Sloping Main

Saturday 26 October 2013

Sloping Main

Friday 25th October 2013

Sloping Main Beach

After a couple of months of walking up mountains I decided that it was time that I did a coastal walk again. I do love the beaches in Tasmania and thoroughly enjoy getting back to them when I can. I chose Sloping Main as I had not been to that particular beach before.
It was very windy at home and I was expecting plenty of wind where I was going but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. The drive down took exactly 2 hours, and I was kitted up and ready to start just after 0800. The walk start was at Gwandalan Park in Sloping Main Drive and the first 3.3 kms. was entirely along Sloping Main Beach, which was pleasant to walk on, as the sand was quite hard. I came across a couple of people walking dogs and two guys fishing off the beach. They had driven their 4WD down onto the beach via a boat ramp which is about halfway along the beach. I suspect that this could be an alternative starting point.

Mount Wellington from Sloping Main Beach

There were good views of Mount Wellington and Sloping Island, and, as you can see from the photos, the wind was not too bad, with only a gentle swell rolling in. After about 40 minutes I reached the northern end of the beach and followed a track heading up the bank of a creek to eventually meet up with a vehicle track. I was now in Lime Bay Nature Reserve. I walked this track for 3.6 kms. to arrive at Lime Bay. It was a most pleasant part of the walk, though nice forest and so very quite except for the birds. Along the way I passed Sloping Lagoon where it is possible to turn west and head along a track on the southern side of the lagoon to come out on Lagoon Beach, thus shortening the distance a little. See info at Everytrail on the Green Head walk.

Track through Lime Bay Nature Reserve

At Lime bay I had a sit down and a snack and watched the sea birds feeding on the shoreline. It was very peaceful and totally sheltered from any wind.
I then found a track leading off the beach to meet the Lagoon Beach walking track which I followed. After clambering over the dunes at the end of the track I came to the beach about halfway along the length of the beach. Here it was blowing rather fiercely and quite cold. The beach was followed in a south easterly direction towards Lobster Point, and, at a convenient point before the beach ended, I exited the beach by climbing the dunes and walked through a little scrub to meet up with a vehicle track. It was then just a matter of walking this track to Lobster Point where I took shelter from the wind and had an early lunch.

Lagoon Beach and Lobster Point

I tried to find a track that was shown on the map that supposedly ran along the coast back to Sloping Main Beach, but could find no evidence of its existence. As I did not feel like scrub bashing, I backtracked slightly and continued on the vehicle track. I wanted to check out Whalebone Beach, so after a time I headed into the scrub and walked back to the coast and met up with a vague walking track which went past Whalebone Beach(a very nice little beach) and eventually back to the vehicular track. I then walked along this and down to Sloping Main Beach and along the beach, finally arriving at the car at about 1300.
A most enjoyable walk.
Distance: 18.7 kms.
Time: 5 hours
Ascent: 270 metres
Click here to download GPX track.