Herein lie three short trip reports in
one. First off, we planned to walk along Pontos Hills to Mount Lord.
This is on private farm land, but, in the not too distant past,
walkers frequently strolled along this scenic ridge-line until the
modern obsession with litigation over trivial matters got in the way.
We were part way along the ridge when we met a local farmer who was
really concerned lest we stray onto his (we were actually on his
neighbours land at the time) land as his insurance company had warned
him that he was in big trouble should someone have any kind of minor
mishap on his land. I really do wish that individuals, corporations,
and lawyers would tackle the major public health issues, that is,
excessive consumption of processed food and desist from chasing minor
issues that have no real consequences for our society. But, there it
is, it is much easier to tackle minor issues than cure society of the
deep seated carbohydrate induced malaise that is costing us all a
fortune both financially and in quality of life.
Doug heading out past Garden Point
Well, we didn't want to go home, so we
walked back to the car, and drove down to the Meehan Range which is
public land, and, rambled up Stringybark Gully, along the ridgeline
that encompasses Simmons Hill, in an easy under two hour loop. There
are great mountain bike tracks here, but, sadly, we have no mountain
bikes, so we just walked.
A few days later, I had some errands to
run near Hobart, so I stopped off at Risdon for a stroll along the
Derwent River. There is a small nature reserve here and a larger
area of native bushland, and, you can make up various circle walks
taking in both the river shore and the hills above the river. I
started from Saundersons Road near Porter Bay and followed minor
tracks along the shoreline down to Bedlam Walls where I picked up a
more major track that is part of the Clarence Valley track system and
continued on to Geilston Bay. This was very pleasant as, for the
first day in a couple of weeks, the wind had dropped and it was
sunny. On the way back, I followed old vehicle tracks up onto
Government Hills where you get nice views of Mount Wellington and
made a loop walk back.
Cliffs near Point Puer
Finally, yesterday, we went out sea
kayaking. It has probably been a month since our last trip. Cold
weather and steady winds have kept us out of the kayaks. Our initial
plan was to launch from Lagoon Bay and paddle south down the
Forestier Peninsula to The Sisters, thus covering completely the
stretch of coastline from the northern end of the Peninsula to
Pirates Bay. But, a locked and gated road barred access to Lagoon
Bay so we quickly decided to drive a bit further south to Port Arthur
and paddle south down the port to Standup Point.
Tasman Island makes a stunning backdrop
There was a two to three metre
southerly swell running which gave some bumpy conditions in certain
places. From a boat ramp in Stingaree Bay, we paddled straight past
Garden Point to Point Puer. There are a lot of sea cliffs and caves
along this section of the coast but the swell was running up from the
south and hitting the cliffs with some vigour so we could not get in
close to any. We then crossed the opening of Safety Cove to Briggs
Point and paddled down to Standup Point where the water was confused
with the swell, the falling wind, and some moderate currents. In
calmer conditions you could likely land in Crescent Bay but with a
southerly swell running that was not an option for us.
Back in Safety Cove we were able to
easily land at the far south end, and we strolled along the beach in
the sun, enjoying the view of Tasman Island.
Safety Cove
Paddling back to
Stingaree Bay, we detoured around Isle of Dead, and past the historic
Port Arthur settlement. Coming back past Garden Point we saw a fairy
penguin and a seal. Unfortunately, no photos of either. It was a
much warmer day than our last day in the kayaks, but, winter still
seems to have a relatively firm grip on Tasmania as there was a heavy
frost again this morning.
Doug paddling past Port Arthur historic site
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