Chauncy Vale 2018

Today we're walking at Chauncy Vale, a wildlife reserve north of Hobart. This was the home of Nan Chauncy, an English born, Australian children's author.

For more information about her interesting life,

CLICK HERE.

After a couple of navigation glitches, of which we will not speak, we turn down Chauncy Vale road and make our way to the gate. We park outside as the vehicle gate is closed, but the pedestrian one is open.

Through the gate and down the road

It's very dry out here

After some discussion with Bob, we decide to skip the caves, saving them for another time. Instead, we follow a track we've done before, but will go farther this time.

A new addition since we were last here

Cross the dry Browns Caves Creek

We'll cross it another two times before we start climbing.

Old track. The creek is on the right

We come to a section of the creek where several channels and basins are worn into the bedrock. This is called Eve's Bath. This isn't a biblical reference, but is named after Nan's youngest sister who was five when they came to Tasmania.

Judging by the lack of water, Eve would be pretty dirty during the summer months.

Still, as an adult she became a poet who received the Order of Australia in 1976  "for her contribution to the public service,  she will be remembered for her tireless efforts to promote social justice, peace and the protection of Tasmania’s wilderness."

Eve was, among other things, a keen bushwalker and died in 2014 at 106 years old. Hope for us all! Mind you, she didn't marry either, so take your choice.

Eve's Bath

On we go, still following the old track.

Lots of large rocks are in the bush

Browns Caves

Brown was a bushranger and when exploring the caves the children supposedly found the remains of his revolver.

We now start a gentle climb on a track that turns into an old road.

Heading up

We find a comfortable spot for Morning Tea.

Morning Tea

Break finished, we continue on just stopping to admire this gum tree that stands out from the others.

The track is becoming more of a road now as we continue our ascent.

We pass a spot where we turned off last time. Today we continue towards the Flat Rock Reserve which was added to Chauncy Vale in 2006.

Interesting bark

The track begins to flatten out with bare stony areas appearing.

What appear to be mounds in the bush

Looking back

Soon, another sign post appears and we head towards the Eastern Lookout.

 There is a theme in naming some of the features in this area. We've skirted Devils Elbow to get to this spot, Devils Backbone is in the distance, along with Devils Den. I assume the devil concerned is the Tasmanian Devil.

It's a gentle, open climb over rocky ground to the lookout. The day has turned out to be sunny with a breeze as we get higher.

Red, rocky soil

We pass a small cairn

We're coming to the lookout

Ron installs a flag pole in a larger cairn...

...while Helen admires his efforts. All we need is a flag

 The Eastern Lookout opens out to give a good view. From here, it drops rapidly down a steep slope which we will avoid.

 There's a bit of a breeze so we look off to the side for some shelter for lunch.

Some plants can grow in the rocks

We move off to the side for lunch

I wasn't hungry, so went for a walk towards what looked like another clear spot with a view.

It turned out to be an old logging area

Scrubby looking bush...

...I can just see the others at lunch

Old timber usually has something worth photographing.

I made my way back to the group and discovered Bob had also set off, but went farther than I did and discovered a Datsun 120Y in the bush with another car. It always astounds me how much effort a certain type of person puts into dumping wrecks in the most difficult bush.

Lunch finished, we start back following our way in.

One of the few older trees here

 Probably not suitable for logging.

I think this is where Wayne spotted another wreck in the bush

We soon return to our downward track and head back.

We pass several large rocks in the bush

While back on the track we've walked in the past, someone pointed out a car I've walked past three times without seeing, just off track.

We think it is a Ford Cortina wagon. I had a company car of that make/model back in 1972 or so.

Anyway, it's a doer upper if anyone's interested.

On we go, but I stop to take a photo of interest to anyone interested in wildlife.

Evidence of wombats in the area is ample as they do their business in as public a place as they can manage. So, below is an example of wombat scat for the rest of the world to admire. You'll notice it's in the form of a cube, which explains why you see few wombats smiling.

Cube shaped wombat scat

Excitement over, we retrace our steps back to the cars.

We had 9 walkers and covered 13.03km in 4:49hrs.
Bob again led us farther than before, the weather was fine so it was a great walk. I can see some variations on the map for next time.

Click here to download GPX file