Hiking South East Tasmania

Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Donnellys Creek - Southport Lagoon

Tuesday 27th October 2015

Mouth of Donnellys Creek

My aim for today's walk was to access the Leprena Track in the Southport Lagoon area, and then walk to Donnellys Creek via some old tracks, and then walk around the foreshore to a point where I could get back to some abandoned tracks, and back to the car. It all worked out rather well.
I set off from the end of a forestry track. It wasn't really the end but it was as far as I wanted to take the car. I could have driven down Lune River Road and parked at the locked gate which would have saved about 600 metres of walking each way. Anyway, the track was not too bad, although somewhat overgrown in places, but I soon reached the gate and the Leprena Track.

Leprena Track

The track was okay but is starting to overgrow and there were a few puddles to dodge. After about 3 kms. of walking on the track, I reached the turnoff for Donnellys Creek, just before a large log across the track.

Large Log at Donnellys Creek Turnoff

The track traversed button grass plains and was generally easy to follow but became indistinct in a few places. Also there were pools of water in places which had to be negotiated. It was about as wet as I had been expecting - much drier than in the winter time. It did not take a long time to walk to the mouth of Donnellys Creek. Here was an old hut which would have been quite good in its day but the bedroom door had been left open and I think all sorts of critters had been living in it.

Donnellys Creek Hut

Bedroom

Fireplace

Looking up Donnellys Creek

Looking South From Donnellys Creek

After a short break I headed off in a southerly direction around the foreshore. The walking was quite easy on small rocks and I had to climb over many trees across my path. I had to cross a couple of small creeks on my way around and luckily there was a convenient log spanning the largest one.


Log spanning the creek

I carried on around the shoreline, dodging the occasional mud, and eventually reached the pick shaped headland.

Mouth of Donnellys Creek

Small Island in Southport Lagoon

Small Beach just before the Headland

I debated whether to keep going straight ahead to the coastline or to cross the small isthmus in a southerly direction. I went straight ahead but could not get down to the beach as the cliffs were too steep, so just walked along until I could get down at the southern tip. I could hear the surf roaring over on Big Lagoon Beach.

Southport Lagoon

Around the Headland

I found some good rocks to sit on for lunch, and after a short break, I headed across the button grass plains searching for an old vehicle track. It didn't take long before I found it and simply followed it and the Leprena Track back to the car.
This was a good walk with nice coastal scenery and some views of the mountains to the west were also visible.
Distance: 18.0 kms.
Time: 5'52"
Ascent: 240 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Button Grass Plains

Mountains to the west

Adamsons Peak

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Mount Charles from Lachlan

Monday 19th October 2015

Mount Charles

I have been to Mount Charles before, but using the usual route up from the East West Trail. This time I decided to tackle it on the northern side from the Lachlan area. I drove up Hydelhurst Road from Lachlan and then on to the Jefferys Track, which I followed for a couple of kilometres before parking in a large area beside the road.
I set off up an old track which climbed steadily. The walking was easy and I soon reached the gate on the Wellington Park boundary. As so often happens, the gate had received some attention from someone and was no longer keeping anyone out.

Wellington Park Gate

The track continued on uphill and shortly I turned left into a more overgrown track. I had an idea where I wanted to go but was pretty much making it up as I went. The track had lots of trees down across it and became more overgrown the further I went, but was still passable. Eventually the track started heading down which was not where I wanted to go, so I left it and scambled uphill to find another track which was heading in the right direction. This I followed for some distance before it petered out and then I had a steep scramble uphill again before locating another track which was marked on the map. This too ran out and I walked through some scrub to a point where I turned and walked in a more or less southerly direction towards Mount Charles. The scrub across this area was the worst on the walk. It varied from open areas to quite thick scrub which required some bashing to get through. Eventually I caught my first glimpse of Mount Charles.

Mount Charles

Mount Charles Ridge with Mount Charles on the left

I did think about turning back a couple of times, but persevered, and eventually I reached the boulder field which lead up to the top of the ridge. The climb up was okay until I almost reached the top, where I had to pick my way up through some quite large boulders. I thought I might have to go back down a bit and try another tack, but eventually I managed to reach the top. The walk along the ridge was quite okay with some light scrub and I soon reached the summit. It took me four hours and forty five minutes to finally get here. I had a well deserved lunch break. There was some haze in the distance but it was generally quite clear.

From Summit

I had decided on my way through the scrub, that if I made it to the summit, I was not coming back through the scrub again but would instead head down to the East West Trail and return to the car that way. It was going to be longer in distance but much shorter in time. This is exactly what I did and I walked back via the Trail and the Jefferys Track.

On Mount Charles

Mount Charles from East West Trail

I had not been on this section of the Jefferys Track before and found it quite pleasant walking in the shade of the trees. The only thing that marred it was the deep ruts carved by 4WD vehicles, and I means deep. Some were about one and a half metres deep!!

Jefferys Track

This was a very interesting walk and quite tiring and I was certainly glad to finally reach the car.
Distance: 17.4 kms.
Time: 7'53"
Ascent: 760 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Saturday, 10 October 2015

Weld River

Saturday 10th October 2015

Fletchers Eddy

The plan for today was to do a short walk to Fletchers Eddy and then along the bank of the Weld River to a bend opposite Glovers Bluff.
Another perfect day in paradise, as I set off walking from the parking spot on Eric Pettets Road with a couple of friends. See here and here for previous posts of this area.
The track to Fletchers Eddy was not too bad mud wise and we made it in fairly quick time.

Weld River

Fletchers Eddy

We continued on around the Eddy and across Eddy Creek and then along the bank of the Weld following a faint pad. The going was quite easy and we stopped at a nice spot for a snack.

Weld River

We continued on upstream to almost the major bend where we had a clear view of Glovers Bluff.

Glovers Bluff

This was the turn around point for our walk, so we retraced our steps back to Fletchers Eddy and took a track heading off in a north easterly direction, which I assumed would meet up with Eric Pettets Road. This was a well taped track and did indeed meet the road. We then simply followed the road back to the car. The road was in very good condition and was very firmly packed with what appeared to be dolomite rock from the quarry. The locked gate near the start of the walk was unlocked and there was no sign of any lock so I am unsure whether it is remaining open these days or not.
Note: I have since contacted the operators of the dolomite quarry and they informed me that the gate had been vandalised and will be locked in the future.