Lambert Ave to Mount Nelson 2015

Today we walked from Lambert Park which is just opposite Wrest Point to Mount Nelson and the Signal Station and return. We were led by Bob.

Weather predictions were fairly ordinary with rain then high winds predicted. Arriving at our meeting place in Kingston in a light shower, there appeared to be few willing to walk today. But then several appeared from a parked car and another couple turned up just in time. Others were going to meet us at the start, so everything was o.k.

Arriving at the start point I parked behind Peter at the top of Lambert Ave, Carol was about half way down, but Bob and the others parked at the bottom and made the rest of us walk down!

Bob made us walk down to the bottom and join the rest

There seems to be come confusion between Carol and Bob. One direction is all that's needed

The start with a helpful pole from a fellow walker

Turning off and walking up some stone steps, we pass just behind MY CAR!

Never mind, it's all good exercise. Continuing on we reach Churchill Ave for a short stretch of suburban walking. The sun is out at the moment and it is quite warm so a strip stop was called.

Strip stop. I think I said something about waiting until they were all decent before taking the photo

 Clothes removed, we  continue on before diving off, crossing the back of Waimea Heights School and walking away from Mt. Nelson. There were a few mumbles about that I can tell you.

Heading down to Waimea School oval and crossing the back of it

Next we dodge through a hole in a hedge. How does Bob find these places?

Walking down to a track along side Maning Rivulet

Houses up on both sides we continue along this track until we reach this impressive set of stairs. I've been up these a couple of times before, but others were slightly surprised (shocked?).

Lovely set of steps

Once at the top, we cross over Churchill Ave again and continue along until we turnoff the main track onto another. Bob had warned us at the start that anyone with walking poles should bring them for this section. The original track along the creek is overgrown with introduced species and you have to walk across a steep slope where poles are handy.

Bob waiting impatiently for the rest of the group to get up the steps and cross the road

Yep. Off the main track and into that rabbit hole - and there were plenty of rabbits around

Steep, slippery slope. Poles advised

We walk on only to be stopped by a new house construction with a new set of steps leading up to the street. At the top we turn right and get a good view over Hobart before bearing left and up to another short street. At the end we pick up an old road/track again.

Wrest Point tower, Tasman Bridge and Gunners Quoin in the distance

Houses creeping up Mt. Nelson

At the end of the street this is the new path we're on

While walking up this new track, we pass a sign in the bush prohibiting any removal of any vegetation.

Then we come to a scene of destruction. Did I mention the wind has come up and it's raining? Well, it has and it is. Horizontal rain.

The rain has started

Remember, don't remove any vegetation

Obviously this is the site for another house, you can just see the edge of an access road in the distance. We're heading across the mud towards a blue marker at the start of a track up the mountain.

Just up the new track, we stop for Morning Tea. As you can see, in the 5 minutes from the muddy mess and horizontal rain, the weather has cleared just in time. Typical Tasmanian weather.

Morning Tea

Up we go towards the top

After the break, we continue up through the bush towards the Signal Station.

Looking over Hobart. The Queens Domain is the low, green blob on the right

Finally, we reach our destination. The Mt. Nelson Signal Station. We have a look around and go inside to explore the couple of rooms it contains.

The Signal Station and the semaphore pole. A couple of photos below shows how it operated

The inside contains some old artifacts....

...and Ron

How it worked

How it was manned

Having satisfied our curiosity, we head out on another track, this one quite civilized - for now.

Soon, however we turn left on another track and Peter and I have a bet that it will loop around and come back to the original. We were nearly right.

We cover several tracks, walking mostly downhill while looking for a place for lunch.

Small creek running into a bush pool

The bush is more open now, and no signs we're a few minutes from the city of Hobart

We walk down a track that seems not to have been used since 1810 and it joins another larger, developed one. This leads us to a gravel road which we cross over to continue. Some one had left this arrow pointing back the way we came. I hope it worked for them. They could have just followed the arrow on the post.

Clean green track marker

Crossing over the gravel road and continuing along the track

There are quite a lot of rocks of every size off the track

Soon we find a place for lunch, complete with rustic bench. I think we're on the Loop Track now. The weather is remaining clear.

Lunch

I warned everyone to stop chewing and keep their hands away from their mouths. They nearly look like you could take them out in public now

Well, most of them. I'll have what Adie's having!

It wouldn't be one of our walks without a view of Wellington

After lunch we continue zig zagging down the track to the bottom of a large gully. Houses can be see on the top of the hill on the other side.

Remains of one of the old timers

This is the Loop Track, heading down

Someone passed the comment that they would hate to be at the top of this house and remember the screwdriver is on the bottom floor

I would hate to be in any of these homes if/when a bushfire occurs.

At the bottom we cross a wooden bridge and walk on a track parallel to and slightly above Lambert Rivulet.

Lambert Rivulet

 After a short while we begin to have buildings on our left as we come to the University of Tasmania. Eventually, we cross a road and are back in Lambert Park.

A couple of stone steps with lots of fossils

We had 10 walkers and covered 8.41km in 3:39hrs. Despite some rain, it was quite a nice and interesting walk. If anyone is disappointed in the short distance, take heart in the rule used by many walking clubs. 100 to 150 metres ascent is the equivalent of 1 kilometre. Sounds good to me.

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