Hiking South East Tasmania

Friday, 6 January 2017

Coningham Reserve

Friday 6th January 2017

Towards Bruny Island

I have done quite a few walks in the Coningham Reserve and this one is a little different as it skirts around a substantial amount of the reserve boundary.
I parked in Old Station Road at one entrance to the reserve and set off uphill on the old track. Soon I branched off onto a walking/bike track and headed over to the southern boundary of the reserve where there is a fence line indicating the border between reserve and private property. This is where the private property starts and not where the sign indicates. Once I reached the fence it was just a simple matter of following it down to the coast. It was easy walking with pads to follow.

Ridge line

Following the fence down

Towards Bruny Island

Towards Bruny Island and South

On arriving at the beach at Peartree Bay I started heading north along the coast. The walking was on small pebbles and easy but soon it became impossible to walk along at water level due to the sandstone cliffs. I had to ascend and followed a rough pad along the cliff tops.

Peartree Bay

Creek running into Peartree Bay

Looking north at Peartree Bay

Simmonds Point

I passed the fish farm and eventually arrived at the access steps. I did not bother going down as I had been before.

From the steps I simply joined up with the Coningham Clifftops walk which basically goes back to Coningham Beach. I did deviate to the cave on the way.

Coningham Beach

When I arrived at Coningham Beach I walked up the road and into the reserve once again following an old road uphill towards Sheppards Hill before branching off onto a walking/bike track which took me back almost to the start.
A really good easy walk with nice scenery.
Distance: 9.7 kms.
Time: 3'23"
Ascent: 470 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Sunday, 15 May 2016

Coningham Reserve

Sunday 15th May 2016

Legacy Beach Coningham Reserve

The weather looked a little unsettled when I was driving towards the start of the walk at Coningham Beach, but not overly concerning. I had done this walk before, but decided to do it again, as I had a new walker with me today, and did not want anything too strenuous. I have not actually written it up before so here it is, although there is not much to say about it as it is quite simple.
We set off from the car park at Coningham Beach and walked northwards along the track to Stubbings Street and then Coningham and Hopwood Roads and into the reserve. After completing a small loop it was then along the reserve boundary to pick up an overgrown track through the bush to Old Station Road. We walked along Old Station Road for about a kilometre before heading back into the reserve at the south western entrance.
The track followed along the ridge line of Sheppards Hill before descending to Snug Point. It was about here that it started raining quite heavily, and, as yours truly does not like wearing a raincoat, he got rather wet, didn't he. My companion was much wiser. We took the short detour down to the stairs that go down to the base of the cliffs and then down to the cave, but it was too wet and slippery to attempt to get down to the entrance of the cave. No photos here as it was too wet.
As we were ascending from the cave the sun came out in all its glory and remained out until we arrived back at the cars. The cliff top walk is quite scenic with views to Bruny Island and Tinderbox. We followed this back via Legacy Beach and Coningham Beach to the cars.