we found ourselves heading uphill, and when we turned left up to Mt Direction

  the trail got quite steep:

Thankfully the track levelled off a little just before the actual summit, and there were excellent views to the north:

The summit is a rocky knob with a large rock cairn and an emergency radio transmission station.  Here we stopped for refreshments (at around 11.45am).

There are some limited views to the south, down the river, from an outcrop just south of the summit,

 

but much better views are to be had from a spot from the west of the summit.  Robert had noticed a series of little cairns heading in that direction:

Looking south from Mt Direction

This lookout spot is actually as per the map above, we'll all have to check this spot out next time!

When we eventually headed back down, Wayne led some of us off to the right, leaving the track from roughly where the red arrow is on the map above.  This leads southwards along the ridgeline to near the 400m contour as marked on the map, which is another good spot for a lookout over Nyrstar and the river.  There is a small cairn there to mark the spot.

The group re-formed again down the track, and we made good time on the downhill stretch (with some trouble to older knees).  We soon reached the reservoir loop again.  With Kat and Philip taking the shorter route (1.9km) back to the carpark, the rest of us continued clockwise around the loop (2.1km).  It was a pleasant stroll, and we all got back to the carpark before 2pm.  

Then it was a short drive to our coffee stop at The Aproneers in Lindisfarne, where Lyn joined us to catch up before her big trip to Spain to do the Camino.

 

February 2015 - Marion Bay

This was to be a leisurely walk along the beach at Marion Bay, and it was a lovely day for Philip, Kat, James, Di, Robert, Sophie, Austin, Caroline, Julie, Bob and Lyn.

Here are Philip's instructions for getting to the Marion Bay carpark:
Drive from Hobart to Sorell.  From Sorell take the Arthur Highway (A9) to Copping.
Turn left at Copping on the Marion Bay/Bream Creek Rd (C337).
After a while this road turns rough, goes downhill, and comes to a Y junction.
Take left fork and proceed over wetlands - CAUTION - one way, narrow rough road.
Go through Marion Bay township - carpark is at the end of the road - toilets here.
Best walking access to beach (avoiding the impassable deep lagoon!) is next to Wetlands info sign.

It takes about 45min to one hour to get to Marion Bay from Hobart.  We collected in the carpark and headed off at about 10am.

We walked to the right (southwards) along the firm sand of this beautiful beach, doing more chatting than beachcombing as we strolled.

 

At the inlet to the lagoon we continued around the sand spit and perched on a small bank, out of the wind, for a snack on the edge of the lagoon.  A couple of brave ones went for a swim.

Then we wandered on around the Long Spit Nature Reserve, admiring the samphire (and not admiring the evidence of people driving illegally on the sand).

Although it was only a couple of hours, it felt like quite a distance, probably because of walking on the sand, which can be a bit tiring.

Back at the carpark, we set off again to our lunch destination!  We took the left fork on the way out (Bay Rd C337)) which is a short cut to Dunalley. At Dunalley, we turned left over the bridge, and turned left after about 1km, to the Bangor Wine and Oyster Shed.  This new winebar and restaurant is perfectly located and a great spot for post-walk wine and seafood.