Tinderbox Hill/Peter Murrell Reserve 2014

Finally! I get a chance to complain about the weather. Last night it all fell apart with high winds and heavy rain. At 0645 I checked the weather radar (as did everyone else) and it looked like it would come good by the time I left.

It wasn't bad on the way up and the Sun & blue sky appeared in front of me while passing through Margate... then I looked left. The hills were gone and it was a sky as black as Satan's Sunglasses down to the ground. I would have taken a photo, but there's no place safe to stop.

When I arrived at our meeting point, several others were waiting in the drizzle with a few more appearing near setting off time. As Sally pointed out, if you let the Tassie weather stop you, you'll never do anything. So off we go.

I should mention that several slackers had given Tas excuses such as being overseas, leaving for overseas, just got back from overseas, picking up people from overseas - you can see a thread here. Never mind, we'll get the glory.

The intention was to walk across the eastern end of the Murrell Reserve, cross Brightwater Rd. and pick up the track at the end of Estury Drive for Tinderbox Hills. Which we did. Then we were going to return to walk around and through the reserve.

Walking on the reserve track was fairly wet - see running water photo, but by the time we got to the start of the Tinderbox Hills track, the rain was slackening off. I even cast a shadow at one point. Briefly.

The track was in good condition and had various surfaces such as sandy, grass, and, what appears to be, an old stone logging track. We walked as far as we could go, before reaching a sign barring any further travel. We believe the land is owned by someone from the mainland. Say no more.

Turning back, we found a safe place for Morning Tea. I say safe, because it was blowing a gale and sitting under gums in such weather would have been foolhardy.

After tea, we retraced our steps to Murrell Reserve, with rain, high wind and sleet accompanying us. The wind was strong enough to cause the sleet to sting your face.

On entry to the reserve we had a discussion about what to do. Did we want to continue on? Bob had the reasonable concern that if we walked the narrow tracks we planned, we'd be wetter than if we just stayed on the larger fire trails in the rain.

All the while, the group gravitated towards the cars. Decision made! We'd done our duty.

A short but enjoyable walk. A bit like beating yourself over the head with a hammer. It feels good when you stop.

We had 8 intrepid walkers and covered 5.75km in 1:52 hours.

Click here to download GPX file

Waiting for the rest. Gordon is our leader and Bob is enjoying the rain on his brolly.

Forced smiles before we start.

Leaving the fairly wet track for Brightwater Rd.

Start of the track.

Maybe part of an old logging road.

View west over the Channel.

View east over the Derwent

We would never pass such a sign! Heaven forbid.

Haven't had an art shot in a while.

Morning Tea

Cornelian Bay to Domain 2014

I'm finding it difficult to keep saying that the weather was perfect. Still, I can take comfort in the fact that many people from the North Island, with their floods, high winds, cold temperatures, believe we're living like troglodytes in our snow caves in constant twilight. Keep believing that.

Today's walk was led by Bob and he showed us just how devious he can be. Have a look, I've never seen such a convoluted map. Before starting, he put the hard word on everyone about mentioning hills. I can affirm no hills were mentioned during this walk - well, not that Bob heard!

Another thing about this walk is that it proves that in a capital city, Hobart, you can take a bush walk 5 minutes from the centre. Very little walking occurred on streets, much of the time we were walking out of sight of the city.

I should mention for overseas readers that the Domain is actually the Queen's Domain, after Queen Victoria,  and is an area of about 220 hectares (543 acres) of rough ground. Within are a couple of athletic stadiums, an Aquatic Centre and other sports related areas. It's crisscrossed by bike and walking tracks and has both trees and open areas to enjoy.

In the dim, dark past it was used for firewood supply and an area to graze livestock when Hobartown was just a colony. It's belonged to the people of Hobart since 1860. Sadly, it was also the location of Beaumaris Zoo where, in 1936, the last Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger died. Possibly. The zoo closed a year later.

Benjamin, last captive Thylacine in Beaumaris Zoo.

Besides the facilities I mentioned above, it is also the location of the Botanical Gardens and the Government House.

Car park at Cornelian Bay

Tasman Bridge over River Derwent

Foreshore with Government House just showing in distance.

We walked along tracks beside the Derwent and then crossed over onto the bike/walking track which runs along side of the railway.

Bike/walking path

We then crossed over the highway and picked up our first track on the Domain, walking along then up to pick up the Memorial Walk, where plaques honouring soldiers from WWI are placed. You could spend some considerable time reading the plaques and wondering about the mostly short lives of the soldiers. They give information on unit, battles, burial site and, more interesting to me, their home town and their occupation.

Buildings on Government House farm with Mt. Wellington in background.

Looking towards beautiful downtown Hobart.

From Memorial walk, we took to the bush and twisted and turned about before having Morning Tea in, perhaps, the most comfortable place we've ever had.

One of the tracks.

Everyone on a switchback, giving me an opportunity to take a group photo.

Morning Tea at the athletic track.

Our view. There were some people training, but they disappeared. Not because of us, I hasten to add.

After tea, we continued on.

We came to the Powder Magazine used from colonial times until 1970 to store explosives.

The photos don't do it justice.

Ever onward through another couple of athletic ovals. I asked everyone to smile. One did.

Up another rocky track to the highest point.

This building is now the clubhouse of the Wireless Institute of Australia - amateur radio operators.

Bob filled us in on some of the original history of this building. It was built in 1912 and had a spark transmitter installed to support Sir Douglas Mawson's Australian Antarctic Expedition in 1912. There's a good Wikipedia article that covers his adventures and the dangers of eating Husky's livers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Mawson

The building later became the overseas and maritime radio communications centre, I remember it being the OTC building.

Moving on, we walked down the other side of the hill and continued around about on various tracks before coming to the Botanical Gardens (1828) for lunch. One of the small stone cottages between 1840 & 1854 housed a magnetic observatory which studied the Earth's magnetic field and contributed to it's use in navigation.

Long section of she-oaks beside the track.

Derwent and northern suburbs.

You can't keep a good gum down!

I don't know what this conference was about, just not about hills!

Not a tree to meet on a dark night.

Heading into the Botanical Gardens

Inside the gardens.

Lunch in our usual shelter.

  After lunch we walked through the gardens to pick up the bike path we used earlier.

There are a number of handsome older homes in this area, overlooking Cornelian Bay and it's yachts.

Nearby homes.

Cornelian Bay

We had 14 walkers and covered 12.6km in 3:51 hours.

Click here to download GPX file

Check out that track!

NOTE: I'm always happy to receive corrections to anything I publish. Especially about plants. I can tell a tree from a shrub (usually) and people tell me that some plants are evidently editable. So let me know any mistakes. Use the comments section. I promise I won't take any embarrassing photos in revenge.