Lauderdale to Cremorne 2018

Today we're heading towards Lauderdale to walk to Cremorne and back.

It's winter here, but as you will soon see, the weather was perfect.

Bob has returned and is leading us today. We park at a new area in Lauderdale which cuts down on the beach walking. This suits me as the beach is a fine one, don't get me wrong, but boring.

Everyone is ready. Except me, who's dealing with a wardrobe malfunction

Off we go, heading south towards Mays Point

Looking back with Mt.Wellington in the distance

Lauderdale Beach

 We make our way around a couple of boathouses before turning up a nice set of steps leading up to a track around the point.

There are a number of tracks along here, but this is the main one.

The steps up...

...the track

It gets a bit close to the edge in some places

It's good for your sense of balance.

Some obstacles to go around

It's a nice walk, however. The next beach is reached, Mays Beach on Maydena Bay. More shells here, so it's a bit more interesting.

Reaching the other end, we find a spot for Morning Tea in an area we've used before on other walks. As I had noticed and Bob pointed out, it was exactly 10:30am. This means he's dead on time for our break.

Mays Beach

Looking back at Mays Point

Morning Tea

 While others were enjoying their break I, never off duty, explore the area we're sitting in. Obviously, used for something in the past, it had been levelled and there are signs of foundation stones of a building or wall in the past.

Looking around the shoreline revealed what, appeared to be, the two posts of a long lost wooden jetty.

These old posts indicate, to me, a jetty existed here in the past

There also appeared to be the remains of an old stone wall along the shoreline. Before continuing exploring farther, I stop and admire the view.

Telephoto shot. Not as close as it appears

Mays Point and beyond

Exploring farther, I come across the remains of an old trolley in the bush.

Some rusty machinery in the scrub

Two distinctive wheels and the remains of a metal frame

I notice it even has an oil cup to keep the axle lubricated. I'll have to do some research on line to see what I can find. The results are below.

Alfred May (1862-1948) came with his family to this area in 1874, starting an apple orchid on a property called Forest View. It appears the property covered most of the area behind the beach and exported apples to London and beyond.

There is an old house just behind the beach that could have been Forest View, but I'm not sure. It does seem I'm right about the jetty and possible buildings on our break spot as the May family have donated photos and albums to the University of Tasmania and many are accessible online.

Building the jetty. Mays Point behind and
our present day Morning Tea spot at the top

The jetty

Sheds at the end of the jetty

Alfred May was also an accomplished artist, specializing in native birds. A collection, an example of which appears below is located at the University of Tasmania website. CLICK HERE to see other works.

Tea finished, we continue on a track leading between the shore and a couple of houses before coming to an uphill section.

Start of an uphill section

It's not long before we reach a junction. In the past we've turned right, but today we head left and down a steep, muddy, slippery hill. One we'll enjoy climbing on our return. This takes us down to a track that follows the shoreline towards Cremorne.

Top of the steep hill

Looking up

The track at the bottom

The locals completely ignore us

The view. I did say it was a nice day

There are times when you just have to stop and take it all in

 The track is quite open for most of the way, good thing there was no wind.

That's Pipe Clay Head in the distance

A small stand of she-oaks

Destination in sight

 

Closer view of Pipe Clay Head

 The head is separated from Cremorne by water

Cremorne Beach

Soon we reach the beach and, this being the winter school holidays, the beach is packed with children and parents. Not.

Cremorne Beach

We do pass a couple of mothers and small children kicking a ball around and playing in the sand as we walk up the beach, then over to the street behind. We're heading for a little park for lunch.

On the way we pass a number of houses. Now, when I first came to
Tassie I was told that peoples beach holiday home was known as a shack. It didn't matter how much it cost, it was still your shack.

Typical shack

I say typical, but it's obviously been done up.

Next door, but still a shack

There were many other shacks that were more elaborate, complete with electric gates. But on we go.

Lunch

After lunch, we head back to the beach and begin the walk back to Lauderdale.

Still crowded

African Boxthorn. A nasty introduced species that's difficult to get rid of.

We make our way back along Mays Beach to start on the track back. Somewhere, intentional or not, we seem to have deviated onto some little used tracks. This involved crossing over a fence (still on public land) and ducking and diving to avoid branches etc. If you were 2'6'', furry and spent most of your childhood in a pouch, it would have been fine.

We reach the extreme end of Lauderdale Beach and the tide is in. Getting around to the beach proper involves clambering around a couple of boat houses on narrow ledges and walking along a narrow dry section of loose, smooth rocks. But we all make it. Just.

Bob took us on a great walk on a perfect day with 11 walkers. We covered 15.47km in 5:46hrs. 4:30hrs was spent walking.

Click here to download GPX file