Once decked out in our safety gear, Nyrstar’s Todd and I strode off down the road towards the entrance to the industrial estate all the while admiring the day and the view of the Derwent River whenever it appeared around buildings and between parts of the landscape.

Once through a gate in a high protective fence, we came to a junction. Should we walk forward directly to the river or turn right on a track around a hill shaped by metallic discards decades ago?

The choice was easy. We turned right and continued as the track took us above but on the edge of the Derwent River in New Town Bay.  

I could look inland to Mount Wellington and across the Bay to Self’s Point.  An early record of my walk along the Derwent at Self’s Point can be read here and here.

As usual, I loved the brilliant colours that a clear day produces on the river and the landscape.  I hope you find the photos as stunning as I do – long term blog followers know I never set out to create heart-stopping reproduction photos only to record in a casual way what I see. During my walk on Nyrstar property, the world and the Derwent River in particular, seemed spectacular.

As we walked around the hill, the eastern shore came into view – some of it built up with private houses and other parts remaining as uncleared bushland. My host and I mused on how the first European explorers and settlers would have seen both sides of the Derwent River completely forested. By  being able to see such forests today helped me to have some appreciation of their world at the end of the 18^th century.  If those travellers arrived on a day like we were having then the landscape would have looked wonderful, although somewhat impenetrable.