Monk Bay Circuit

Wednesday 11th March 2015

Monk Bay

Some friends accompanied me today down to the Tasman Peninsula to do a circuit walk including Monk Bay. The walk starts at the Coal Mines site in the Lime Bay Reserve on the most northern section of the Tasman Peninsula.
We set off from the Coal Mines parking area and walked down to the coast where the ruins are situated. As my friends had not been here before, I suggested that we complete the walk first and check out the ruins on our return.

Plunkett Point

Plunkett Point

Iron Stone Point

Ruins at Plunkett Point

We walked along the coast to Plunkett Point where there are some ruins and then followed the track to a fire trail where we again headed to the coast where there is a small isolated beach which is very nice. We stopped for a short break before walking back up the fire trail to the track once more. This was followed to Ironstone Point where it crossed Ironstone Point to end up at Monk Bay. The water was quite calm and very clear. A great sight.

Monk Bay

Ironstone Point

We walked along the cliff tops for a short while before descending to the beach at Monk Bay and then walked along the beach until we could not go any further. We then climbed back up to the track which followed the cliffs around to an obvious point. We walked out to the end of this point where there were many birds.

From Nameless Point

North from Nameless Point

Nameless Point

Whitehouse Point

From the point the track went around to Whitehouse Point, and as we rounded the point we ran into a strong wind coming from the north west. It was completely different to the eastern side where it had been quite calm.

Looking towards Green Head

Lime Bay

Looking back towards Whithouse Point

 The track carried on to Lime Bay where we picked up an overgrown track and began the return. We found a log to sit on for lunch but we immediately overrun with mosquitoes. Consequently we did not linger too long and set off once again. As I was walking along the track I had a close encounter with a tiger snake. Luckily it quickly slithered off into the scrub.
Now, I had intended to walk up to Mount Stewart through the scrub but the snake incident had put one of my companions off that idea. We just carried on along the track back to the Coal Mines area where we had a look at the ruins. My friends are interested to return to the area to have a good look. A couple of hours are required to properly inspect the site, alone.
This is a great walk with fantastic coastal scenery as well as the historical ruins.
Distance: 14.6 kms.
Time: 4'30"
Ascent: 320 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Coal Mines Ruins

Coal Mines Ruins

Coal Mines Cell