Tag Archives: Shot Tower

More natural beauties stages 11 -14

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As some followers remarked on earlier postings, my selection of past photos on different walk stages has given me a chance to ‘relive’ the experiences. Here are some favourites from the last 4 stages of my walk along the Derwent River.

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I love the Hobart wharf area with its crab and other fishing vessels.

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I love the pretty 19th century buildings lining Hunter St, one of the first settled areas in Hobart.

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I love the drama of the Federation Concert Hall where the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra presents great performances.

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No water is spared. The Parliamentary gardens are always lush and green.

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I love the juxtaposition of the old and new: at Wrest Point Casino; at Lower Sandy Bay’s Blinking Billy against new modern houses.

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Fresh beaches. Serenity.

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Public sculpture.

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Coastal walking tracks.

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Great signage

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The heritage listed Shot Tower near Taroona

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A rough bark and branch ‘hut’ near a track. Shelter from any rain?

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Natural rock caves

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Dramatic viewpoints

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The sun. The reflections.

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Looking at, listening to, smelling the bush.

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And I appreciate the glories of introduced trees and man-made vistas.

Collectively these images provide a reminder of what sits beside the Derwent River as it flows from New Norfolk to its mouth.

Onto the ‘proper’ Alum Cliffs track near Taroona Tasmania

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After walking across the Shot Tower carpark I had one last look back to where I had been. The sky was amazing.

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In the trees then and often further again along the track, Kookaburra birds laughed at me many times. Ha Ha Ha Ha!  Ha Ha Ha! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.  Their feathers camouflaged perfectly with the shadows from leaves and the colours of tree trunks and branches.  They were impossible to photograph. Ha Ha Ha Ha!  Ha Ha Ha!

A sign seen at 10.08am indicated the start of the Alum Cliffs track.

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Then I began the careful descent on a steep 100 metres or so length of a four wheel drive wide smooth gravel track. Partly eroded. Basic stairs were irregularly constructed on one side of this incline.  Bush either side.  A small wallaby surprised me bouncing through the undergrowth.

At 10.15 am I reached the creek crossing below. Peaceful.  Looking up, an even longer climb on the other side was rather dispiriting. On the trek uphill I stopped and sat for a while to take in the view of dense gum tree foliage. There were smooth gum trunks as far as the eye could see.  No wind. Trickling creek below. Peaceful.   As I walked higher, the Shot Tower came into view bit by bit over the trees.

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It was 10.33am when I reached a picnic table and lookout at the top of the Alum Cliffs.

Passing white crowned toadstools with sharp white gills when open, I walked along a shady path which was quiet except for the occasional birdsong, rustling water in the creek below, or the soft voices of other walkers. I learnt from one of the walkers that the Alum Cliffs track used to follow the edge and in order to cross creek gullies, ropes were installed up and down the cliff to steady yourself during the climbs.  Part of those walks included rock hopping along the shoreline as well.

At 10.45am I reached the turn-off to Taronga Road – I did not want to exit the Cliff walk so I continued on. At 10.53am I reached the junction with the Brickfields Track – another time I will return to this area and walk that track to look at the remains of any social history along the way.

A few minutes afterwards, I felt I was identifying exposed alum rock.  I decided it was the rock which had partly oxidised into a greenish colour in places. Whether or not it is the real deal I cannot say.

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Despite tree roots and rocks intruding on this track, the well-trodden dirt with a slight leaf covering made for very easy walking.  Off to the side of the track walking would not have been quick and easy.

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I loved the colours on gum tree trunks as bark peeled away naturally.

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I loved seeing the signs of insects which once burrowed their way under the tree bark.

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At 11.07am I reached a seat with a viewing platform from where I watched an oil tanker motoring up the Derwent, having passed Gellibrand Point on the eastern shore.

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It was a long way down to the River over the Cliffs.

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Then I walked some way with another walker until I needed to stop and start with notetaking and the clicking of photographs.  I continued down across another creek and stopped when I noticed the clay at the bottom.  My earlier research/posting had indicated a connection between the alum rock and clay.

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The track passed through a tiny wet forest area with green pronged tree ferns.  Back up onto a drier track I reached a picnic table at 11.26am. Nearby, a teepee of tree branches and leaves had been built casually.  Would it be better than no shelter in a rainy storm?  Not too sure how long the ‘tent’ would survive much wind.

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Walking past native flowers; pink heath, lots of yellow tiny daisy like flowers, and a delicate 5 petal lavender blue coloured solitary flower.

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I passed smaller tracks off to the left which ended by hovering over the edge of the Cliff, and some to the right which I imagine found their way back into suburbia or onto the Channel Highway.

A glossy scarlet red spider, black legs with a blue iridescent tail crossed my path.  I have never seen one before and knew nothing until I researched once back home; this was Nicodamidae –Red and Black Spider.  Apparently, ‘toxicity unknown, treat with caution’.  Trust me – I didn’t touch it.  The size was that of a woman’s finger nail.

Not long after chatting with a man and his dog, at 11.40am through the trees I could see bits and pieces of Kingston Beach.  My trek across the Alum Cliffs was almost over.

The Shot Tower, Taroona, Tasmania

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Was someone shot here?  Was gunshot made here? What is the story of Taroona’s Shot Tower?

The website http://taroona.tas.au/shot-tower provides the full and correct name of what I visited on Stage 12 of my walk: Joseph Moir’s Shot Tower.

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Another website http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=2820, explains “Joseph Moir’s factory, which operated for 35 years from 1870, manufactured lead shot for contemporary muzzle loading sports guns.”  This second website offers background information about Moir: a Scot, he arrived in Van Diemens Land as a free settler in 1829. Details and photographs of some buildings, the choice of the site, the manufacturing process and Moir’s burial are all covered on this website for those who are interested to know more.

The man seems to have been both industrious and enterprising. Wikipedia claims he “issued tokens in his own name during a currency shortage in the colony”.  The Museum of Victoria (http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/themes/2164/joseph-moir-ironmonger-1809-1874) confirms this story and offers more detail.

In relation to shot towers generally, the first one in history was created in 1783 in England, not many years before Moir was born and emigrated half way around the world. The early process involved molten metal being dropped from a great height in order to turn it into spherical shapes, and letting it land in a pool of water which cooled the metal.  Late in the 19th century, a wind method (short fall and blast of cool air) replaced the long drop and water method.

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Wandella Avenue to the Shot Tower, Tasmania

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My previous posting explained that the first part of my Stage 12 walk along the Derwent River took me to Wandella Ave but then I retraced some steps and took an Alum Cliff-side disused track, which ultimately resulted in my returning to Wandella Avenue.

So – when you walk from Hinsby Beach and the track arrives at Wandella Ave, turn left, walk for a short while and then turn right into Baringa Rd (the signpost for this is missing). Continue walking around and uphill until you reach the junction with the Channel Highway. I reached there at 9.44am

Nearby was bus stop 32.

I enjoyed soaking in the view across the Derwent River where I could see Gellibrand Point and Opossum Bay.

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Further down the River, South Arm and Fort Direction Hill were visible at the mouth of the Derwent on the eastern shore.

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I turned left onto the Channel Highway (which has no footpath) and was able, for some metres, to walk inside a guard rail and then later on a narrow gravel verge with traffic streaming by.  At 9.50 am I was passing the sign indicating this was the Huon Trail Touring Route.

In the bush which I had clambered through earlier and now as I walked along the road, I was concerned to see an exotic which has escaped and been self-seeding rapidly everywhere.  I don’t know the name of the plant but from experience in my own garden, I know it grows fast and furiously into a medium sized plant with a purple pea flower. I did pull out some of the smaller plants and with the moist soil the roots came out as well.  But there were thousands of plants and continuing my walk was the greater priority, so I stopped pulling.

Further up the road, I could see the top of the Shot Tower above the trees.

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Before long I was standing outside the Shot Tower complex. The time was 10.05am.

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The person manning the souvenir shop and entrance to the Tower gave me a booklet with all the tracks and walks in the Kingborough area, and he pointed out a nearby gum tree just over a rise. ‘That’s where the Alum Cliffs track starts’, he told me. He felt sure the Kingborough Council were ready to build the final part of the Alum Cliffs track from the Shot Tower to Hinsby Beach so I guess we wait and see what progress is made in the months to come.  However, it does seem the track won’t be marked out close to the Cliff edges on that northern part.

On my list of things to do in the future will be to return to the Shot Tower to take the walk up the many stairs and look out over where I have walked. The cost is only $8 including the opportunity to watch an interpretative DVD. The Shot Tower site includes a shop, museum, carpark and public toilets.  Plus the fabulous view!

Taroona’s coastline as experienced on Stage 11 of my walk along the Derwent River

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The last leg of this Stage was the most interesting because I made discoveries which delighted me deeply.

At 12.18pm, I left my Channel Highway resting spot and walked downhill toward the people-free Taroona High School (closed for school holidays). Close to the bottom of the hill I could see the tops of boathouses and a ‘beach’ to my right so I took a dogleg to Melinga Place on my right and continued downhill.

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I didn’t know this existed. Mostly a rocky shore, a little sand, edged by a mown green lawn.  Serene.  Across the Derwent River, I could see Gellibrand Point at the north of the South Arm peninsula.

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Walking southwards it wasn’t long before I entered the foreshore bushland on an easy-to-walk dirt track.

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Later I found this had a name: the Taroona Foreshore Track. At one point the ‘track’ passed over a ‘beach’ of shells and rocks then returned to dirt and rose up over areas raised above the water.

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An onshore breeze kept me moving.  Every so often, steep trails descended to the rocky shore but I realised that staying on the track would be more comfortable than rock hopping the edge of the River.

When I walked through a grove of trees that were obviously different, I was delighted to read an information panel which informed me this was an “unusual and isolated stand of blackwoods.  Acacia melanoxylon.”  The species is also known as Sally wattle, lightwood, hickory, mudgerabah, Tasmanian blackwood or black wattle. Their rough bark seemed as if it would flake off in small pieces but it was toughly attached.

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At 12.46pm I looked back northward and could still see the boathouses near the High School.

Looking back to boathouses below Taroona HS

A couple of minutes later I reached Crayfish Point where I noticed craypot markers bobbing in the Derwent River as evidence that fishing for crayfish/lobster was taking place.  However, a sign seemed to indicate this was part of fisheries research by the University of Tasmania.

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Brilliant orange lichen sprawled across some of the rocks.  Huge Pied Cormorants rested on rocks with water lapping at their feet.  This was one of those brilliant days when all the superlatives in the world seem inadequate.

It was near here that an information panel enlightened me about some of the native vegetation.  Now I can identify not only Pigface which I love, but also Bower Spinach and Grey Saltbush. Why I didn’t take photos of the real thing while I was walking I cannot say. Daft!  So I have Googled for images:  If you type in Bower Spinach Tasmania Images, up comes a suite of pictures showing this fleshy leaved plant.  Try something similar to find images of the softly grey coloured Grey Saltbush.

When I reached the start of Taroona Beach at 12.53pm, I looked up the hill and in the distance I could see the Shot Tower that had been built in 1870 (the Shot Tower, a major tourist attraction, is normally accessible from the Channel Highway).

The Batchelor’s Grave Historic Site, just above the foreshore of Taroona Beach, was a surprise.  Wikipedia provides the information that this is “the grave of a young sailor, Joseph Batchelor, who died on the sailing ship Venus in the Derwent Estuary in 1810, and was buried ashore on 28 January 1810. It is reputed to be the oldest European grave in Tasmania”. I am amazed at this idea.  I cannot imagine that many Europeans didn’t die and were buried in Van Diemens Land before 1810 – however, maybe this is the only stone grave marker left from early in the 19th century.

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Taroona Beach is backed by Taroona Park with pleasant picnicking facilities and public toilets.

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I left at 1.06pm and walked along Niree Parade for a couple of minutes until the Taroona Foreshore Track restarted.

Within moments I arrived at Hinsby Beach, which was the find of the day as far as I am concerned. Isolated.  Small.  Tree edged. Calm.  Small wave break.  A few boathouses.  A family beach with a few swimmers and sun bathers.  Located at the end of the River edge before the steep Alum Cliffs which flow for 3 or four kilometres to Kingston.

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I soaked in the atmosphere before starting uphill on a public access walkway at 1.22pm, under shady bushes with lush surrounding ground cover. The track connected to the bottom of Hinsby Road. At the top of Hinsby Road the Channel Highway flowed by. As I arrived at bus stop 30 at 1.36pm, a Metro bus came by on which I made the trip back into Hobart. Half an hour later I was in the city and ready to make the bus trip back home in Bellerive.  I walked in the door at 2.40pm after an exhilarating day when my feet didn’t want to carry me, but I insisted and they persisted. This really is a wonderful part of the world.

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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