Tower Bay

Wednesday 27th January 2016

Tower Bay

Tower Bay is located about halfway between Garretts Bight and Rossel Point on the South East coast and the walk start is reached by turning off the Huon Highway into Peacocks Road and following it until an intersection is reached with Lady Bay Road. Turn left here and drive to a parking area just before the locked gate. All is 2WD access.
It was raining on the way down and I had to use the wipers for the first time in ages.
I set off around the locked gate. The track was good and there was no sign of recent vehicular activity of any kind. The track crossed Selfs Rivulet which had barely a trickle.

Selfs Rivulet

Selfs Rivulet

Peacock Road after locked gate

It was easy walking with a few downed trees across the track but they were easily negotiated. After about half an hour pf walking I reached the place where I intended to head down to Tower Bay. The scrub was just thick enough to make it annoying but I soon reached the small creek that empties into Tower Bay. This I tracked down to the Bay taking just over a hour to do the 800 metres. It was slow going with many large trees to dodge but it was worth it as Tower Bay is a very nice spot.

Creek heading down to Tower Bay

I could see the cliffs up to the north where I guess it gets its name so I thought I would walk along the foreshore to hopefully reach them.

Tower Bay Cliffs

Tower Bay looking south

Tower Bay cliffs

I had timed it so it was just past high tide so I would not be trapped at all. I need not have worried because my progress was soon halted by a lovely little sea cave which prevented any advancement north.

Heading north

Sea Cave

Sea Cave

Sea Cave

The point heading towards the cliffs

This was indeed a nice surprise but there was no way around this spot other than to climb up and over the cliffs in this area and I was not doing that. They were very high and very steep so I simply turned around and walked back to the creek outlet for a break and to take in the scenery. There were a couple of sandstone boulders in amongst the grey rocks which were quite interesting.

High cliffs that would have to be negotiated to get further north

Sandstone Boulder

Sandstone Boulder

What really surprised me about this place is that there was absolutely no rubbish washed up on the beach, which was very pleasing. After a time I headed back up the creek to the road taking about the same amount of time. I then turned right and walked further up the track just to see if there was anything interesting at all. There wasn't really so turned around and headed back to the car.
This was a good walk and the Bay is very pleasant.
Distance: 9.0 kms.
Time: 4'30"
Ascent: 305 metres
Click here to download GPX file.