Tuesday 26th September 2017
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| Arve Plains |
When I walked Arve Plains about three years ago I could not find a track on the western end that appeared to head towards the river. This time I wanted to start near the western end and walk down to Tahune and back.
I parked in the quarry at the start of the walk, actually on the second tier of the quarry, so I could get my car out of sight due to the amount of burnt out cars in this vicinity. Today I saw three but I have seen quite a few in the past as well. It was a relief to find the car intact on my return.
I set off westward on Edwards Road and walked a short distance before turning right on to an old track. This was seriously overgrown but just manageable. Once I reached the flat plain the track became more like a lake or stream and the option of keeping the boots dry soon went out the window.
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| The Track |
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| The Track |
The track headed north west and then west over towards the river. It alternated between puddles, lakes, streams and the occasional solid ground. The track was just discernible but was quite overgrown.
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| Nice lichen section of track |
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| Nice mossy section of track |
Once I reached the end of the heath section on the map and where it started heading south, it became more of a foot pad with the occasional and quite rare tape. This section of track from here to Tahune was quite easy to loose and I spent some time searching for it on numerous occasions, especially where trees had come down and blocked the track. There were wet sections through here as well and a nice little creek.
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| Track and rare tape |
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| Large tree beside track |
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| Lovely little creek and cascade |
Just before I began heading west again the track came close to the Huon river so I was able to get a couple of shots. The river was flowing well from recent rain.
I continued following the track along the river towards Tahune and about 250 metres before the main road, I noticed an old side track the appeared to be heading in the right direction to meet up with Edwards Road. I decided to take it and it was a less than desirable decision. The track had actually become a flowing stream and was up to 20cms deep in places. I paddled upstream for about 500 metres and then the track started to deviate away from Edwards Road. I could not bring myself to walk back and then out to the main road, so made the decision to bush bash to Edwards Road. There was some cutting grass but it was not as bad as I expected, and it was a relief to finally reach the road.
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| The track or flowing stream |
Once I reached Edwards Road it was an easy amble of 5.5 kms. back to the car. When I reached the car I climbed up to the top of the quarry and took a couple of shots of the surrounding countryside.
On the way home I also stopped at the bridge over the Arve River to take a couple of photos.
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| Arve River |
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| Arve River |
This was an interesting walk, quite hard work in places with the scrub and not much in the way of scenery except for nice wet forest, but I am glad I have done it.
Distance: 13.4 kms.
Time: 4'36"
Ascent: 300 metres
Click here to download GPX file.
