Geilston Bay to East Risdon 27th June 2023

 Due to the recent spell of wet weather it was decided to change the walk to something more suitable and selected this walk around East Risdon Reserve and Government Hills because of the drier / rockier nature of the soils.

On a sunny winters day (forecast max 14) we depart from the car park near the sports grounds

 

Crossing Faggs Creek and onto the Shag Bay Track

At the junction we follow the lower track.  Since we did this walk last time there has been considerable improvements made to the track .. in fact there was work being done today

As we get closer to Shag Bay we notice a new monument

 

The tower in the background carries the cable which supplies the Zinc works with electricity across the river.  During today's walk we will go up to the tower and then later on see it from the other side

 

 

We get down to sea level and follow the rock shelf to Shag Bay where we will have morning tea

 

Nature's Artwork! This round hole filled with water combined with cracks in the rock and weathering made for an interesting photo

 

In Shag Bay there is lots of evidence of previous industrial activity

 

 

Thanks to Jack (creator of this blog) who found the following information after a previous walk ...

The Tasmanian Fertiliser Company had a bone mill back in the late 1800s up until January 28 1915, when a boiler exploded and destroyed the factory.

Two people died in the explosion, George Russell, 70, the manager and his son, William, 35, who worked on the barge bringing offal from Hobart.

There is a very interesting article about the business and the disaster on the Tasmanian Geographic website as well as photos of the company before and after the explosion. CLICK HERE to read it. There are also many other articles about Tassie there to be read.

 

 Tasmanian Fertiliser Company, Bone Mill Bay, Tasmania

 

 

We use this bridge to leave Shag Bay and continue using the Bedlam Walls Track

Climbing down into 'Tommys Bight'

 

This tugboat is speeding to the Zinc Works 

Pilot Boat

While we have lunch we were entertained by the ship 'Cario Bay' leaving port

Heading down the river and under the bridge with tug boat escort

We continue along the Bedlam Walls track and spot this fungus .. 'Tremella Mesenterica' or commonly known as 'Witch's Butter'

Continuing along the road towards East Risdon

Looking northwards we see the Bowen Bridge

At St Margarets Church we look at the cemetery where there is this unusual grave decorated with 3 frogs and a car

After leaving St Margarets we climb towards Government Hills

Our return journey takes us back through Shag Bay

Almost back to the cars we get a good view of the Tasman Bridge

Today 14 walkers covered 12.5 kms in about 4.5 hrs

Click here to download GPX file