Chauncy Vale

Friday 28th November 2014

Chauncy Vale Cave

This walk was to be in the Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary and Flat Rock Reserve. The route chosen was to walk along the cliffs containing the caves, to then walk across country to Devils Elbow and up to the Eastern and Western Lookouts and then back to the car, thus completing a circuit.
To get to Chauncy Vale drive up the Midland Highway from Hobart and turn onto Chauncy Vale Road at Bagdad and follow to the end. Either park just outside the gate or drive into the sanctuary and park in the parking area. A $2.00 donation is requested at a box just inside the gate.

Winter Track

I headed off up the Winter Track which lead gradually uphill to shortly arrive at the cliff line that contained the caves. Before reaching the cliffs I came across the memorial plaque for the Hutchins School Cabin site. The track meandered along at the base of the cliffs and soon I encountered some caves. I mistakenly started following the track which went downhill but soon found the error of my ways and scrambled back up to the cliffs. There were small caves and indentations along here.

Chauncy Vale Cave

The country was very dry and a fire would really take off in this area. As I was walking along I brushed up against some stinging nettle that I had not noticed and it stung for a short time. It is nothing like the Moonlighter in north Queensland where the stinging sensation can last for months. The first night is the worst because nothing relieves the pain. I carried on to a large outcrop of rock where I started going downhill steeply to the creek below. I found a nice shaded spot to stop for a snack before descending to the creek which had practically no water in it, although there was a slight trickle.

Browns Caves Creek

After crossing the creek I walked uphill and when I reached the top of this first ridge I came across a quaint seat in the middle of nowhere and an old walking track.

Rustic Seat

I followed the track for a short distance before heading off track and uphill to Devils Elbow where there were limited views. After this it was downhill to pick up the walking track and along this and another old track to just below the Eastern Lookout. Here I left the track and scrub bashed a short distance up to the top of the lookout. Here there were reasonable views all around. I stopped for lunch in the shade because it was quite warm.

Eastern Lookout

After lunch I headed down the track to Western Lookout where there were good views of the mountains behind Hobart.

From Western Lookout

I then walked back downhill to the car via the walking track with short deviations to Guvys Lagoon and Eves Bath on the way.
Overall a good walk in nice bush land. I saw plenty of wallabies and two echidnas.
Distance: 12.7 kms.
Time: 5'04"
Ascent: 730 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Hutchins Cabin Memorial

Hutchins Cabin Site

Cliffline

Chauncy Vale Cave

Chauncy Vale Cave

Cliffline

Cliffline

Devils Elbow from Cliffs

Looking east from Eastern Lookout

Hobart from Eastern Lookout

Looking across to cliffs from Western Lookout

Guvys Lagoon

Eves Bath

Mount Bridges

Sunday 23rd November 2014

Mount Bridges and Lake Seal

A good day was forecast so we decided on a trip out to Mount Field National Park to walk out to Mount Bridges. As my friends had not been on the back road from Judbury through to New Norfolk, we went this way for a change. The route was via the Plenty Link Road and then Plenty Valley Road which comes out just west of New Norfolk. It is shorter than going through Hobart and does save some time, but not much. It is a good gravel road with virtually no traffic.
The walk starts at the usual car park at Lake Dobson.

Lake Seal

WE set off up the Urquhart Track, ski lodge access track and then Snow Gum Track to several lookout points above Lake Seal. It was a perfect day with clear blue skies and the scenery was magnificent as usual. From there we walked along the boardwalk and down to the Rodway day shelter and ski tow where we stopped for a light snack before heading along the Tarn Shelf. The water looked inviting in the first tarn, but after feeling the water, a swim was quickly voted out of the question.

Tarn Shelf

At Johnston Tarn where the track rises up slightly, we turned and headed north east across an obvious saddle to Mount Bridges. There was a faint pad that tracked across and was a little damp in the actual saddle, with lots of small ponds. There was a short scramble over some rocks before the summit was reached. Here we stopped for lunch before heading back. Instead of walking back down the ski lodge access track, we headed over to the ski tow and other lodges and walked down the Golden Stairs track, which seems to be becoming more overgrown.
This was a great short walk with the usual fantastic scenery that Mount Field provides.
Distance: 11.1 kms.
Time: 5'18"
Ascent: 525 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Mount Bridges

Lake Seal

Lake Seal

Looking across the saddle to Mount Bridges

From Mount Bridges

From Mount Bridges

On Mount Bridges

Nice tree in Mount Bridges saddle

Looking across the saddle to Mount Bridges

Lake Dobson from Golden Stairs track

Eddy Creek Karst

Saturday 15th November 2014

Largest Cave

I have been going to do this walk for some time and decided that today would be a good day for it. For those who don't know, a karst is a limestone or dolomite region in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams and caverns. This area around Eddy Creek is a dolomite area and there is currently a quarry where the dolomite is extracted. I had a list of locations of various caves, sinkholes and springs that I wanted to check out.

Road to the quarry

To reach the walk start I drove out on Weld Road and turned onto Eddy Road near Southwood Mill and then into Eric Pettits Road and parked just before the locked gate. It is more or less the same starting point as Fletchers Eddy. As there was about 4 kms. of road walking involved to reach the quarry access road, I rode my bike instead of walking which saved some time. It was quite easy riding and not too steep. After reaching the quarry road, I stashed the bike in the bush and began the short walk up the road. No doubt someone younger or fitter than I could have ridden to the quarry but I found it easier to walk.

Dolomite Quarry

It did not take long to reach the quarry, where there were great views of Glovers Bluff. I walked up the right hand side and then into the bush heading for my first point of interest, which was the largest sinkhole in the area. The trees that had been pushed over made it a little difficult but I was soon in clearer territory. The sink hole was just past the quarry boundary and was not very impressive - merely a small depression.

Largest sinkhole

I then carried on to a small cave and a spring and cave that seem to be joined underground and then to the largest cave around the area. It was quite deep and I had too be extremely careful near the edge. The walking was fairly easy with no scrub bashing involved but there were plenty of trees to clamber over, both large and small.

Largest cave from up the hill

From here I walked uphill to locate a couple of sinkholes, one of which I found and one I didn't and then onto another vertical cave to the northwest. When I found it I stopped for a snack before heading back down the dry creek bed to look for more features.

Vertical Cave

I found some more springs and another cave whilst walking down the creek and once I reached the last spring I headed uphill to come out at the quarry, thus completing a small loop. I then walked back to my bike and then headed down the road because I wanted to check out the access for a future walk to Bernard Spur. There was a tree across the road at the Eddy Creek crossing and this proved to be a good seat for lunch.

Lunch at Eddy Creek

I rode on up the road to the end which is near Bernard Spur. There were good views of Glovers Bluff along here and I also watched an echidna for quite some time. After finding out what I wanted to, I simply rode back to the car.
This was an enjoyable short walk through some nice bush and with some different points of interest.
Distance: 15.8 kms. Bike 9.1 kms. Walk 6.7 kms.
Time: 5'06"
Ascent: 490 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Dolomite quarry

Dolomite quarry

Largest Cave

Bush

Spring flowing over dolomite

Glovers Bluff

Dolomite quarry

Dolomite

Echidna