Mount William - Northern Tasmania

Saturday 27th December 2014

Start of track

I drove over to Mount William National park on my way home from Bridport with the intention of doing the short walk up to Mount William. It is probably an exaggeration to label it as a mountain as it is only 220 metres high but that is what it is called. There is an opportunity to do a longer walk from Stumpys Bay camp 4 which is supposed to be 5 hours return but as I wanted to get home at a reasonable time I opted for the shorter version.

Mount William track

I started walking very slightly up hill through nice forest of she oak and banksia. The track climbed ever so gently and I soon reached the summit after about 25 minutes. There were great views of the surrounding countryside. I then walked back to the car. This would be one of the easiest walks anyone could do, but it does provide nice scenery at the summit.
Distance: 3.5 kms.
Time: 48"
Ascent: 140 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

From Mount William

From Mount William

From Mount William

From Mount William

Musselroe Wind Farm

Summit Trig

From Mount William

Mount Cameron - Northern Tasmania

Friday 26th December 2014

Mount Cameron

The Mount Cameron walk is accessed from Waterhouse Road which connects Bridport and Gladstone. About 10.5 kms. north west of Gladstone is Old Port Road. It used to be signed but the sign is now missing. Drive down this road for just over 7.0 kms and turn left into a track. Follow this to the locked gate and park.

Scottsdale High School Field Study Centre

I walked up the road for about 1.6 kms. to the Scottsdale High School Field Study Centre. We never had anything like this when I went to school many moons ago!!! The track to Mount Cameron actually branches off to the right before the centre but it is just as easy to walk up behind the centre where there is the option of taking either of two tracks to Mount Cameron. One goes via Douglas Lookout and the other via the Maze. I opted to walk up the lookout track and down the Maze track.

The track climbed steadily uphill before reaching the Douglas Lookout. There were views from here but I had to move around a bit to get a clear view. The views from the summit were much better.

At Douglas Lookout

From Douglas lookout

From Douglas Lookout

After checking out the scenery I carried on , took a short detour to the Church Spire, then back up to a large expanse of rock where the Maze track joined the track I was on.

From rock expanse

From rock expanse

From rock expanse

On rock expanse

Shortly after this I came to the Maze which was a series of rock columns with varying sized spaces between. I spent some time having a look around. It was very interesting.

The Maze

The Maze

The Maze

The Maze

From the Maze the track crossed a saddle and then started going around the northern side of Mount Cameron. Here I made a slight error and started following some tapes that went steeply up a smooth rock face. It became steeper but still doable so I carried on more or less heading straight up to the summit. I had to scrub bash to actually reach the top, but eventually reached it unscathed.

Summit Trig

From Summit

From Summit

From Summit

From Summit

Looking down to The Maze from Summit

After soaking in the great views and a snack I headed down, taking a more easterly route before picking up the track down below. I walked back via the Maze to the expanse of rock and followed the Maze track back to the School Centre and then back to the car.
This was a great walk with spectacular views.
Distance: 10.1 kms.
Time: 4'05"
Ascent: 656 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

From Maze Track

Bridport - Northern Tasmania

Wednesday 24th December 2014

Bridport shoreline

This is an easy walk on well formed tracks and is comprised of different types of walks including foreshore, forest and riverside. Today I did the touristy thing and walked this circuit in the nice little village of Bridport on the north coast of Tasmania. The walk could be started from many different points on the route.

Trent Water

I started from my accommodation in Mary Street and walked down to the Foreshore Track at Trent Water and walked in an anticlockwise direction. The tide was out in the above photo, so there would be quite a lot more water at high tide.

Shoreline

The first section of walk followed the foreshore along in a northerly direction past the boat ramp at Trent Water and then past the camping area. There were literally hundreds of tents and caravans packed into the area for the Christmas holidays. Definitely not my cup of tea. The walk passed many beaches, including Goftons, Eastmans, Croquet Lawn, Mattingleys and Mermaids. There was ample opportunity to descend to many points of interest along the way via side tracks.

Shoreline

Shoreline

Shoreline

Shoreline

Shoreline

The scenery all along the coast was quite spectacular, as is normal for Tasmania. We really are very privileged to live in such a beautiful place. After the track left the foreshore it followed a gravel road for a time before I took the short detour to Adams Beach. This was a nice long beach which would be very good to walk along.

Adams Beach

Granite Point

The track then left the beach and went uphill slightly through nice forest with lookout points along the way.

East Sandy Point from lookout

The track meandered through the forest, past the golf course and then through a lovely section of she oak forest. Along here I spotted a Blue Tongue Lizard sunning itself on the track.

Track through forest

Blue Tongue Lizard

After the forest the track met up with the Brid River and followed this along past a pumping station and barrage with a water race. It was very pleasant walking all along here.

Brid River

Brid River Barrage

Brid River Barrage and Water Race

Water Race

Brid River

Brid River

Bridge across Brid River

 Finally the track emerged back on the Foreshore Track where I walked back to the start.
This was a great walk with diverse scenery, and, although it was all good, I enjoyed the forest and river section the best as they were away from the maddening crowds.
Distance: 12.3 kms.
Time: 2'46"
Ascent: 200 metres
Click here to download GPX file.