Garretts Bight

Sunday 13th August 2017

Garretts Bight

I took a couple of friends on a short walk to Garretts Bight today. The walk starts off Narrows Road out from Strathblane on the south east coast. The track was quite wet from recent rains and the rope descent to the beach was very slippery, so much so, that we had to find an alternate route down for one of the party. This proved to be a better alternative. On the way we detoured into The Pines.

The track

At The Pines

At The Pines

At The Pines

Rope descent to beach

Once down on the rocks we continued on around the coast to get a view of Garretts Bight. Because of the cool temperature and wet rocks it was rather slippery so we did not venture the whole way to Garretts Bight, but could plainly see it.

Scott Point

South Bruny and Bruny Islands

Looking South

Looking South

Looking South

We scrambled up on the headland which is almost an island and watched some waves breaking on the rocks before returning back to Scott Point and then walked back to the car.
An interesting short walk on a lovely winter's day.
Distance: 7.3 kms.
Time: 3'35"
Ascent: 313 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Mount Field East Circuit

Tuesday 8th August 2017

Unnamed Peak 1228 metres

I had a plan A and a plan B for today, depending on the depth of the snow that I would encounter. Plan A was to start at Lake Fenton and walk to Mount Crooke and return via the track beside Lake Fenton. If the snow was too deep then I intended to just walk the Mount Field East Circuit. I had checked out the Mount Mawson Web Cams yesterday and there did appear to be a reasonable covering of snow so I thought I would just go out there and see what happens.
I set off from the car park at Lake Fenton in not so favourable weather...light cloud and wind. There was a new bridge across the outlet of Lake Fenton and some new boardwalk a little further on that crossed a wet area.

New Bridge

Soon I started to encounter some snow and ice on the track but it was generally quite hard.

The Track

The Track

After about 55" I reached the top of saddle where I wanted to turn off to Mount Crooke. The weather was not too bright but there were short breaks of sunshine, so I figured that I would persevere and see how far I could get. Not too far as it turned out because the snow was rather deep and every second step I seemed to disappear up to my knees or further. I decided to head over to the unnamed peak of 1228 metres and then walk back and complete the Mount Field East Circuit instead. Mount Crooke will have to be another day when there is less snow. I had fun in the snow anyway.

Unnamed Peak

Unnamed Peak

Summit Unnamed Peak

Unnamed Peak

Once back on track I headed for Windy Moor which lived up to its name as it was quite windy and in its usual wet condition.

Mount Field East

Track towards Windy Moor

Windy Moor

I opted not to climb Mount Field East as I had been up there a few times before and just kept heading around the circuit. There was some snow on the descent and care had to be taken although it was generally quite hard.

The Track

The Track

On the descent I spotted Lake Rayner which seemed to be frozen so of course I had to check it out. It was indeed frozen but only a thin layer on top.

Lake Rayner

Lake Rayner

I continued on to Lake Nicholls Hut for lunch.

Lake Nicholls

Lake Nicholls Hut

After lunch and further down the track I took the short detour to Beatties Tarn and then down to the Pack Track and finally uphill to the car.

Beatties Tarn

Beatties Tarn

This was a most enjoyable walk in cool conditions where the temperature hovered around 4 degrees C for most of the walk.
Distance: 10.4 kms.
Time 4'50"
Ascent: 500 metres

Crystal and Reubens Falls

Tuesday 1st August 2017

Crystal Falls

Crystal Falls

I planned to walk to Crystal and Reubens Falls today, both very short walks, or so I thought. I had not been to Crystal Falls before and only had a rough position for them, which can make it difficult in that type of country. This proved to be the case because I spent quite some time finding the actual falls.
As I drove out to the start of the Crystal Falls walk the sun was just starting to light up a snow covered Mount Weld.

Mount Weld

I was not too sure where to start the walk but decided to drive in on a forestry track off South Weld Road about 1.3 kms. before the Reubens Falls walk. I drove to the end of the road and parked and set off following what appeared to be an old logging track with burn trees across it. It was not too bad and I made reasonable progress to where I figured that I should turn off and head down to where I thought the falls would be.

Old logging track

Firstly I encountered cutting grass and then dense scrub but it soon opened out as I approched the creek. It was steep going and I managed to get down to the creek but there was no sign of the falls. I could see sunlight streaming in further downstream and that is usually a sign that there are falls there.

Crystal Creek

Crystal Creek but not the falls

I headed back up and made another aborted attempt to reach the base of the falls but it was just too steep and dangerous. I headed back up to the top of the ridge and then back down once again to the creek. It was still steep but I made it down okay and arrived quite near the base of the falls. The creek was flowing well after recent rains.

Crystal Falls

Base of Crystal Falls

From here I headed back up to the ridge and picked up my original track through the cutting grass. I did come across a very large tree on the way, one of a few that have escaped the chainsaw.

Once I reached the old logging track it was a breeze back to the car.
This was a more difficult walk than I was expecting mainly because of lack of information. Anyone choosing to do this walk should simply follow my return track which would make it much easier. It is all off track and quite steep and slippery but not too bad scrubwise.
Distance: 3.6 kms. (about 3.0 kms. without the unnecessary detours)
Time:3'21"
Ascent: 190 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Reubens Falls

Reubens Falls

After Crystal Falls I drove up the road and walked into Reubens Falls. There was plenty of water in the creek and the falls were pumping.

Isabella Creek

Reubens Falls

Mount Weld

For information on the Reubens Falls walk see The Weld-Short Walks in  the walks index. This is an easy walk taking about 1'15" and is about 2.8 kms. return. Care is needed descending to the falls as the track is steep and slippery.