Meadowbank Lake, which backs up behind Meadowbank Dam and its Power Station, is approximately 15 kms long. Downstream, the Derwent River snakes its way through the landscape for about 23 kms until it passes Gretna and heads on towards the sea.  Upstream, after approximately 9 to 10 kms, the Derwent River finishes at Cluny Dam.  The Cluny Lagoon which extends to Lake Repulse Dam extends a further 4 kms.

To walk the Derwent between Lake Repulse Dam and Gretna is not straightforward because some private property owners cannot afford to let strangers on their property for insurance reasons, or their granted permission is a one off special case for me.  As a result, I have walked and will walk sometimes on the western and sometimes on the eastern side of the River and Lake, but I will not be providing a map and location details in my blog.  In this way I will protect the privacy of landowners, and respect the privilege their permission to access their property has given me.

I expect to tackle parts of the area on a total of 6 or 7 separate days. On each of these walks there will be a considerable amount of retracing of steps and walking away from the river/lake in order to reach roads where friends can collect me. For most of this area, public transport will either be absent or a great distance away.  Only the walk between Cluny and Lake Repulse Dams offers a reasonable amount of public access.

To date, I have walked a few sections, but I am not sure how to write up this Meadowbank area considering the confidentiality and privacy agreements I have made.  Once I have started moving west of Lake Repulse Dam and all the walks in the Meadowbank area are complete, then I will create one or more blogs that introduce at least some of the wonders of that environment.