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
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| Waiting for the rest. Gordon is our leader and Bob is enjoying the rain on his brolly. |
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| Forced smiles before we start. |
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| Leaving the fairly wet track for Brightwater Rd. |
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| Start of the track. |
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| Maybe part of an old logging road. |
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| View west over the Channel. |
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| View east over the Derwent |
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| We would never pass such a sign! Heaven forbid. |
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| Haven't had an art shot in a while. |
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| Morning Tea |
Well done you hardy souls.
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