Category Archives: Walking

Stage 2 on 4/9/2014 The Tower Email 5 of 14

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Having ascended from Mitchell’s Beach a little after 10 am, I turned left and followed the four wheel drive track with Mount Wellington looming in the distance. Swallows swooping ahead of me along the track. An old windblown pine tree stood on the left between me and the Derwent River with thousands of new pine cones in their early growth phase – like small golden brown candles. The Derwent River was almost flat calm.

Then I could hear children. Ah ha! Hmmm. The sounds of their happy voices coming closer. Behind me across the land. Drat! Solitude about to disappear. Maybe.

Walking across the undulating landscape allowed me to be in sight of the tribe of primary school children with their two accompanying teachers and then, alternately, to be on my own as the hill crests obscured my view backwards. It only took me 10 minutes to reach the tower on the open and exposed White Point Rock headland.  The tower, in its caged environment, is an Australian Department of Communications radio and television transmitter which ensures some suburbs across the river receive their needed communications connections.

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Apparently the land at White Point Rock dates to the Late Pleistocene – that is, roughly 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago, and University of Tasmania researchers (http://ecite.utas.edu.au/62080) have documented the shell remains of the ancient marine fauna contained in the land there, now 24 metres above the current river level.

Stage 2 on 4/9/2014 Mitchell’s Beach Email 4 of 14

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The roadway above Opossum Bay beach being narrow and without public footpaths meant it was important not to day dream and for me to be vigilant for the occasional car.  But Opossum Bay is a relaxed seaside village and even cars seem to move sedately.

I continued walking on the road from Opossum Bay beach until I reached a 50Km hour sign for cars, then I moved left off the road onto a well-trodden narrow track through a clutch of Casuarina trees and walked down to the next beach – Mitchell’s Beach. When I checked my watch, only 20 minutes had passed since I had left the bus. Yet already my head was filled with ideas and new information, and my heart was open with joy. The pleasure of walking in clean clear environments cannot be underestimated.

The winding track from the road finished on the sandstone rocks. After an easy few movements and a short distance, I walked onto the sand of Mitchell’s Beach. As I padded along the beach, a gentle breeze whispered across my face while the water lapped quietly onto the sandy shore. Silver gulls wandered around. Opened mussel and oyster shells strewn along the beach, were blanching in the sunlight. I marvelled at the various seaweeds thrown up at high tide, at the decaying ribbons of sea grass and at the fish eggs collapsed like bizarre multi-shaped condoms. The air was rich with the sweet and salty smell of dying seaplants. The water a soft greeny grey. Blissful.

When I come across a few bright orange starfish on the edge of the tide, I cartwheeled them into the dry sand at the upper edges of the beach. I was simply doing my tiny bit to reduce the infestation of these seastars (http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/starfish/) as devastating invaders of our local marine environment.

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From Mitchell’s Beach I looked directly across the Derwent River and could see the suburbs of Kingston and Taroona with the Alum Cliffs below Bonnet Hill between them. Strikingly, Taroona’s Shot Tower stood tall.  Stunning.

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A pair of footprints impressed in the sand let me know that someone had walked the beach earlier.

Mitchell’s Beach was edged with three to four metre high dunes with tussocky grass on top, which were gradually crumbling into the beach. Demarcations between dirt and sand strata were clearly visible. Towards the northern end of the beach, small seas of water smoothed grey stones provided a separation layer between the beach and the dunes.

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A lone Dominican gull with his pure white tail, pale grey legs and small yellow bill flew off leaving me in charge of his beach.

I reached the end of Mitchell’s beach 40 minutes or so after setting off from the Opossum Bay shop. Again a rocky headland stopped me continuing but I couldn’t see a defined track up the hill onto the land at the top.  Clearly people had found a way judging from a mishmash of bits of tracks.  I chose the least steep section and was surprised when after my first steps up I slid back down. The previous day’s rain had kept the ground lush and damp, and it was clear that the soil included slippery clay. By a more careful choice of foot placements, I eventually reached the top.

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Stage 2 on 4/9/2014 Opossum Bay Email 3 of 14

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The bus trip from the city to the starting point for today’s walk takes approximately 1 hour 10 minutes.

Stage 1 of my walk finished at the Opossum Bay shop so Stage 2 needed to start from there.

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By the way, it makes sense to alert the bus driver that you do not know the area you are travelling to, that you want to get off at the Opossum Bay shop, and that you would like him or her to stop and let you off when you reach your destination.  Our Metro drivers are very happy to provide this simple customer service.

When I alight from the bus at 9.10 am, what I see ahead is excitement. I watch the bus disappearing along the road and know that this is the direction I must take, however on different paths. From the Taroona TasMAP, I know the bus will not travel nearly as far as I will walk, so that once I have reached my destination of Gellibrand Point, I will need to retrace my steps to a bus stop.

I am unsure if I might find trails, and whether I might need to exert some pioneering spirit and discover a way. I don’t know who I will meet or where. I wonder what I will smell and what I will hear.  This promises to be a terrific adventure which will use all my senses. Stepping off into an unknown world.  And so I take the first step along the road (no footpaths) from the Opossum Bay shop.

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The sun is shining. Air is crisp. Nobody is out and about and walking around. Opossum Bay is peaceful and quiet except for the soft sounds of water lapping onto a beach in the distance.

100 metres along the roadway a sign points to public toilets which, after an hour on the bus, are a good place to visit. At the bottom of the attached carpark, a large placard indicates a tiny walkway down onto Opossum Bay foreshore.

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I was filled with awe when I stepped onto the pristine white sandy foreshore, and looked along at relaxed houses and shacks overlooking the edge of the beach. Not a soul to be seen.

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Mt Wellington and the western shore of Hobart across the Derwent River looked particularly special.

10 to 15 minutes later I had walked north along the length of the beach until confronted by a rocky headland that needed to be rounded before I could continue the walk.

Instead, I chose to climb the concrete stairs near the end of the beach that returned me up to the road.  I noted that the rocks were reasonably smooth and could easily be accessed, but as usual and not knowing which future obstacles might present themselves I decided on the more obvious route; all the time I remembering my return bus departed at 2.02 pm and that I needed to make sure I caught it (because the later one did not depart until 5.55 pm).

Stage 2 on 4/9/2014 Travelling towards the South Arm peninsula Email 2 of 14

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For people with lives normally immersed in the big cities of the world, travelling this route to Opossum Bay will be full of surprises.

Hobart is a capital city yet, after not many minutes of travelling, the bus passes through bush land from time to time, before coming out into clusters of developing real estate. Springing up around many corners, the landscape is meshed with strips of dark bitumen. These cul de sacs and neighbourhood streets are usually featured with white concrete lengths of soon-to-be driveways into soon-to-be built houses on blocks cleared of all vegetation. These new suburbs represent the interest in having and the will to live in your own home – even if it means a 20 minute or so travel time to the city. We know that by the standards of other capital cities around Australia and the world that such travel times are but a blink of time.  The easy accessibility to the centre of the city is a great reason to live in suburban Hobart.

As usual the bus travelled through the suburb of Rokeby. I was eager for another view of Ralph’s Bay remembering its sparkling crisp deep blue expanse when I travelled this way for Stage 1 of the walk. This time the colours were different however, despite the sun shining. Perhaps it was the high level wispy cirrus clouds that filtered the light and affected the colour of Ralph’s Bay on this journey. This time, when travelling the streets at the top of Rokeby, the spread of water was coloured a warmer tone of greys and pale greens. The Bay looked benign and neutral, and was all together welcoming. Further on in the journey, I passed the mud flats at the Lauderdale site of the Bay. The tide was in further than previously and covered most of the mud. I couldn’t help but think how time makes small differences in our world – it is only two weeks since I was travelling here on route for the first walk and, at that time, acres of mud flats were on show.

What else did I see during this bus trip?  Glossy dew on lawns. White blossom on fruit trees. Pink blossom. A well-painted graffiti wall, following a colourful display of clever mosaics in the suburb Clarendon Vale.  Road signs with the symbol of a horse with rider warning of the additional ‘traffic’ which the road might share. Paddocks with grazing horses. Horseboxes. White fences. As the bus started on the road across the isthmus to the South Arm peninsula one sign with a stylised image of a Pied Oyster Catcher bird indicated travellers should be aware that these birds may want to walk across the road from time to time.  Later, on the return to Hobart journey, I noted perhaps 50 Black Oyster Catcher birds resting as a large family, on the sandy edge of Ralph’s Bay near the sign.  They were not in the least put out by the rattling of the passing bus. 

Stage 2 on 4/9/2014 Clarence St Bellerive Email 1 of 14

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As expected, the early morning (number 640) Metro bus arrived from Hobart at my eastern shore bus stop, and once on board I settled down ready for the new experience of Stage 2 of my walk along the Derwent River. After charging along Cambridge Road, the bus turned left at Bellerive village and commenced the long haul along Clarence St.  It occurred to me that the houses along both sides of the road represented many vintages of free-standing suburban house architecture for this part of Hobart. I was surprised to see Wunderlich panels of decorative pressed metal in the frontispieces of some houses in the gable beneath dual pitched roofs, indicating an architectural age of early in the last century. There were the flat roofs of houses that had more in common with Tasmanian shacks of the 1950s, the three fronted brick veneers, the fashionably rendered homes in tones of dark beige with their black roofs, the remnants of rural cottages from a time before the city sprawl had moved to fill the land on the eastern shore of Hobart, substantial pretty weatherboard family homes, and much much more. If your experience is of the repetitive rows in London streets, the towering repetitive apartment blocks of Moscow, or the repetitive white family group block houses of Athens, then the sight of the houses along Clarence St will be a revelation. Somewhat puzzling but fascinating nevertheless. You will not be familiar with the diversity of free standing houses with their own front and back gardens that so many Australians take for granted, and accept as their right. One family to a large block of land is a situation more prevalent and typical in Hobart perhaps than in other Australian capital cities and it is one of the features that attracts me to this beautiful and interesting city.

The second stage of the walking tour

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Tomorrow, Thursday 4 September, I plan to walk a second stage of my foot journey along the eastern shore of the Derwent river.  As with the first leg, I need to take Bus 640 that departs from the Hobart city bus mall at 8am and heads towards Opossum Bay.  I will jump on the bus once it reaches the eastern shore and, as before, I know I must be patient because it will weave through the suburbs of Rokeby and Clarendon Vale before passing Lauderdale, Sandford and South Arm (details of these great locations are in the earlier postings related to the first stage of the walk). My bus destination is the Opossum Bay Shop. From there I will walk north to Gellibrand Point via beaches, roads and open landscape.  I hope to be able to enjoy my pre-packed lunch sitting looking towards Mount Wellington before returning to the Driftwood Drive bus stop for my journey back towards Hobart. The morning low temperature is expected to be around 9 degrees when I arrive and rise to about 14 degrees around 1pm. The return bus leaves Opossum Bay at 2.02 so I hope it doesn’t rain before then.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

22 Aug 2014 Leaving South Arm and heading home, and final thoughts – Posting 8 of 8

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On the return journey towards Hobart, the bus deviated via large mudflats into the town of Cremorne adding 5 minutes to the trip, then it dropped me at a Lauderdale bus stop for transfer to another bus (because the Opossum Bay bus terminates at Lauderdale) approximately 5 minutes later (with his two way communication, the bus driver alerted the other driver there was a transferring passenger to be collected). Once on the Lauderdale bus, the trip towards Hobart deviated through the suburb of Oakdowns and so a further 5 minutes was added to the journey. After the bussing and the walking I was home in Bellerive at 3.20pm.

In this series of blogs for the first walk stage, I have provided approximate times for various sections of my walk as an indication only. I am short legged and plod slowly (and towards the end I felt I was shuffling like an old man). If you are tall and can happily stride long steps faster, then my walk will not be sufficient to fill the time between buses.  In fact some speedy walkers may be able to continue through the Opossum Bay community and walk to the end of Gellibrand Point, the most western tip of this piece of land before Ralph’s Bay makes its inlet.  My next walk will be designed to complete that section, and then I should be able to advise as to whether fitting it all into 5 hours is possible for the able.

Since it is unlikely anyone else will have my success if they turn up at the gate of Fort Direction and get driven through the site, the only general public approach is to walk along Fort Beach having walked most of Blessington Road.  Based on the information I recorded, I suggest one way on this route from the set down bus stop to the Lone Pine Memorial will take an hour if you take time to enjoy the views and click photographs. Add the half hour return walk between Cape Deliverance and Cape Direction with its gun placement bunker and the whole excursion takes approximately 2 ½ hours.  As an alternative, you could spice it up by jumping the shore rocks like a goat, from South Arm to Fort Beach. I would guess another hour could be added to the duration of the walk.

I noted that the tide was going out while I walked, and that the high tide merged with the dune verges in places on Fort Beach. It made me think that on a high tide, this route might be impassable. In such a circumstance and if you had made the special trip and your heart was set on a beach walk, the expanses of the South Arm beach with their outstanding views, old pines shadowing parts of the dunes, and soft roaring Casuarina trees, would make a very attractive substitute.  You might be lucky, as I was, to see a giant fresh squid washed onto the beach being enjoyed by immature grey feathered winged large Gulls.

Many of our native birds are various shades of black and brown but we also have an array of colourful specimens. During my walk, the sun brought out not only the musical black and white Magpies, the hard cawing jet black Crows, but also plump pink and grey Galahs feasting on the ground, Mr Blue Wren flitting in and out of the shadows, a glorious Mr Robin with his red breast, and a flock of multi-coloured Rosella parrots.

My guess is that I walked around 10-12 kms including getting to the start and then continuing on.  But how much of the 249km length of the Derwent River have I covered? About 7kms. A great start! A memorable day. A very positive experience.

22 Aug 2014 Via Fort Beach returning to South Arm road – Posting 6 of 8

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I retraced my steps from Cape Direction and Pot Bay to the Lone Pine Memorial.

On the Pot Bay beach I passed an amazing driftwood ‘shack’ on the beach, as shown in the photo below. Are those underpants swinging from on high?

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After a refreshed look at the Lone Pine Memorial, at 10.25 am (only 1 hour 20 mins since I had left the bus – yet, because I had seen and thought about so many things, the time felt much longer), I turned towards the point of Cape Deliverance. Before doing so, I clicked the photo below which scans Fort Beach towards Johns Point.

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The vehicle track, which wound down the hill towards the Derwent then switched back in the direction of Fort Direction seemed the perfect way to get myself down onto the sandy Fort Beach. Twenty or so minutes later I reached the western end of the beach and easily walked up onto Blessington Road.   The alternative would have been to round John’s Point and continue along to South Arm almost entirely by clambering over a rocky shore.  Of course this was possible however, I reasoned that it would take a lot longer to reach my destination. While walking on the very long Blessington Road, I noticed a couple of public walkways down to the shore, so that if a walker started at the river level they could come up to the road at a later time. A couple of empty house blocks with a water frontage made me consider whether these might provide a way to move from the shore to the road – but they are privately owned so careful thought would be needed before deciding to walk across these.

Half an hour later I reached the cross street Rosemount Lane, a short street which took me down to the South Arm Road.  I continued west towards the South Arm beach, passing by the prominent Cenotaph that remembered many wars including the more recent Iraqi war.

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Acknowledgement of Country – to the Moomairremener people

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I will be walking on the land of the Moomairremener people as I walk along the eastern side of the Derwent River.  Therefore, 

“I acknowledge and pay respect to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community as the traditional and original owners and continuing custodians of this land.”

The first people to live in Clarence were the Moomairremener, a band of the Oyster Bay tribe. Their home was all of present-day Clarence as well as Pittwater. In summer the Moomairremener went up the Derwent to the New Norfolk area to hunt, while the people there came down to the coast. In autumn they returned to the coast. Europeans later recorded some Aboriginal place names: More.der.tine.ner and Reemere were South Arm, Trum.mer.ner pine.ne was Droughty Point, Nannyeleebata was Rokeby, Mole.he.ac Kangaroo Bluff, Lore.by.larner was Betsey Island, and Ray.ghe.py.er.ren.ne was one name for the Derwent River. The Moomairremener people continued their usual life in Clarence until 1803. (http://www.ccc.tas.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/FINALClarence_01_to_1805.pdf)

Planning the first walk

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Thanks to Je I was reminded that the grid on a map represents a distance and so, before I started fancifully imagining huge distances could be covered in a single leap, I have slowed down and thought through what is possible. And also what is desirable considering public transport times.

I have made the decision to start on my side of the river, the eastern shore of the Derwent. While stages along the river might be taken in any order, making a start on this epic journey at a key point seemed like the proper thing to do. I will start at the mouth of the river.  I am sure my decision as to where the mouth of the Derwent river starts will be controversial. But this is my walk. My Derwent River walk. Having consulted the maps, I can start where I think it is appropriate.

Previously I have remarked that all walks must be able to connect with public bus services – I don’t own a car, and I realise other future walkers of the Derwent might want to travel without worrying about car ferrying to get them to start and finish points. I accept the bus timetables may limit my possibilities and that I may need to walk additional kilometres simply to reach starting points, or after a finishing point along the Derwent. However, I know I will see and experience additional wonders that someone travelling in a car might miss.

Tomorrow morning the 8.09 Opossum Bay Metro bus from the Eastlands bus stop will convey me to South Arm where I plan to follow the Fort Direction road and continue on to Cape Direction.The Cape will be the starting point of my walk along the eastern side of the Derwent River. Tomorrow’s walk is a study in getting a feel for the time it takes to cover territory in a plodding easy way. It will also give me an indication of the reliability of the State Government maps. I expect to cover about 6-7 kilometres including historical sites, but only a portion of that will be along the Derwent.  This area is serviced by an infrequent bus run and I am aware that I need to be back at a bus stop for the next bus departing Opossum Bay at 2.02 pm.

Today is bright and sunny with that gorgeous cloud free Spring look. I am sorry that I hadn’t planned to start walking today. But my excitement is now building for the start of this epic adventure tomorrow!

MONA is a key destination on the edge of the Derwent river

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I am excited that today I will be travelling by a series of local Metro buses to MONA (our wonderful comparatively new, Museum of Old and New Art – which incidentally also houses ancient Egyptian art). The award winning architectural edifice sits on the banks of the Derwent river in Hobart’s northern suburb, Berriedale.  In the future, one of the walking stages will include passing by MONA.

Today, however, the only walking to be done involves getting to bus stops, and then walking up the driveway past Alcorso’s old house and the green leafed rows of grapevines to the new museum. Inside a treat is waiting for me: Synaesthesia. This is where a select few visitors will be asked to submerge themselves in a ‘reverberating, subterranean private playground’. Presented by MONA and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Synaesthesia will create an immersive experience for its patrons with musicians spread out across the entirety of the museum.  This is edgy stuff and having attended one day of the inaugural event last year, I can’t be sure what lies ahead – and therein lies the attraction.  I do know the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra chorus will be giving me a new experience when they sing in total darkness while listeners are contained in an unlit room: Black Bach.

A new idea – starting out

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A year or so ago, I read the true story of an English man who walked the length of the Thames River in England. He did not start one day at one end and continue walking until he reached the other end. Instead the walker fitted many stages of the walk around his normal working life. Through his eyes, and via his words on the page, I discovered a new way of seeing and understanding the everyday world one step at a time.

Half a world away in Hobart Tasmania Australia, the mighty river Derwent wends its way from further north moving south over approximately 249 kilometres past Hobart towards the sea. Last weekend, I realised that if I could walk the edges of the Derwent, then a wonderful adventure might unfold.

As I reread the above, my writing seemed unimpassioned and lacking the excitement I feel about this idea.  How fabulous to walk along our wonderful river with all its changing temperaments and colours; on some days to walk beside its ruffled surface or its mirror sheen. To look across at parts of the city, the hills and the mountain.  To enjoy the bobbing and sails of the yachts. To be reminded that I live in this marvellous place.

And when I walk, I want to share my discoveries. I will write the story of the walk firstly on a blog followed by a later publication in a hard copy format – complete with photos.  In addition, I will align the walk with the various set down and pick up points of commuter buses of the public transport system. In this way, I will make the walks accessible for anyone without a car.

Alive with the idea, I alerted Ju and Jo. I knew they would contribute valuable information. Already the ideas are flowing.  Immediately, Ju expected to walk some stages with me – an obvious and appropriate response.  I expect other friends may wish to join some stages.

It is unlikely the stages will be walked sequentially. Rather we agreed that I should buy detailed maps on which to mark out the length and track of distinct stages. Then, depending on the weather of a day or my mood, I can select the stage that best meets the situation.  Stages will not last more than a day, but the length of any stage may vary. In winter a stage may last a few hours.  However, during the long days of summer, a stage may last many hours.

The walks will not always be on the rocky or sandy foreshores of the Derwent river. Sometimes these river edges may be place for our footfalls. At other times we may cross grassy slopes over hills or pass along the concrete pavements or bitumen roads of suburban streets. On occasion, permissions may be needed to pass through private land.  But such possibilities are ahead.

Each walk will be an incremental path through unknowns. Only once the length on both sides of the river has been covered on foot, can the patchwork of stages be brought together and moulded to tell a story.

Today I purchased five maps: New Norfolk (5026); Richmond (5226), Hobart (5225), Taroona (5224) and Blackmans Bay (5223). Collectively these cover a small part of the length of the Derwent river.  The initial aim will be to determine the walks from the sea ends of the river at a point in the Blackmans Bay suburb (on the western side) and near the township of Opossum Bay (on the eastern side) then continuing upriver and finishing at some point in the vicinity of New Norfolk.  Further west then north some of the river flows through untracked wilderness so that serious bushwalking plans will need to be developed for those distances.  The aim is to walk the most easily accessible bits first.

A wind ruffled Derwent River shows off the the pleasures of the water. being overlooked by snowcapped Mount Wellington

A wind ruffled Derwent River shows off the the pleasures of the water. being overlooked by snowcapped Mount Wellington