From Olinda Grove 2016

Today Bob is taking us on a walk from Olinda Grove. He promised it would be a fast walk as today is the "First Tuesday in November" otherwise known as Melbourne Cup Day. For those not in the know, it's a horse race.

I was on a job interview many (many!) years ago in Hobart and it was Melbourne Cup day. Black and white T.V.s appeared from nowhere and people disappeared when the race started. Not much has changed except you can watch it on your phone in colour today. Oh, I got the job.

The weather is a bit iffy with rain clouds passing Mt. Wellington in the distance, but it turned out not to cause any problems.

We park at the entrance to the sports ground and head towards Hobart.

I should mention the Holden Commodore is not part of our group. We are required by law to drive only Subaru, preferably Foresters.   

Mt. Wellington

As you can see, the sun is out and we’ll have good views over Hobart as we travel the old tracks.

We go through the sports ground

We’ve been down this one before, but Bob has a new twist as we head off to the side down a track that passes the top of the old quarry for those that are familiar with the area.

This leads across the top of the old quarry in Proctors Road

Soon we turn off into the bush, but not before an unopened orchid has been spotted. I didn’t bother to take a photo, you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.

Out of the bush to an outstanding view over Hobart and the River Derwent.

We come out of the bush to a great view

Beautiful downtown Hobart

Tasman Bridge over River Derwent

There are houses on our left overlooking the Southern Outlet

We continue on this wide way and turn south to an unmarked track leading up to a wider area leading south.

We continue on until we reach some houses where we do our first loop onto a rocky track.

Photo by Renate

There are a number of these markers, most are marked with survey plaques. I wonder if they are used by the Uni for training surveyors.

Heading for the rocky track and our first loop

We continue down this loop until we find a spot for Morning Tea.

Bob missed this side track

But I bet he doesn't the next time we walk this way.

Morning Tea

We've turned off our original track and climbed a short way into the she-oaks.

Photo by Renate

You'll notice I'm the only one ready to go.

Overgrown track

This track has been in use until fairly recently as it has at least one wooden bridge on it, but it's becoming overgrown fast.

We had a longer break than usual, I think someone sidetracked Bob.

Leaving the break site we made our way up to another green track where Bob's waiting.

This will take us south on another track that runs parallel to the one we arrived on. There we do another loop and walk up to pick up a familiar track heading up.

Going up

I think this is where we passed another orchid, but it wasn't open. Continuing on, we reach the cars. We're not stopping though, instead we cross Olinda Grove Road by the Fire Station and pick up a track going south.

The end of a loop back to the cars

Wellington in the distance.

We follow various tracks and trails which run through the bush on the Kingston side of the hill.

This bush has been burned many times in the past

Which is why it's so clear and has only young gums.

It's that time of year and this is a fine example of...

... some white flowers.

We're zig-zagging around on various tracks

One of many diversions

These are different from the previous flowers...

...they're pink.

A bit of a roadblock, I think some of my fellow photographers are at work

We have to assert our authority every so often to keep the rest on their toes.

We're looking for a good place for lunch now.

Mt. Wellington seems to have disappeared

We head up here and turn left

It's not much of a track and leads us past an older remnant of past fires. 

We come to some fallen trees that make nice seating for lunch.

Lunch

I have a look around the area and find an artifact lying in the bush.

Obviously left by a man, the lids up

I suppose some people can't do without their comforts, even for a short walk in the bush.

Little bracket fungus

 There were better sights around us at lunch beside the toilet seat.

Photo by Renate

Photo by Renate

There were a number of these at my feet

 They are tiny so you have to look out for them. Lunch finished we head back towards the cars.

As you can see, the weather is better

We had (I think ) 15 walkers and covered 9.41km in 3:35hrs.

To be honest I'm not sure how many there were as I've had to rebuild my pc and install a new operating system on a new drive which took a little of my attention when I started to do this entry and found my system was crashing.

Click here to see an animated Track

Click here to download GPX track