Tag Archives: Taroona

Maps

The Derwent River will always be your guide if you choose to walk along its length, but sometimes it is difficult to walk directly next to the river; for example structures may be built to the edge, steep drop down cliffs may raise you many metres above the water, and gates and fences may make access impossibly impassable. In addition, when the terrain forces you away from the river, the vegetation may be sufficiently dense so that you can get lost (without map and compass – and GPS if your technology allows).

If you choose to walk the entire length of Tasmania’s Derwent River you might consult one or more of the 17 maps which cover the territory. One value is that you learn the name and shape of landmarks. Have a look at the list below:

Maps

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Fresh beaches. Serenity.

Public sculpture.

Coastal walking tracks.

Great signage

The heritage listed Shot Tower near Taroona

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

Natural rock caves

Dramatic viewpoints

The sun. The reflections.

Looking at, listening to, smelling the bush.

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.

Picnic on Hinsby Beach

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Local Hobart followers have, from time to time, been fascinated by the new places discovered on various Stages of my walks along the Derwent River. A number of followers fell in love with my description and photos of Hinsby Beach, a beach which I like many others had not previously known existed.

Recently a group of us made our way to Hinsby Beach for a picnic. This was not a normal bus connected walk; rather I sat in the luxury of a car as we travelled to our destination. We parked at the bottom end of Hinsby St which drops down from the main road in the suburb of Taroona. Then, with small backpacks and an esky, we strolled down the tree-lined bitumen track to the beach. This short track is enticing because, from Hinsby St a circular shape of light can be seen at the bottom end and the picture you see is a small arc of sand and waves spreading up and down. Seductive.

Rugs were spread out over the sand. Food was spread out. Drinks were shared. Stories were told. Laughter wove its way around us.

For a short period after we arrived, we ‘owned the beach’. Then couples strolled down, swimmers dashed into the wavy water, and kids of various ages enjoyed their own space at different points along the sand. We felt we had all the space in the world. A big sky. An expansive Derwent River. Deep clean pale yellow sand. Despite clouds crossing the sky, the temperature wasn’t cold.

Being on Hinsby Beach brought back all the memories of the day I discovered this wonderful hideaway at the end of Stage 11, and then I remembered the day I started off at Hinsby Beach and clambered around over the Alum Cliffs before finding the official track on Stage 12. Before leaving the beach we walked to the southern end and found the correct track a few metres to the left of the track ascending from wooden stairs, which I took and led me to an awkward gully crossing,being on private property and fence hopping to get back onto the ‘real’ path. Where are the signs? Kingborough Council, can you please make it clear which track to take?

My photos make the beach seem gloomy but I remember the picnic experience was bright. It was a wonderful way to end my birthday celebrations which had spread over a couple of weeks. Thanks Fe for organising the day.

Finally I reached the mouth of the Derwent River on the western shore at Pearsons Point

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The goal of walking along the western shore of the Derwent River was to reach the mouth and during Stage 13 I reached this destination marked by Pearsons Point.

Before then at 10.44am I walked past a turn off: Mt Louis Road. There was a lump up in the sky on my right. Maybe another time it might be pleasant to see what is up there and to look at the view – which is probably a spectacular 360 degree outlook along the Derwent River, the D’entrecasteaux Channel and Bruny Island.

As I panted up the final hill, I heard the thwack of balls and realised the fencing I could see in the distance amounted to a tennis court. A tennis court! Ye gods! Out here in the bush and miles from anywhere? Yes it was. Two women were slamming the balls up and down the court. Their two cars were the only vehicles in sight.

10.52am: I reached the Pearsons Point Reserve and was feeling rather chuffed.

I wandered around the site which included a disused gun emplacement and a couple of large historic cannons. Guess Pearsons Point would have been the first line of defence against any Russian threat (which seemed to be the main thought through the 19^th century).

Note: the bump behind the gun emplacement and tennis court is Mt Louis. A large white edifice on the end of the Point (on the other side of the cannon) appeared to be a marine navigation beacon.

In front of me to the right hand side of the Point, the D’entrecasteaux Channel separated the mainland of Tasmania from Bruny Island (famous for its fresh produce such as cheeses, smoked fish and meats, berries, premium wines, and local oysters).

I was very surprised how close Bruny Island (Dennes Point) was to this part of Tasmania’s mainland. So close. So accessible. And its green hills and the white sandy Jetty Beach were most attractive.

On the other side of Pearsons Point to my left, the Derwent River flowed out to Storm Bay and then onto the ocean. I could see the Iron Pot and Cape Direction at the southern tip of the South Arm peninsula on the eastern shore of the River.

I found a pleasant picnic table and at 11am ate half my lunch under a small cluster of gum trees hoping no branches would be shed on my head. Feeling on top of the world. The sun was out and the tiniest of breezes moved through the area. Past the trees I could see motoring boats leaving white streams behind them as they sliced through the River. I looked back northwards to the Alum Cliffs between Taroona and Kingston.

With a little sadness I left Pearsons Point at 11.25am.

By 12.40pm I was passing the Hidden Cove turnoff, at 1.05pm I reached the Fossil Cove Drive junction, at 1.25pm I walked across the intersection with Treatment Plant Road, and at 1.30 I stopped for a moment at Suncoast Drive. I looked at the one bus stop (there wasn’t a pair one either side of the road) and it did not have a timetable attached to the post, so I continued walking to Wells Parade. I had been told this was a long road, and now I know it is.

I stopped and waited for a bus which didn’t come (the first in my entire travels) and left and walked up and down and up and downhill until eventually I was back parallel to the Blackmans Bay Beach. I sat for a while at the beach soaking in the atmosphere, smelling the salt, and relishing the fact my feet were having a rest. When the time came (according to my bus timetable), I walked to the bus stop where I had alighted hours earlier in the morning, and before long Metro bus number 85 arrived. After passing via the Suncoast Drive bus stop that I had looked at earlier in the afternoon on arrival back in Blackmans Bay, Maranoa Heights, other suburbs, and Kingston, I was back in Hobart city by 4pm feeling elated. Stage 13 was over.

The land begins to open, making possible expansive views across the Derwent River.

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Every so often, along Tinderbox Road, a cluster of a few properties on 5 acres or so of land each would appear after a kilometre or so of the densely bush environment.

The closer I walked to Pearsons Point the more likely that Tinderbox Road was close to the River or I could see more of the River. Around 10.20am, while on a long and winding road (on which I considered breaking out into one of the Beatles favourite songs) which undulated so that I was walking uphill then downhill seemingly repeating this process ad nauseum, I was stopped by the beauty of a rose bush in its glorious rose hips stage. I took photographs at that point and in a number of roadside places in the following kilometres.

In the distance after climbing one hill, I looked back northwards to Lucas Point behind the steep rock edged bay of ‘Fishermans Haul’ (see photo below).

In the photo above, the far distant hill on the left is the Alum Cliffs between Taroona and Kingston. It gives you an idea of the distance covered in these walks. The other land is on the eastern shore of the Derwent River.

A little further along I was looking down on a disused farmhouse at what I believe was Passage Point. The photo below shows (green plastic protective shelters around new plants) new trees have been planted in the paddock. I saw such revegetation practices on a number of properties throughout the day.

Another photo looks across the Derwent River to the southern tip of the South Arm peninsula. The glistening white buildings are those of the Fort Direction defence services complex which I passed through on Stage 1 of my walk along the Derwent River.

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.

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 19^th century, a wind method (short fall and blast of cool air) replaced the long drop and water method.

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.

From Hinsby Beach to Blackmans Bay accomplished on Stage 12 yesterday

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The goal of my walk along the Derwent River for Stage 12 was to start at my last stopping point, Bus Stop 30 on the Channel Highway at Taroona on the western shore of the Derwent River, and continue to Blackmans Bay in the local government area of Kingborough. I did not get as far as expected, but I was satisfied when I finished 2/3 of the way along the Blackman’s Bay 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.

Yesterday I covered 5 ¾ kilometres of the length of the Derwent River on the western shore (making 35 3/4 kms in total on the western shore), and walked approximately 11 kilometres (making a total of 154 kms to date) to achieve that distance; there were a lot of steep ascents and descents.

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 finding a way through some of the early part of the almost untracked Alum Cliffs, the delightful walk along the tracked part of the Alum Cliffs, meeting some friendly people along the way, the unusual snake sign at Tyndall Beach, stopping for a long cup of tea in Kingston with a friend, my discovery of another tucked away beach – Boronia Beach, and the Blackmans Bay Blowhole.

There are many memorable images but my favourite for today is one of my photos of mussels growing on the rocks at Boronia Beach. I have already made it my desktop background image. When enlarged, the blues glow.

Fundamentally the Stage 12 walk was about forest and water.

The day started with my being roughly opposite Gellibrand Point at the northern tip of South Arm and finishing opposite the long South Arm Beach.

I intend my next walk will start from where I left off at Blackmans Bay and then continue into the Tinderbox area to Fossil Cove. But before then I need to record the details of yesterday’s walk. So Stage 13 will be a while away.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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 19^th century.

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

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.

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.

Into Taroona on Stage 11 of my walk

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Having plunged up through the winding tracks of a private garden (simply lovely – but probably I was doing so illegally) from the shore of the Derwent River after Cartwright Creek, I was a little relieved to be back on ‘safe’ ground on a suburban road even if not exactly at river side. Not far along I noted a track indicating access down to the River so I wonder if I had persisted on the treacherous rocks I might have reached this track. At 11.28am I chatted to a resident while walking past Mary’s Grange/Mary Potter House (http://www.marysgrange.org.au/) a retirement home for the aged, and by 11.32am I was back up onto the main road which had now morphed into Channel Highway – it is unclear where Sandy Bay Road changed its name. The road flows continuously without obvious bends or intersections. I guess the postmen know where it changes.

The suburb is full of trees and lush bush edging houses, and the weeds flourish luxuriously with colourful flowers, so I thought residents would be at high risk should a bush fire rage around this area. But, thankfully, during my walk there was no smokey smells only the rich but delicate eucalypt smell. Very fresh.

Generally, the gardens were lush with colourful vegetation.

At 11.52am I continued past the intersection with Karingal Court and the parkland adjacent to it. Blackberries were overgrowing in profusion and colourfully flowering geraniums had escaped from house gardens. The Catholic Church Pius X was on my left at 11.57am, the Taroona Primary School at 11.58 (advertising its Creek Restoration Project) and I arrived at the entrance to the Taroona High School at midday. A bus stop seat gave me the opportunity to sit and eat a bite of lunch, read my maps and consider my options. It was 12.18pm before I started down the road beside the High School, towards the Derwent River.

From Lower Sandy Bay to Cartwright Park Reserve and beyond on Stage 11

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After leaving breezy Blinking Billy Point, I arrived back on the main road (Sandy Bay Road) at 10.20am, and turned left ready to continue my southward walk.

I was aware the Alexandra Battery once stood in all its glory, waiting to defend Hobart Town from invaders, on the large hill on the other side of the road. Construction on this site commenced around 1880 using stone from the dismantled Battery Point batteries. The heartfelt need of 19^th century locals to defend the Derwent River and the new settlements from Russian invasion along its edges has never seemed necessary to me. When I read the following Wikipedia entry I could only think about how fear feeds off misunderstandings. “On 11 May 1870, the corvette Boyarin appeared at the Derwent River and rumours spread in Hobart that a Russian invasion was almost a certainty. The reason for the appearance of the Russian warship was humanitarian in nature; the ship’s purser was ill and Captain Serkov gained permission to hospitalise Grigory Belavin and remain in port for two weeks to replenish supplies and give the crew opportunity for some shore leave. The ship’s officers were guests at the Governor’s Ball held in honour of the birthday of Queen Victoria, and The Mercury (newspaper) noted that the officers were gallant and spoke three languages including English and French. The following day a parade was held, and the crew of the Boyarin raised the Union Jack (the colonys’ ‘national’ flag) on its mast and fired a 21-gun salute in honour to the British queen. This was reciprocated by the town garrison which raised the Russian Naval flag of Saint Andrew and fired a salute in honour of Tsar Alexander II. After the death of Belavin, permission was given to bury him on shore, and his funeral saw the attendance of thousands of Hobart residents, and the locals donated funds to provide for a headstone on his grave. In gratitude of the welcome and care given by the Hobart citizenry, Captain Serkov presented the city with two mortars from the ship, which still stand at the entrance to the Anglesea Barracks. When the Boyarin left Hobart on 12 June, a military band onshore played God Save the Tsar, and the ship’s crew replied by playing God Save the Queen (then our national anthem).”

Alexandra Battery is currently a public access park with some of the original structures embedded in the landscape. I imagine the view along and across the Derwent River would be spectacular, but since visiting the site would have moved me away from the water, I simply walked on and made a mental note to come back another time and have a close look. This hill would provide an easily accessible location on which to watch the dying stages of the first Sydney to Hobart Yacht race yachts surging towards the finish line. I must remember that at the end of this year.

By 10.25am I was continuing past the junction of Sandy Bay Road with Churchill Ave a major thoroughfare wandering across the lower slopes of Mount Nelson. All the time I was inspecting houses and gardens. I cannot imagine why an old fashioned red telephone box is now pride of place at the top of entrance stairs to this house.

I seriously contemplated popping over to this pub (Riverview Inn) for a glass of cold wine, but restrained myself. I am surprised with my self-discipline that I have passed a great number of good ‘watering holes’ but have not deviated from the walk – so far.

Twenty minutes later I reached Pearce’s Park. I had never realised before but there are two bits of this Park located either side of the road but with quite some distance between them down the road. Rather strange. The sign at the Park on the Derwent River side declared it was created to become ‘a window to the River Derwent’.

An excellent idea to break the relentless strip of residences hogging the river’s edge. I could look across the Derwent River to Trywork Point south of the suburb of Tranmere on the eastern shore. Sulphur Crested Cockatoos screeched somewhere behind me. The day seemed so beautiful.

Around 11am I stood at the entrance to the Cartwright Park Reserve. This parkland swept downhill through open forest and a cleared area with flitting cheeky Wrens, before arriving on a rocky shore of the Derwent River near Cartwright Creek. The last part of this informal track was a mix of slippery dirt and pebbles and intrusive tree roots like bad varicose veins rippling through the surface – the track was not for those with poor balance or walking limitations. And the range of rocks on the shore were most unstable and required great care to navigate safely. I learnt this area was settled by the brothers who established the Grange Estate (around the corner in Taroona) in the 1820s. It all seems so long ago, and I can’t help thinking how isolated the area would have been. Beautiful yes, but remote from Hobart Town. I wonder if the settlers reached the area by boats or whether it was a horse riding trip. Did they bring in provisions with teams of bullocks.

Once I was stepping across the foreshore rocks it was clear that the track had come to an end. However, because I never like to retrace my steps unless I absolutely must, I stumbled on. I wondered if I could get back to a road or a track if I continued. I aimed at reaching a tiny smidgin of sand and then decided I would walk up a set of weathered wooden steps next to a blue-doored boathouse. Was this private property? There were no signs declaring restricted access. It certainly wasn’t clear at the bottom of the steps what the status of the steps was, so I felt it wasn’t unreasonable for me to climb up and find out more. As it turned out, I walked through someone’s garden (quite lovely) and eventually let myself out through a security gate onto Grange Avenue. Thankfully no guard dogs were in attendance. The time was 11.20am.

If I had stayed on the main road I would have seen the signs indicating I was leaving the City of Hobart and changing into the Municipality of Kingborough. As it was, all I knew was that I was leaving Lower Sandy Bay and entering into the suburb of Taroona – and enjoying every moment.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Preparing for Stage 2 of the walk along the Derwent

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Last week, I used TasMAP 5223 Blackmans Bay to help me navigate the South Arm / Cape Direction start of the walk. Stage 2, taking me northwards along the South Arm peninsula, will require a tiny portion of the same map. However, most of the Stage 2 walk will require TasMAP 5224 Taroona. Having said that, I believe it would be possible to walk in the two ends of the South Arm peninsula without either map simply by asking locals to point them in useful directions.

Walking the Derwent River

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

Tag Archives: Taroona

Maps

More natural beauties stages 11 -14

Picnic on Hinsby Beach

Finally I reached the mouth of the Derwent River on the western shore at Pearsons Point

The land begins to open, making possible expansive views across the Derwent River.

The Shot Tower, Taroona, Tasmania

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

From Hinsby Beach to Blackmans Bay accomplished on Stage 12 yesterday

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

Into Taroona on Stage 11 of my walk

From Lower Sandy Bay to Cartwright Park Reserve and beyond on Stage 11

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

Preparing for Stage 2 of the walk along the Derwent

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