Waterworks/Ridgeway Circuit

Thursday 4th August 2016

Waterworks Lower Reservoir

I wanted to do an easy walk today and made up a circuit in the Waterworks and Ridgeway Reserves.
I parked outside of the gate for the Waterworks and set off past the reservoirs and on to The Pipeline Track to Gentle Annie Falls, which was of course, dry as usual.

Mount Wellington

Waterworks Reservoir

Receiving House No. 1

Track to Gentle Annie Falls

Gentle Annie Falls

From Gentle Annie Falls I continued walking along the Pipeline Track to Fern Tree  and then back east and up to the top of Chimney Pot Hill. There is a large communications tower here as well as a small stone hut.

Sluice House on Pipeline Track

Chimney Pot Hill

Chimney Pot Hill

From the hill I walked down a somewhat overgrown old track, across Chimney Pot Hill Road and towards Ridgeway Reservoir.

Overgrown track down from Chimney Pot Hill

Once I reached the dam wall I climbed down right next to the wall and arrived at the base of the wall. It was reasonably steep but okay.

Track down to base of wall

At the base

Track down

Dam Wall

From here I walked south east and then west along the fire trails and then north east towards the Pipeline Track. As I was heading on to the track to Sixpence Cave, I saw a cyclist out of the corner of my eye and momentarily lost concentration and slipped on some sloping mossy ground and consequently ended up on my posterior. I don't know who got more of a shock, me or the cyclist, but he was quite concerned. Luckily I was quite okay..just a bit embarrassed. I carried on to Sixpence Cave where there was a woman and three small children. She was attempting to light a small campfire but not very successfully. I took a couple of photos and left them to it.

Heading down to Pipeline Track

Sixpence Cave

Sixpence Cave

After leaving the cave I walked past the two large concrete reservoirs and down to the car.
This was a really good and easy walk with a variety of scenery.
Distance: 14 kms.
Time: 4'05"
Ascent: 730 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Punna Falls

Saturday 30th July 2016

Punna Falls

 After the walk to Punna Falls in 2014 and not reaching the base of the falls I thought they were owed another visit, but approaching from below the falls this time.
I parked in a small park off Denison Road and walked a short distance up the road to the track on the left that goes up to Badger Saddle. As I was climbing up I could see a recently logged and burnt area in the distance which appeared to be in the direction that I needed to go.About 800 metres up this track I left it and headed down to Badger Creek and crossed over it and continued on paralleling the creek until I reached the burnt area. This was a very large area and does not show up on Google Earth, so it is quite recent.

I walked across the coup but should have stayed to the right hand side as it was easier going. Basically I continued on right up to the top right hand corner where I left the coup and entered the bush. It was not too bad and I headed down to the creek. The creek was flowing quite well so I had high expectations for the falls.

The last section of creek before the falls was a bit of a nightmare of large trees and debris but I finally made it to the base of the falls and was pleasantly surprised. There was a generous cascade coming down and it was really pretty.

There was much more water here than when I was last in the area.

After spending a little time here I walked back out to the coup and down the edge to a road I had seen coming in on the right on the way up. I suspected that it would head over to the track going up Badger Saddle, but the joke ended up being on me, as it did a complete circle and came back to where I started. I suspect that it was just a fire break. I had a quiet chuckle to myself. Undaunted I carried on back down the coup, across Badger Creek, up to the Badger Saddle track and back to the car.

Log crossing over Badger Creek

Once back in the car, I drove up Weld Road and down a forestry track on the right which goes right into the coup. It would be good to start the walk from here as it would cut off a bit of distance.
This was a great little walk and it was good to finally get a proper look at the falls, but best to avoid the unnecessary side track, although there was nice forest in this area.
Distance: 9.2 kms.
Time: 4'04"
Ascent: 450 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

South Wellington Circuit

Thursday 21st July 2016

South Wellington

The route for today's walk was to start at The Springs, walk up the Ice House track to South Wellington, continue on along an unnamed track to the Milles track at the Potato Fields and then back to The Springs, thus completing a circuit.
I set off early from The Springs and up the Ice House track. As I neared the top the track became increasingly frosty and very slippery. As the track crested I branched off and headed over to South Wellington summit. There were a few patches of remnant snow. The day was absolutely perfect for walking with a cool temperature and very little wind.

South Wellington

Track heading towards South Wellington

South Wellington

South Wellington

South Wellington

Cathedral Rock and Montagu Thumbs

South Wellington

South Wellington

Remnant snow

From South Wellington I walked along an unnamed track down to the Milles track at the Potato Fields. The track was generally fairly easy to follow but was quite slippery in places due to the frosty rocks. Crossing the short expanse of scree was particularly slippery.

Along unnamed track

Icy puddle

Cathedral Rock, Montagu Thumbs, Mount Montagu

Once I reached the Milles track it was a simple walk back to The Springs. I did encounter three people doing track maintenance in the Potato Fields area and I did make a detour to check out Disappearing Tarn again. It had almost disappeared this time but there was a small amount of water there.

Potato Fields

Disappearing Tarn

This was a really good walk on a perfect day. Great scenery.
Distance: 11.3 kms.
Time: 5'40"
Ascent: 605 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

South Cape Bay

Sunday 10th July 2016

South Cape Bay

We had a great walk to South Cape Bay today in perfect weather. When we arrived at the Bay we had it all to ourselves and only met three other groups on our way out, so it was definitely not overcrowded, as it often can be. See other posts on South Cape Bay and South Cape Rivulet for details.

South East Cape

South Cape Bay

South Cape Bay

Lion Rock

Lion Rock

Tom Thumb

Sunday 3rd July 2016

Tom Thumb

The walk was meant to be to Tom Thumb and return and then to some of the huts in the Mount Wellington area. The weather became very cold and windy and rainy on our return from Tom Thumb so we cut the walk short at Pinnacle Road and only visited the Scout Hut.
We set off from the large car park above Big Bend and along the Big Bend fire trail to the base of Tom Thumb. The ascent was in drizzly rain and alas there were very poor views from the top. We didn't stay too long on the summit because of the rain and wind and beat a hasty retreat back down to the fire trail. Of course the sun soon came out but it didn't last long and by the time we reached the Scout Hut it was blowing a gale and very cold. After lunch we decided to abandon the rest of the walk and get out of the cold and wind. The other huts will have to wait for another day.
See Tom Thumb Circuit and Mount Wellington Huts and Ruins for previous photos.
There is no map for today's walk due to the sensitive nature of the location of the huts on Mount Wellington. If anyone wants information on the huts use the contact form on this blog.
Distance: 8.2 kms.
Time: 4'00"
Ascent: 400 metres

Tom Thumb

The Derwent from Tom Thumb

Tom Thumb

Scout Hut

Scout Hut