Grass Tree Hill 2016

We had to put this walk off once because of weather. Today, however it's supposed to be windy with showers later so we take a chance.

We all meet at Judy & Roger's house where we park and get ready. One added feature was a personal greeting to everyone by their cat, whose name I didn't catch.

Everyone received a greeting. Turns out Bob likes cats

All geared up, we set off. There are low clouds in the distance, but not much wind and no rain.

Looking south

Idyllic rural scene

Watched by another local

We walk down the road towards our first gate, heading for the hills in the distance.

Glancing to the side the hills roll away into the distance

Through the gate and up the hill. Our first stop is the Grasstree Hilton.

The road from the gate

A dam. The overflow from this goes to the falls we'll visit soon

The Grasstree Hilton. The front desk is pretty busy at the moment

This is where we're going next. Up the hill which has three levels and was used by Roger's grandfather to grow potatoes.

The next climb

With your naked eye you can see the Midway Point causeway

Up again, we'll turn off just before the top

Looking out over Pitt Water

Now we turnoff and head towards our first Grasstrees.

The first Southern Grasstrees or Xanthorrhoea australis

I'll have more to say about this interesting plant later on.

Soon we come to a group of large rocks that look like they were dumped here. Maybe by a glacier?

As Sue said, it's reminiscent of the movie Picnic At Hanging Rock

We have a look around, then find our way back to a spot for Morning Tea.

There are some useful dens under some of the big stones

Leaning against one of the stones, I admire the lichen on the surface.

Lichen on the stones

Looks like a snow covered ancient volcano

Well, you may have to use your imagination.
Tea finished, we continue through this interesting landscape.

You don't see many of these

That's the River Derwent in the distance

We begin to travel downhill now, and I soon spot some fungus.

Provides a bit of colour

Very rocky area

This requires careful walking

A little piece of wood isn't going to stop this fellow

We reach another fence and Roger holds the top wire down as we step, gingerly, across it to another paddock.

We head back toward the Grasstree Hilton and head down to the falls. Last week they would have probably been flowing, but the rain's finished so I don't think we'll see the falls in action.

This is the top of the falls

There is a good drop down to the now dry creek bed and it would be interesting to see the falls working.

We drop down to this 'track'

With some scrambling, we reach the small cave we saw last time we were here. After having a look we climb back up and make our way to the Hilton for lunch.

Our lunch spot

 Judy and Roger provided plenty of seating on the newly installed verandah. The weather looks like the rain front was coming so most of us put on our wet weather gear. As it was, we had about six drops of rain. Lunch finished we walked out on a new track towards another grasstree site.

We'll be passing on the side slope of Gathering Bush Hill and through a gate into another paddock. Soon, we walk down through a large area of grass trees.

Distant Hills

Grasstree with old flower spike

These flower spikes are covered with small blooms when in flower.

What the trunk looks like

The grass tree likes poor soil, needs fire from time to time to promote productivity, is slow growing and long lived. Some are 300 or more years old. I was astounded by the many uses the Aborigines had for this plant.

The white, tender section of the leaf bases could be eaten. Seeds were collected, ground and the flour produced used to make damper (bread). Edible grubs could be found around the base of the plant, carpenter bees constructed nests in the flower stalk providing a source of honey.  Nectar from the flowers was extracted by soaking them in a bark trough filled with water, producing a drink that was thick and sweet. Leave it for 3-5 days, chuck a few crushed ants in it for formic acid and it provided a citrus flavoured slightly alcoholic drink.

The glands at the base of the leaves secreted a resin that was used both by the Aborigines and settlers. Heated and rolled into a ball it was used as a heat setting adhesive to repair broken tools or attach stone spear heads to a flower stalk to make a spear. The grasstree flower stalk was quite hard and could be up to three metres long.

The early settlers (and later) used it for much the same purpose, plus burned the resin in churches because of the sweet smell.

Resin was also used for varnishes, protective coatings for meat tins and - I would like proof of this - for early gramophone records.

Not bad for a primitive looking plant.

Lesson over, we continue on making our way down.

Pitt Water again

The grandly named Hobart International Airport is not far away, as you can see by the photo below.

Roger grew up on this property so is able to give us some very interesting stories and facts about the area. I had noticed the pile of rock the last time we were here, but now thanks to Roger, I know why it was here.

His grandfather told him it was the remains of a stone house that a family called Simmonds (I think) lived in. Indeed there were some small chips of old china around the site. The family raised wheat on the field around the house, harvesting by hand with sickles, then taking the grain to Richmond to be ground into flour.

I had a look on Google Earth and you can see the rock pile (the blue line is our track) and the shape of the rectangular field.

Early house site

Old wheat field

Back to our walk, now we have a good climb before descending again to pick up the track to our original starting gate.

Crossing the wheat field

A nice little climb

Walking downhill now, we come across something interesting in the bush. It being election time in Australia, I was afraid we'd been waylaid by some politicians, but no, these were authentic turkeys!

Mooned by a black turkey

After a pleasant walk up the dirt road back to the cars, we were greeted by our old friend the cat again.

Thanks to Judy and Roger for a very pleasant walk. I was particularly interested to hear stories of the times past.

We had 14 walkers altogether and covered 10.33km in 4.33hrs.

Click Here to Download GPX File

 Click here for an animated track. 

Just a quick note re the blog. I'm not happy with the Walk Index on the side. I found missing walks the other day when I was looking for our 2015 visit to this property. I've found a possible solution which is a work in progress (I have to learn javascript) but you're welcome to click on the 'Past Walks' tab at the top of the page. This opens a list of walks by year and month, just click on any you want to see and it will open for you. Seems to work o.k., just needs prettying up.