Geeveston Forest 2015

Today we traveled to Lidgerwood Rd. west of Geeveston to do a new walk. This is one Bob put together after camping in the area with his son a little while ago.

The weather was good as I waited by the Huonville bridge for the others to arrive, not hot but walking weather.

While waiting for the others, I took this from the Huon River Bridge of the reflections in the river.

After we sorted out what cars were going and shifted people around, we set off to Geeveston and turned off on the Arve Rd. In case anyone reading this doesn't know, the Arve Rd. leads to various world class tourist sites. This includes Hartz Peak and the Tahune forest reserve with the Tahune Airwalk. The road also includes a number of world class potholes! Perhaps the Tassie government should pull its collective head out of whatever cavity it's stuck in and have a look at what really can be done to improve visitor experience.

Back to the walk. On arrival, and there was quite a crowd, Bob set down the rules in no uncertain terms. As this was an active forestry operations area, any greens among us were NOT allowed to complain. He pointed out we would not be doing this walk if Forestry had not run roads into the area. Bird watchers were warned NOT to stop and admire their sightings, as they could be left behind. With the number of tracks in the area, this wouldn't be a good idea.

Off we go, up a rutted track that runs between thick bush and a forestry regrowth area. Have a look at the Google Earth photo at the end of this, it was taken in 2010 and shows bare earth. Now, it's full of gums about 2 metres high, almost as far as the eye can see.

Receiving the word from Bob

This will be the last serious look on the walk.

Up we go from the road, new growth on the left.

There are a lot of tracks in this area, some fairly new, some older and some appear to be very old and you have to look closely to even pick them out.

There were a number of interesting water features on the way.

Looking left discouraged anyone from going off on their own.

Older bush, distant hills and regrowth.

The older bush is not all that old, just much thicker.

Coming to a tee junction, we turned left onto an older track. Some of us thought we might be coming back on the same route, and left markers to guide us.

In the end, they weren't needed.

Morning Tea

Walking up this older track, we stopped for Morning Tea. This is when we found that Bull ants and Inchman positively abounded in this area! Below is one Ron found trying to carry away his lunch.

Bull ant

Fortified, we carried on and reached another tee junction with another track, where we turned right.

Growing on a branch at eye level.

No flash, but the camera makes the surrounding bush appear lighter than it is.

On to the next junction.

The new track, most of it is on solid rock and level.

Walking on past attractive Tea-tree or Manuka in blossom, we came to our first major water feature.

Leptospermum scoparium or Tea-tree

Now it gets interesting!

By shouting "Photographer coming through!" I got to the scene of the action, expecting to get some good shots. Unfortunately for this blog, everyone was too well balanced, with only a couple of minor slips for any exciting photos.

Examples of method of getting around both with and without stick.

We all made it through safely, on to the next track.

Turning left on a road, we walked down until we reached an ants nest, where we turned off.

Jolly fellows came out to wish us a happy journey.

A new track.

 This new track appears to be more of a foot track then the others. The bush is slightly different also, as you'll see in the photos.

We came to another road junction and walked along before turning off again.

Several logging roads came into junction here.

New Track

No mention was made about not photographing fungi in Bob's talk! This may be Ramaria capitata var. ochraceosalmonicolor, common to Tasmania.

Carol looks up at one that got away.

We walked along until we found a good place for lunch. Looking down, I could see lots of little pinkish dots on the ground, which on closer inspection, were tiny fungi.

Lunch

Look for the tiny dots.

Here they are closer up, I haven't identified them, yet.

After lunch we continued on to another tee junction. I had been behind and came on the majority standing there, while another smaller group walked off to the left and Bob walked off to the right. I asked if it was something we said, but didn't get an answer, meanwhile Bob had disappeared. The mystery was solved when he returned. He'd been looking at the campsite where he had stayed, and found nothing had changed in the time since.

So, off we all go again, Julie spotted an echidna on the side, but it moved off into the bush before I could get there.

Waiting for Bob to return.

Back to an area we recognized.

Panorama of regrowth and hills.

Closer view of distant hills, with some rain happening.

Back to the cars.

We were lucky with the weather, we had a little sprinkle after Morning Tea, and another just after lunch. It was only on the way home that it really rained.

We had 16 walkers and covered 9.67km in 3:19hrs. It was a good, easy, interesting bushwalk, and Bob has another in mind for the future.


Click here to download GPX file