Category Archives: Mount Wellington

Theatre Royal, Hobart – proximity to the Derwent River

The Theatre Royal located on Campbell St Hobart was built in 1834 and is the earliest theatre built in Australia that is still fully operational today – each week the Theatre Royal stages various events: theatre, dance, musicals, opera, eisteddfods, music concerts or comedy. After a disastrous fire in 1984, the building was restored to its former glory and its delightful small but grand interior is now well worth a visit. Guided tours are on offer during the day.

But what does the Theatre Royal have to do with the Derwent River you may wonder.

Firstly, it is located only a stone’s throw from the Hobart Rivulet that flows into the Derwent River. The Hobart Rivulet was the source of fresh water to the first settlers in Sullivans Cove (a bay in the Derwent River) in the years after they established the colony in 1804. Picking up the crystal clear waters from flows on Mount Wellington, the Hobart Rivulet wound its way through the early ‘Hobarton’ and these days it continues to flow under much of the current city of Hobart.

Secondly, the early shores of the Derwent River were further inland in the early 19^th century than today. Considerable land fill has been added over the past two centuries. When the Theatre Royal was built, the Derwent River was a little closer than today.

I have entertained myself with searches for old maps of Hobart so that I could understand where the Theatre Royal was located in relation to the original foreshore.

The image of the foreshore at Sullivans Cove below was drawn in 1804 (this was the year of first settlement here). Hunter Island was on its own before it was connected to the mainland by a causeway. This island was located not far from where Campbell St (the street on which the Theatre Royal is built) was established much later. The drawing shows the extensive forests which were removed over subsequent years to make way for the streets, houses and public buildings (image from http://www.tasfamily.net.au/~schafferi/images/Ocean&LNHunterIs1804img141.jpg

The site http://www.tasfamily.net.au/~schafferi/index.php?file=kop15.php offers the opinion ‘It is hard to imagine what Hobart Town would have been like when Lt. Gov. Collins arrived in 1804. The rivulet ran free, (except when it rained heavily sending logs that blocked the rivulet, sending water spilling across its banks) large gum trees stood on both sides of the rivulet, some of which had to be cut down to make room for the new settlement.‘ The drawing below, made by George P Harris in 1805 or 1806, seems to look across Hobarton from what today is referred to as the Domain. I think Harris employed a great deal of creativity when making the picture because the Mount Nelson Signal Station looms large on the distant hill yet it could not realistically have been that height.

Below, the 1811 town layout has an overlay of our contemporary streetscape (from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-24/footsteps-towards-freedom-art-project-begins/6251596). If you can locate the intersection of Campbell St and Collins St, then you can appreciated that the yet to be built Theatre Royal will be sited a few metres along Campbell St (on the block at the top side of the letter E of Street). You can appreciate how close this is to the Rivulet and to the Derwent River.

George Evans lithograph of 1819 below shows how little progress had been made in terms of new buildings and street construction 15 years after settlement ( http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-22/1819-slnsw-south-west-view-of-hobart-town-1819-george-william-e/5689410)

By 1832 significant developments had been made to Hobarton . The map below (from http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/180.php) was made two years before the Theatre Royal was built. Can you locate Campbell St? Once found, can you see the thick black line that crosses it – that line is the Hobart Rivulet? The future location for the new theatre was a couple of house blocks away from the intersection between the street and the rivulet. Looking at the shoreline with the Derwent River, already it is clear land has been reclaimed along the edge; the shape is manmade and the landscape no longer flows naturally.

On the Proeschel map below (with the hand writing at the top of the map indicating 1858), locate the intersection of Collins and Campbell Streets. Nearby, the Theatre Royal is listed as Public Edifice number 23 (from http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=879658)

In Jarman’s map of Hobart Town (http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=573294 indicates the date for this is 1858, although if the Proeschel map’s date is correct then the differences are too marked for this to be correct. More research required.), the end of Collins St has been modified so that two streets are located one either side of the Rivulet (black rectangle above Collins St is the Theatre Royal).

A woodcut map of 1879 by A C Cooke (from http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=94421) gives a bird’s eye view of Hobart Town. On the lower right, the large watery dock can be seen intruding into the townscape. At the top end of this water is the large City Hall with Campbell St on its right hand side. Immediately behind the City Hall is Collins St. Therefore the Theatre Royal is located on the right hand side of Campbell St a little above Collins St.

The area around the Hobart Rivulet routinely flooded the streets after heavy rains in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries (substantial new drainage systems now prevents such occurrences). The photo below (from http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/tasmaniasheritage/browse/exhibitions/hobartrivulet/diversions-and-floods/image-3) was taken after a flood in the 1920s. We are looking back towards the centre of Hobart Town along the Hobart Rivulet. The large curved roof at the right of the photograph is the top of the Theatre Royal and, therefore, the first bridge in the distance which crosses over the Rivulet will distinguish Campbell Street.

The photo below (http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/tasmaniasheritage/browse/exhibitions/hobartrivulet/diversions-and-floods/image-2) was taken during flooding in the 1930s. The building on the right hand side is the City Hall which still functions as such today. The road to the right of the flooding Rivulet is Collins St and people are standing on Campbell St above the Rivulet. Therefore, the Theatre Royal is just out of shot to the left from where people are standing watching the torrent.

Leo Schofield’s short-lived but internationally renowned Hobart Baroque festival lit up the Theatre Royal with spectacular performances.

Our Theatre Royal was located for easy public access 180 odd years ago, and the site continues to attract crowds easily. A new performing arts centre will be built next door over the next couple of years. The Tasmanian Art School is located close by in Hunter St adjacent to the wharves and jetties jutting into the Derwent River. It fits with history to develop an artistic precinct near the water.

Reliving GASP and MONA with a new walk along the Derwent River

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On Stages 9 and 10 of my walk along the Derwent River, I passed the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) and the Glenorchy Arts and Sculpture Park (GASP). Yesterday I had the opportunity to introduce two international visitors to these important arts structures.

Mid-morning I met with a follower of my blog, De from upstate New York and her Arizona cousin Ke as we were chauffeured thanks to Ma, from the centre of Hobart to our starting point near the Derwent Entertainment Centre.

Our excursion started from the Pavilion at the southern end of the Glenorchy Arts and Sculpture Park (GASP) near the Derwent Entertainment Centre. Do you remember my photos of that surprise pink glass wall?

From a distance and approaching this structure, it looks dull, industrial and disused. But just as I had felt during my walk, my two new international co-walkers were amazed once we arrived at the site. Quite delightful and I have no doubt De will be displaying her own photos on https://deescribesblog.wordpress.com/ when she has time.

Then we started strolling and rolling along the bike/pedestrian path towards the slatted walkways with their colourful striped edges. Many photos were clicked every time we reached a new striped walkway with a different set of colours.

De gets around in a motorised wheelchair so when she spotted a scooter with its dinghy trailer (see photo below) waiting for its owner to return from their boat out on the Derwent River, she stopped in amazement. We talked about how good security seemed to be locally. The scooter owner had left his/her shoes, helmet and other personal items, and despite a security strap set up to prevent movement, we all knew that enterprising thieves seem to carry bolt cutters with them these days. But all was well yesterday.

Gradually clouds disappeared, the mountain looked sharp and much of the sky was blue.

Glorious. After a very cold North American winter, De soaked up the sunshine as the day warmed and we did everything to stay outdoors that we could.

We continued along the foreshore and turned towards the highway when we reached the Montrose High School. Then we were onto the bike/pedestrian track past Rosetta and into Berriedale before advancing up the entrance incline to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). Along the way we admired the new autumnal colours of the Moorilla grape vines beside the road.

A visit to the exhibitions at MONA requires descent into cavernous spaces below ground so we decided to enjoy a lunch break first. Despite the busyiness of the café directly above the museum, De motored through gaps in the visitors and took us outside into the open air where tables and chairs are set on the lawn. We admired great views up, down and across the Derwent River.

Our sparkling Moorilla wines were crisp and delicious, and the food choices were expansive. De and I settled on a soba noodle with spring peas and pickled ginger salad, and Ke tucked into an Italian summer salad which included a great variety of ingredients dressed with the best local olive oil. Ducks and peacocks were out and about, seemingly comfortable with the thousands of visitors that come to MONA each week.

Satisfied by lunch we returned inside and took the lift to the bottom floor of MONA. Over the next couple of hours we wandered through the three levels of exhibits before De and Ke found the upstairs bookshop. The wonderful conclusion to our visit came when De spotted a spectacle outside. They left the building and, along with a throng of tourists, took photographs of a huge unblemished and bright rainbow crossing over the entire River.

It was a great pleasure to show non-Tasmanians a small part of where I have been along the Derwent River, and De and Ke’s enjoyment enhanced mine. Thanks for your company and best wishes De for your conference presentation in Burnie tomorrow encouraging people to understand there are few limits other than those we set ourselves.

Both De and Ke gave me permission to include their photos in this blog.

Kunanyi

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Mount Wellington was a prominent feature in the lives of the Moomairremener people for thousands of years before white settlement of Van Diemens Land, later to be renamed Tasmania. The indigenous names include Kunanyi, Unghbanyahletta and Poorawetter. I understand that the Palawa (which seems to be a collective term for all Tasmanian aborigines – perhaps a blog reader might be able to supply further information?) who are the surviving descendants of the original indigenous Tasmanians, tend to prefer the former name – Kunanyi.

A couple of years ago, the Tasmanian government introduced a dual naming approach to a number of geographical features around Tasmania, and these included the mountain which towers over the Greater Hobart Area and the Derwent River. The then Premier Lara Giddings remarked ‘Dual naming is about recognising the Aboriginal community’s rightful status as the first inhabitants of this land and celebrating their living culture, traditions and language’.

Photo taken from Bellerive Bluff on Stage 4 of my walk along the Derwent River.

Photo taken between Rose Bay and Lindisfarne on Stage 5 of my walk.

Photo taken from Old Beach on Stage 7 of my walk.

Photo taken from Green Point on Stage 8 of my walk.

I am including a posting specifically about ‘the mountain’ as locals refer to it, because it has been a significant marker on my trek from the mouth to the mouth of the Derwent River via the Bridgewater Bridge, and I am about to lose sight of it. From Granton, as I walk west along the River and then northwards, the mountain will no longer be in view.

Current official information about walking tracks, facilities, weather related precautions and other details associated with the mountain can be read at http://www.wellingtonpark.org.au/ Note that you can download maps from this site.

My first walking story video

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Thanks to Lara Van Raay, Producer with ABC Open for southern Tasmania, I completed a 3 hour workshop devoted to editing a series of brief video shots that I collected during the week. When long-term blog followers look at my final video story, they may recognise the location. I covered this area in stage 5 of my walk along the Derwent River, when I walked from Rosny Point to Geilston Bay.

This video can be seen at https://vimeo.com/122073284 or

https://open.abc.net.au/explore/14ov5vx

I used VideoPad by NCH Software (http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/) for sequencing and editing the video clips. This is freely downloadable. I found it easy to use initially and even easier after taking time to watch some of the excellent and simple online tutorials.

Once the video was complete I uploaded it onto Vimeo (which, unlike You Tube, isn’t a site with advertisements). From Vimeo, I have added the video story to ABC Open’s projects ‘where you will find me’ category (refer https://open.abc.net.au/explore/14ov5vx). If you are Australian and write stories or make video stories, you can find a place to upload them onto the ABC Open site; it is one way of sharing experiences around our country.

This is my first attempt at story creation in video and I recognise both my filming and editing are very rough around the edges. Nevertheless, everyone has to start somewhere. During the coming winter months when I cannot continue my walking in the centre of Tasmania because of miserable weather conditions, I may use the opportunity to work on story lines with locations closer to home.

Happy viewing!

Video stories and the Derwent River

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Last week I bussed 20 odd kilometres down to Kingston and participated in a workshop, organised by ABC Open (go to https://open.abc.net.au for written and video stories from around Australia), about making video stories with tablets and IPads. Since then, using my Samsung tablet, I have taken a series of video shots beside one section of the Derwent River. To tell a story, different video shots are needed for linking together. At the end of this week I will return for a second workshop to help me edit different shots together into a coherent story.

I would like to share some of what I have learnt so far.

Firstly, we should always make videos using the ‘landscape’ rather than ‘portrait’ orientation. Once I was alerted to the fact that the landscape orientation typifies movie screens, televisions and computer monitors, I understood this was the preferred way for our brains to operate (our eyes ‘sweep horizontally across the landscape’ for survival more often than up and down). This morning I looked at an online news story which included a short video presumably taken on a smart phone by a public bystander to the event. The film was oriented in the vertical portrait direction so that when screened on my computer monitor, two lumps of black either side of the tall narrow image made it difficult to ‘read’. So I have learnt that lesson.

Other learnings included: the idea that I should not move the tablet to record the video, rather I should swivel my body from the waist. Doing so creates less shudder movement resulting in clearer videos. I should never use a zoom function when it is an option on a device, rather I should take a series of sequence shots then edit them together. Not everything has to be in focus if a story is being narrated. Aim to record a series of peak moments in order to compress time. Beware of recording with the device directly face down because devices can revert to the portrait orientation once in the position of being parallel to the ground – therefore, I must remember to keep an angle on my tablet in such a situation.

We were informed that the journalism standard is a 5 shot sequence where each video shot is taken from a different angle or distance. Now I watch news broadcasts differently and can analyse the variety of shots. We were recommended to make each shot about 8-15 seconds in length to provide sufficient information for editing. In addition, we were counselled to be patient as we record, in case there is an unexpected (and interesting) change in what we are recording.

At the end of the workshop’s theory session, including watching a number of good and bad videos available on the internet, I started to plan my story.

I was urged to create a story associated with my project to walk along the Derwent River and, while this idea sounds like it should be easy for me to develop, it has not been. In fact, I have found it quite difficult to determine a story line, create a story board of the shots which will be woven together and then get the best mini videos to demonstrate each part of the story. When I recognised the hundreds of stories associated with my walks, I realised that it would not matter on which story I worked, all I needed to do was make any choice and then get on with it.

For the past couple of days, I have made a series of brief video shots involving the Tasman Bridge which spans the Derwent River. On my way home, I recorded the following 9 seconds of traffic streaming along and over the Bridge. This video doesn’t fit with my story so I have inserted it unedited. The video shows traffic on the Tasman Bridge with Mount Wellington in the background, viewed from the Rose Bay High School overpass. See the video at https://vimeo.com/121886583

I am now ready for the workshop on editing to create a visual story.

Before my walk along the Derwent River last Tuesday

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As my bus from home into Hobart city passed over the Tasman Bridge before 7am, I looked down onto a dozen or so rowing boats slipping along the Derwent River. The wedges that their passing craft made were the only patterns on the still surface of the River.

The morning was suffused with golden light forewarning the rise of the sun over the hills. The few wisps of cloud in an otherwise blue sky were coloured silvery pink. The temperature was a brisk 8 degrees, but I felt clean and alive prompted by such a vital looking day.

Once in the city, I walked to Franklin Square ready to wait for the next bus to Blackmans Bay, my starting point for Stage 13. While waiting, I walked through the park and admired the grand symmetrical fountain splashes around a large bronze sculpture of the eminent 19^th century Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin. Overhead, I watched a squawk of Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, with their wings lit by the first rays of sunshine, flying as a family. Street cleaners were clearing rubbish bins and pathway surfaces. Very few other people were out and about in the centre of the city (people were being active in the suburbs before commuting to work in the city a while later).

The large public chess set had been set out and was ready for play.

As the sun struck the Treasury buildings at one end of Franklin Square park, clusters of fat seagulls (Silver Gulls) were nipping at early rising insects across the grass lawns.

Metro bus number 84 departed at 7.17am. By 7.33am we had climbed up and travelled along the Southern Outlet and were passing through Kingston. This gave me a clear cut side view of majestic Mount Wellington. Every rock was hard edge and clear. The air was so clean.

At 7.41am I stepped off the bus at Wells Parade in Blackmans Bay, the location where I had finished Stage 12 of my walk. The final walk to the mouth of the Derwent River was about to begin.

A new milestone marking the 13th stage of my walk along the Derwent River: I reached the mouth on the western shore. Whoppee Doo!!

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Yesterday, I completed the first part of my walk along the Derwent River: an exciting achievement.

Last August I started walking from the mouth of the River at Cape Direction on the tip of the South Arm peninsula and now, at the end of February, I have completed the distance from that mouth to the Bridgewater Bridge and back on the western shore to Pearson’s Point near the settlement of Tinderbox.

On the 8^th stage mid-November, I had the first major milestone when I finished the walk from Cape Direction to the Bridgewater Bridge. This 13^th stage was the culmination of walks from the Bridge back to the mouth on the western side of the River.

During yesterday’s walk, I covered about 5km of the length of the Derwent River. By my reckoning, the total distance of the Derwent River on the western shore from the Bridgewater Bridge to the mouth is 38 3/4 km.

For Stage 13 yesterday, I needed to walk to Pearson’s Point from the bus stop where I finished on Stage 12 and then, on reaching my goal, I needed to retrace my steps back to Blackmans Bay to connect with a bus that could return me to Hobart. This distance was approximately 17 kms. I have now walked at least 171km not counting getting to and from buses. But when the walks are staggered over time, this number does not mean much.

The highlights of the walk to Pearson’s Point were mostly small and natural: rosehips, green rosellas, hum of bees, resting sheep, and the taste of delicious ripe blackberries along the way.

I was surprised how close the northern part of Bruny Island was to the mainland of Tasmania (almost felt like I could swim across the D’entrecasteaux Channel) and I felt overwhelmed by the staggeringly expansive and grand views across and up and down the Derwent River.

The fun part was singing (including mixing up the words in my excitement) Handel’s Hallelujah chorus (from The Messiah) at the top of my voice when I passed a large sign with the words SING. You can listen to a superb version performed in 2012 by the Royal Choral Society at the Royal Albert Hall in London England at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c

Over the next few days I will write up the journey and the discoveries of Stage 13’s walk. Then I will be looking towards a long main road walk from the Bridgewater Bridge at Granton to New Norfolk which I expect to undertake in the next couple of weeks. Once I have reached New Norfolk I will be on the way to Lake St Clair, the source of the Derwent River.

Claremont House, Tasmania

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At the time of my walk along the Derwent River through the suburb of Claremont, I explained Claremont House was not close enough for me to deviate from the tracks near the shores of the River – so I did not visit. However, yesterday I was delighted to be able to explore the historic property of Claremont House, tour its premises and enjoy High Tea with friends over three wonderful hours. What a great experience! A big thanks to one of my blog followers Me for organising this.

In my earlier posting History of our Claremont by the Derwent River, I referred to Claremont House (alternatively known as Lady Clark House), gave the street address, and explained it was built in the early 19^th century by Henry Bilton who lived there for some time. If you revisit that posting you can click on many websites giving photographs and further information.

I now know that the property once extended to the edge of the Derwent River and included the entire peninsula on which the Cadbury chocolate factory and the Claremont Golf Course sit currently. On this basis, and because Claremont House’s current view looks across the River, it seemed appropriate to include the story of my visit into this blog.

After turning off the main road through Claremont into Lady Clark Avenue, ornate wrought iron gates signalled arrival at the current boundary of the Claremont House property.

I learnt these were not original gate structures and that the originals, excepting one, were removed and dumped into the Derwent River at some stage. The one remaining original post, looking rather worse for wear, is currently located on Claremont’s main road around the corner from Lady Clark Avenue.

We drove up a winding driveway then immediately enjoyed the moist summer air as we and other visitors strolled past a couple of horses towards the house.

Looking along the bottom balcony it was clear the wisteria was doing its best to take over. Tranquillity reigned.

The 33 room house, with its ‘widows walk’ topping the structure, has suffered from a chequered history of public and private ownership, but the current owner Joel Van Sanden is passionate about restoring the property in alignment with a specialist conservation plan, and the changes are proceeding. It has been a painstaking and slow process enlisting the involvement of the few remaining tradesmen who specialise in heritage work of the type needed for this House.

I was especially impressed by the ceiling ‘rose’ in the original ballroom for the fine quality of the tree fern fronds. It was the highlight of my visit.

The full size pool table weighing over 4 tonnes, is a magnificent piece of furniture. I noted its feet rested on stone foundations.

The generous and freshly made High Tea (scones jam and cream, mini quiches, egg sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, and much more) was served in a beautifully restored ballroom. The photo below shows only a small portion of the space.

We listened to the owner explain the history of ownership and the effects on the shape and state of the building. In small groups he led us on a series of interesting staircases up to the ‘widows walk’ from where we had a 360 degree view covering the Derwent River, Mount Wellington and much much more.

Later we strolled through the grounds and learnt about past extensions and outer buildings, extensive gardens and glass houses.

Finally I ambled down the hill to see the House from another angle, and found myself at a fountain below a walkway sided with apple trees.

If I had been told in advance that the tour and tea visit would take 3 hours, I might have baulked. I am glad I did not know this because my time at Claremont House offered me a rich and varied experience. The owner was energetic, well informed, and experienced with the process of turning Claremont House from what it had become, a sow’s ear, into a silk purse. The restoration process continues and I will look forward to revisiting from time to time, to see new developments. The price is $30 full adult and $25 concession. This has to be the best value around.

Last weekend Hobart focused on the Derwent River

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Last week I posted information in advance of the Royal Hobart Regatta and the Australian Wooden Boat Festival both of which celebrated Hobart’s water-based history on and in relation to the Derwent River.

On Friday afternoon, the Parade of Sails offered a flotilla of yachts and sailing ships which manoeuvred to the starting point of John Garrow Light and then headed upriver to Sullivans Cove at the wharf in Hobart. Followers may recall that, on an earlier stage of my walk along the Derwent River, I passed the John Garrow navigation light in Lower Sandy Bay when I reached Blinking Billy Point.

Last Friday I thought that a raised vantage point would give me a great view of the Parade of Sails, so I joined with neighbours from their balcony to watch. I saw hundreds of marine craft sailing up the river on a heavenly blue sky day. The wind pushed them quickly upriver to Sandy Bay and then they seemed to stall. The sails congregated en masse close to shore between Wrest Point Hotel Casino and the suburb of Battery Point.

This was so far away and unless you enlarge my photos you will believe there were few vessels on the Derwent River that day. When not much forward movement happened, I realised that the finishing time for the Parade of Sails was 1.30pm but it wasn’t yet 1pm. Therefore, I presumed the ships decided to wait so the grand entrance/arrival into the Hobart docks could be on time.

On Monday I watched a swooping display from 4 synchronised planes, the Roulettes. They flew in complex formations around the city, across Mount Wellington and along the Derwent River, spewing steam behind to mark their athletic twists and turns.

It was a packed weekend and the media provided spectacular views of all the activities. Have a look and consider being around when these events are held next time.

The Royal Hobart Regatta site is at: http://www.royalhobartregatta.com/

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival site is at: http://www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au/home

Colourful media coverage of this year’s events include:

Starting out from Hinsby Beach and walking south to Wandella Avenue – Stage 12

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I left home in Bellerive on the eastern shore of the Derwent River before 7am while the morning was cool and the light was soft grey. By the time my bus into Hobart city was travelling over the Tasman Bridge, the sun had hit the top of Mount Wellington, the sky was blue, and the day promised to be sensational. The dramatic circus tent on the Queens Domain was being dismantled. People on the bus seemed to be dozing. Yet outside the bus, I wondered at the stunning crispness of shadows and sunlight causing windows to sparkle. The look of the day made me feel like I was sparkling. But my eyes were wide open. Waiting at the bus stop at Franklin Square for a bus headed towards Kingston but passing through Taroona, all I could think was ‘glorious, glorious, glorious’.

With few people on board, the trip to bus stop 30 in Taroona (the one where I finished in Stage 11) only took 22 minutes and then I was out in the fresh air on the Channel Highway at 7.52am. Gulls calling. Gardens were flush with sunflowers, roses, agapanthus, wandering pumpkin plants, lavenders of all types, and flowering gum trees. All overlaid by the sounds of bush birds flitting here and there.

By 7.58am I had walked down Hinsby Street and reached the top of the walkway leading to the Hinsby Beach. I could hear the shushing of the soft waves along the beach and glimpse a tiny bit of water at the end of the shady path.

I could see the Alum Cliffs through the trees.

A swimmer was leaving the water as I clicked a photograph. When I registered his angry body language, I realised I had been feeling the place without really seeing. Of course my finger on the tablet’s camera clicked mechanically without seeing or feeling – but featuring photographs with him was not to his liking. I immediately claimed to be photographing the Alum Cliffs at the end of the beach and promised not to blog his picture.

I guess the swimmer was not used to sharing the beach with anybody else that early and could only repeat rather manically, ‘you must come in’, ‘you must come in’ as he gesticulated towards the water. I was thickly dressed from neck to toe and already wearing my sun hat. ‘Going in’ was not in my plan. I continued along the beach. A little later on a path, I took the following photo – I hope you can understand that getting undressed would never have been an option.

At 8.05am, at the end of Hinsby Beach, I looked back for one last sea-level view of Hinsby Beach.

I reached a stairway with rails and walked uphill until I seemed not to be on a clear track.

When you read further below you will realise the photo above does not show the start of the track which I should have taken.

Very soon I arrived at a gully with a small trickle of water passing downhill. I chose not to cross by balancing as a gymnast on the dead tree trunks that criss-crossed it. Instead I simply walked easily down, stepped across a few rocks and walked up the other side. Before long it was clear I was fenced in and that a proper dirt track passed on the other side of the fence. The fence was elastic so I swayed over it rather dramatically without falling off and down the cliff on the other side of the track. When I righted myself and looked back along the track which I hadn’t known existed, three women and a dog stood very still, their mouths agape. ‘Are you alright?’ they chorused. ‘Yes’, I assured them as I smiled. Some moments I wonder if I am losing my once good judgement. ‘But where have you come from?’ I asked with a puzzled wrinkling of my forehead. ‘Where did you find this track?’ Apparently, if I had bypassed the stairs and track I had chosen and walked around over the rocks of Hinsby Beach a little further, the real track started there. Time for the installation of a few signs!

This ‘new’ track was fine.

Although there were occasional diversions across the track.

The view back towards Hinsby Beach was clear.

The time was 8.22am as I offloaded my jacket, smeared sunscreen across exposed parts of my body and continued walking along the track until it extended up into a suburban street. At 8.25am I turned left into Wandella Ave, wandered along past houses for a while, could not see any further tracks back to the Alum Cliffs, talked to a local who did not think there was one and recommended that I should walk up to the Channel Highway and continue southwards on that road.

Not to be defeated, I retraced my steps down the original pathway until I discerned an old disused track that seemed to continue along the Cliffs. I walked it but casual inexperienced walkers and those walking alone absolutely should not. Incredibly unsafe in just about every way. I didn’t fall nor receive injuries but there were so many ways and places I could have damaged or killed myself on that route. I won’t relay all the details of that walk except to say that the views across the Derwent River though the trees were grand. Blue Wrens darted around me through the bush. Waves pounded against the Cliffs, and I could hear the roar of waves crashing on distant beaches. Because photographs flatten the vistas, the ones I have taken do not present the feeling of isolation, steepness nor roughness of this non-track. But it was incredibly beautiful and I am glad to have seen that landscape.

I started this diversion at 8.37am. After following a collapsing path (although parts were good), I managed a deep descent into and an ascent out of an unnamed gully by 9.12am, rounded an extensive private house, talked with the house owner about the future of tracks along the Alum Cliffs and the non-availability of any tracks passing his house (which stood on the very edge of the Cliff) around 9.25am, and walked down and around the very long winding private driveway over a trickling creek, I reached suburbia again at 9.35am – the same point on Wandella Ave I had been earlier in the morning. I had completed a loop. Certainly I had been close to the Derwent River more than most but I had not advanced along the River.

The first photo below shows the house I climbed up to on top of the cliff after descending into a gully, the waters of which plunged over a rocky edge to the River.

I recommend that all evidence of the existence of the disused track should be eliminated.

Blinking Billy Point, Lower Sandy Bay next to the Derwent River

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Continuing Stage 11 of my walk along the Derwent River, I walked the foreshore from Long Beach towards Blinking Billy Point. Looking northwards, the crescent of Long Beach stretched before me.

I passed a new set of public toilets around 10am and ten minutes later I was walking around Blinking Billy Point.

This was an area to which Charles Darwin (http://www.biography.com/people/charles-darwin-9266433) walked from Sullivans Cove (my starting point for this Stage of the walk) in February 1836. The area’s local government has remembered the occasion with an information plaque.

Out in the water is a marker for water craft: the John Garrow Light (established in 1953). I have known this was a marker used in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race but I had never known where it was located. Now I know: almost east of the Blinking Billy old lighthouse. According to http://www.maritimetas.org/sites/all/files/maritime/nautical_news_winter_2002.pdf, John Garrow was a Sandy Bay pastry-cook, who lived in Bath St. Battery Point and died 1924. This begs the question – how did a nautical navigation tool come to be named after someone that seemingly had no connection with the Derwent?

I noticed that the Point has old defence structures embedded in the cliff. I learned that these were an adjunct to the huge hill behind with the remnants of the 19^th century Alexandra Battery.

Looking down the Derwent River through the glitter of the distance to the eastern shore, I could pick out Trywork Point (the southernmost tip of land before Ralphs Bay begins) and Gellibrand Point (the northern most point of the South Arm peninsula) both providing the ‘gateposts’ to Ralphs Bay. Previously, I explored these distant Points on Stage 2 and 3 of my walk.

Then I looked back to Long Beach from Blinking Billy Point with Mount Wellington in the distance. How peaceful the world seemed.

Despite the promises of a short beach in Geography Bay after the Blinking Billy Point, I knew better than to have expectations that continuing my walk on the foreshore was possible. The Sandy Bay Foreshore Track finishes at Blinking Billy Point.

Some years ago a friend and I tried to walk the rocky shore southwards from Blinking Billy Point but, as the tide came in, there came a moment when we couldn’t move forward or backwards. I remembered we scrambled up through someone’s property; the people were not at home and we let ourselves out onto the street hoping no alarm systems would be alerted. We were lucky that day.

Based on that memory, I knew it was not worth proceeding any further and retraced my steps around Blinking Billy Point until I could walk up to Sandy Bay Road.

From Sandy Bay to Lower Sandy Bay on Stage 11 of my walk along the Derwent River

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After Maning Ave Reserve I continued walking along Sandy Bay Road and used every opportunity to glimpse the Derwent River down the driveways of large houses with expensive River frontage.

By 9.10am I reached the Red Chapel Reserve. Red Chapel Ave is one of Hobart’s well-known streets extending up the hill and connecting to other main streets but I had never known, until this walk, where the name came from. I wonder how many Hobartians know the source. Of course the source turned out to be so obvious once I knew and used my eyes. It was named after the red coloured chapel of the 20^thcentury St Stephens Anglican church that was built on the River side of the Road next to the Reserve and opposite the uphill Avenue. What can be said about the impoverishment of imagination? Refer to https://stainedglassaustralia.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/1914-st-stephens-anglican-church-lower-sandy-bay-tasmania/ for some glorious images. The photo below is courtesy ofhttp://www.anglicantas.org.au/parishes/?item=37

A minute or so further down the road and on the right was the highly esteemed Lipscombe Larder on the corner of … Lipscombe Ave. Where else would it be?

In addition to all its tasty delicatessen products and wines, this food paradise also sells exquisite cakes: refer to http://lipscombelarder.com.au/ for images.

At some stage during my walk in this suburb, I realised that no one was walking a mongrel dog. At the end of leads were expensive pedigreed dogs. Certainly their owners seemed happy.

Before long, a set of steep stairs attracted my attention on the left. These were for public access to Nutgrove Beach. As I approached the Beach I was staggered by the size of an old pear tree on the dune edge, and loved the pigface plant which carpeted the area either side of the pathway. I was on the beach at 9.20am and turned right to walk southwards.

Behind low sand dunes on my right, the roofs and second storeys of beach front houses were visible. At 9.23am, I passed public toilets almost hidden under a large pine tree, and by 9.30 I reached a corner of the beach with the Sandy Bay Sailing Club located up in the dunes.

Moments later I turned the corner and was no longer able to look back at Wrest Point and Battery Point in the distance.

I continued on a pathway over the shore and over the dunes some of which would be impassable at high tide without getting wet feet. Some of the rocks were unstable underfoot presenting the risk of a turned ankle or knee. Nutgrove Beach had been a simple delight, and before long I was on an easy, vegetated, and shaded walking track to Long Beach at Lower Sandy Bay. Then I arrived.

Back out into the open by 9.35am, I could see public toilets nearby, and by looking across the Derwent River to the eastern shore, the yellow strips of Bellerive and Howrah Beaches (on which I walked in an early stage of my walk) were visible.

I had been walking for over two hours so sat for a while in the gorgeous sun, watched the tiny waves rippling fluidly and regularly, stared at two fishing boats motoring out of the Derwent Harbour, listened to kids’ riotous laughter in a kids’ playground nearby, and then stood up and got going again at 9.50am.

I was delighted to discover Stephen Walker’s huge many part bronze sculpture, Tidal Pools, with its inbuilt water feature at Long Beach in Lower Sandy Bay.

The remarkable 86 year old Tasmanian artist died only about 7 months ago leaving a great many large scale works around Tasmania and other parts of Australia, such as his Tank Stream Fountain (1981), near Circular Quay in Sydney. In the 1950s, Stephen Walker studied under the celebrated sculptor Englishman Henry Moore. Apparently Walker continued his bronze casting work well into his 70s using his foundry underneath the house.

Five minutes of walking the developed walkways of Long Beach brought me to a cul-de-sac with its carpark full of vehicles. Further along that loop off Beach Road were bakeries, cafes, restaurants, etc.

Battery Point on Stage 11 of my walk along the Derwent River

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Many websites provide information about the very old suburb of Battery Point; for example, read http://www.batterypoint.net/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_Point,_Tasmania; or http://www.hobartcity.com.au/community/arts_and_culture/public_art/battery_point

I walked as close to the Derwent River as I could and therefore did not wind around the cute streets with their changing architecture, and I was not on the hunt for historical landmarks within the suburb. A morning’s meander through the streets can be very instructive but a walk close to the foreshore also has its attractions. Besides, every street in Battery Point is interesting.

Having left Salamanca and the Castray Esplanade, I walked to the River and along a pathway. When I reached the A J White Park I looked around and absorbed some of the contemporary sculptural forms which were sited there.

At 7.55am I turned up and away from the water because continuing access around the few rocks jutting out of the water was not possible. At 7.58am I turned left at Clarke Ave and at 8.03am I turned left at Marine Terrace.

A few minutes later, as I approached Derwent Lane which led to a dead-end down at the water (with previous knowledge I decided it was not worth the effort of walking down and then straight back up) a woman stopped and questioned me. ‘What are you writing?’ she wanted to know. Her body frame relaxed when I explained my project. I didn’t need to be told that the issue of public access to the foreshore is a very sore and contested point in this suburb as homeowners are feeling increased pressure to agree to a boardwalk being built in front of their very expensive and private homes – residents believe they purchased sole and permanent access to the high tide mark. Undoubtedly the woman was wondering whether I had been commissioned to do another survey or some other work without community consultation.

If you are following in my footsteps, then the path southwards continues by walking along Napoleon Street. Either side of the road I enjoyed the spectacle of exceptional houses of many vintages and styles.

Eventually I stepped down an extremely steep part of Napoleon Street and could see Mount Wellington to my right and Mount Nelson to my left with great clarity.

At the bottom of the street I crossed the Sandy Bay Rivulet and arrived at the Errol Flynn Reserve.

The Rivulet runs out into Short Beach which edges the Derwent River at this point.

I had left the suburb of Battery Point and arrived in the suburb of Sandy Bay and it was only 8.15am.

Walking along the wharves of Sullivans Cove, Hobart

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On Stage 11, after walking along Hunter St, I turned right to walk along the Franklin Wharf street, and had the Derwent River on my left and an enclosure for fishing and other vessels to my right. The morning was fresh, the sun was shining and it was all together delightful. Not many people around. The mountain, clearly visible, looked down on the centre of Hobart and over the wharves. Clouds were reflected serenely in the water.

A family of bronze sculptures, perched life-like on rocks on the River side, is much loved by visitors.

Passing Mures fish restaurant on my right, I continued on until I could see the row of floating fish shops selling fresh and cooked fish and other seafood.

A minute later, I was standing on the celebration platform used when the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race boats arrive. I looked across to Elizabeth Pier which contains accommodation, conference facilities and a number of eateries (where sitting outside is such a pleasure). In the photo below the ‘tall-ship’ replica Lady Nelson sits outside the T42 restaurant.

Opposite Elizabeth St pier, a number of buildings of different architectural styles and vintages line part of the street. Continuing to the other side of the Elizabeth St pier, a second tall ship, the Windward Bound offers sailing trips.

On the next pier after the one in the photo above, a couple of the contemporary camouflaged MONA ferries sat either side within the slightly mobile surface of beautiful glassy water. Taking a trip on these ferries down the Derwent to and from MONA (Museum of New and Old Art) located in the suburb of Berriedale (I walked through that on recent Stages) helps you to see parts of Hobart you would not normally see, and it gives you a perspective on the distances over which the Greater Hobart Area sprawls. It is interesting to reflect on the two extremes of water vessel technology, when you look at the 19^th century sailing ship close by a state-of-the-art catamaran.

These starting sections of my Stage 11 were colourful and tranquil. It’s a free, easy, stroll along the waterfront and there is much to see looking out onto the side of the Derwent River. The next posting on this blog will look at landmarks on the non-River side of the streets.

Yesterday I walked Stage 11 from Hunter St in Hobart city to Hinsby Beach south of Taroona

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The goal of my walk along the Derwent River for Stage 11 was to start at my last stopping point, Hunter St at the wharf in Hobart on the western shore of the Derwent River, and continue to Kingston in the local government area of Kingborough. But I did not get that far. My feet said enough was enough once I found the delightful and almost hidden Hinsby Beach.

Over future posts, I will write up the stories of the walk, what I saw and what I experienced, but for now it’s enough to say that I am continuing with this massive project to walk both sides of the Derwent between the mouth and Bridgewater, and then onwards to Lake St Clair.

The day was sunny with a bright blue sky, Mount Wellington was clear, and a cool breeze featured through much of the day – making it perfect walking weather.

Yesterday I covered 8 kilometres of the length of the Derwent River on the western shore (making 30 kms in total on the western shore), and walked approximately 13kilometres (making a total of 143 kms to date) to achieve that distance. This distance also takes in the streets and paths on which I walked that led to dead ends so that I needed to retrace my footsteps.

The highlights of the walk include discovering the road next to Taroona High School is a public access route which took me down to the Derwent River to a row of colourful boathouses, getting off the main road at places like Cartwright Park Reserve, and seeing the Alum Cliffs in all their majesty. My next walk will start along the top of these.

It was a revelation to watch the eastern shore and to see the suburbs and beaches on which I walked in the early stages of my walk. The day started with my being roughly opposite Bellerive and finished with my being opposite Gellibrand Point at the northern tip of South Arm. The photo below, taken from Hinsby Beach, looks across the Derwent River to Opossum Bay Beach.

I intend my next walk will start from Hinsby Beach and continue to Blackmans Bay. But before then I need to record the details of yesterday’s walk. So my walk for Stage 12 could be a week or more away.

Walking the Derwent River

The ribbon that separates the eastern and western shores of Hobart, Tasmania's capital city

Category Archives: Mount Wellington

Theatre Royal, Hobart – proximity to the Derwent River

Reliving GASP and MONA with a new walk along the Derwent River

Kunanyi

My first walking story video

Video stories and the Derwent River

Before my walk along the Derwent River last Tuesday

A new milestone marking the 13th stage of my walk along the Derwent River: I reached the mouth on the western shore. Whoppee Doo!!

Claremont House, Tasmania

Last weekend Hobart focused on the Derwent River

Starting out from Hinsby Beach and walking south to Wandella Avenue – Stage 12

Blinking Billy Point, Lower Sandy Bay next to the Derwent River

From Sandy Bay to Lower Sandy Bay on Stage 11 of my walk along the Derwent River

Battery Point on Stage 11 of my walk along the Derwent River

Walking along the wharves of Sullivans Cove, Hobart

Yesterday I walked Stage 11 from Hunter St in Hobart city to Hinsby Beach south of Taroona

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