Meehan Hills 2019

Today Bob is taking us on a walk in the Meehan Hills on the eastern shore.

This is the coldest day of the year so far, my car is completely white and I had trouble getting the doors open not to mention defrosting the windows.

Just before we set off, Bob gives us the interesting news that we'll do the walk in reverse. Sounds good to me.

It's still clear on arrival as we set off.

It's cold over here too

Some wanted some proof it was cold, so the above and a couple following will be proof of that.

Frosty gum leaves

 Bob is leading us up beside the creek bed, promising few hills on the walk. The track winds up, heading for our Morning Tea spot. 

The weather is sunny in spots, clear and cool. Perfect for walking.

Morning Tea

We'll go this way, but only for a short distance before turning off

Top of the track we came up

Tea finished, we move on turning off the main track to take another, smaller one heading up the hill.

 The soil, such as it is, is pretty terrible on Simmons Hill. I can see some evidence of logging, but no large stumps so it's probably just wood hookers in the past.

It's easy walking up, but heading down keep your mind on your feet as it can be a bit of a slippery slope due to loose soil and rocks.

A bit of a view if you get in the right place. Peter found this one

The vegetation is changing, so we must be very close to the bottom

Reaching a large road at the bottom, we turn right.

We follow the road until it comes to a locked gate, backtrack to another branch we're familiar with and turn left following the edge of the reserve.

Passing a couple of dams, one that appears new, we cross a large cleared area, through an open gate and find a sunny spot for lunch.

It's also cold on this side of the hill

For any frozen puddles out there reading this, beware walkers with poles. They can't resist the temptation to go poking.

Lunch

I have a little look around and the soil isn't any better here.

Waiting for the others to catch up. Doesn't happen often

Bob managed to past me somehow

 The road we're following appears to be fairly old, but someone has recently along it trimming back some of the she oaks.

The road was very well constructed when it was built. Peter points out the free stone wall supporting the downhill side. In some places it would be head height for anyone working on ground level. I would like to know the history of it.

On we go, until Bob heads off track to another farther down. This takes us down, through an old quarry area and up a nice steep climb  along a fence boundary.

Off track

Past houses and one fairly friendly dog, we make our way back to our cars.

On the way back, Peter risks frostbite to demonstrate the thickness of a frozen puddle

This was a very good walk with perfect weather, thanks to Bob.

I think it was 13 walkers and covered 9.89km in 3:41hrs.


Click here to download GPX file

Wingara Road to Powder Magazine 2019

Today we're walking from Wingara Road near Howden, to the Powder Magazine. A walk we've not done for a while.

The weather forecast since yesterday has been for rain, hail, snow, high winds, brimstone and pestilence. Well, maybe not the last two, but keeping the rest of the forecast in mind, Bob suggests we don't start at our usual place on the turnoff into Wingara, but drive down to the end of the road and start from the boat ramp. Which we do.

The end of Wingara Road and the beginning of the walk

On track. That's North West Bay ahead

We drop down to the shore briefly to pick up the track just ahead

It's a pleasant track with varying landscapes.

The track runs between the shore and private properties on public land. It's not long before it comes out on Morwong Street where we turn left.

Turning left again at Tinderbox Road, we continue mainly on a track that runs beside the dirt road.

Morwong Street

 Our next turn is at the entrance to Magazine Gully, but before we walk much farther on, Morning Tea beckons.

Walking beside Tinderbox Road

Morning Tea

The weather isn't following the forecast, we have sunshine!

Looking towards Mt. Wellington shows some weather moving in, so we may still cop it.

Morning Tea finished, we continue up the road. Soon we're insight of the entrance to the Powder Magazine, but several of us know that Bob has a special treat just ahead.

What treat I hear you ask? A nice little climb just for us.

Turning right, the first difficulty is just getting up the bank from the road

Looking down, the road is at the bottom

Looking up. Hopefully there's a top somewhere

 There is a top and we stop for a breather. Recovered, we start to climb again, a longer one but not as steep. It's also open and gives some good views such as the one below looking towards Margate.

Over North West Bay towards Margate

Looking a bit to the right, weather is definitely moving in on Mt. Wellington.

This weather appears to be heading our way

We continue climbing looking back occasionally to see if the rain clouds are still heading our way.

Still climbing

Doesn't look good

We reach the top of this hill, where a road passes close to us, heading towards a communications tower. We decide to take some time to explore but you can't get any farther than the tower.

We head back to our turnoff point and follow the remains of an old road north. we want to find the top of the track leading up from Magazine Gully.

Along the way Jenny finds a pretty bird feather. Jenny's holding it, not me I hasten to add.

A view I saw in a real estate ad described as a "filtered water view"

In other words, you can barely see the water.

The old road

Reaching the top of the track to the magazines, we start down. It's steep and slippery, but not too bad.

Heading down

Very scrubby either side of the track

Finally we reach the first building at the top of the road. There are four buildings along the side of the hill going down. Large, small, large, small. All brick with heavy steel doors and special ventilation systems to keep them dry.

Not in use now, they are looked after by Parks & Wildlife. If you really want to see more of them, CLICK HERE for our walk back in 2015.

I've photographed them in the past and can't see taking pictures again.

We walk down to the small gate house at the end where there's a sign that tells the story of the Magazine.

Leaving the gate house, we walk a short distance to where we started up 'that hill' earlier.

Start of the morning's steep climb

If you look closely, you can see the desperate claw marks of people trying to make their way up!

Sign at the entrance

We stop at the same place we had Morning Tea for lunch before retracing our way back to the foreshore track.

We enter the bush along the foreshore, and Jenny finds another bird related item.

Beautifully made

Bob makes a slight detour on the way back to avoid a couple of yappy small dogs and takes us down onto the rocky shelf that serves as a beach.

Passing through sheoaks -
Casuarina

Onto the rock shelf along the shoreline

The bad weather never happened

Not man made

Heading up to the track back to the cars

We had 13 walkers anc covered 8.18kms in 3:41hrs. A good walk, close to home thanks to Bob.

Click here to download GPX file

Notice the nice little hump in the elev