South Sister

During our Blogging break we headed up the East coast, again, but this time decided to get to the top of South Sister. If I'm honest its less of a walk and more of a drive, as despite it looking very tall, there is vehicular access to all but the last section of South Sister. It can be accessed from the main road in St Mary's and is signposted from there.

The road is mostly unsealed and winds up through the gum forests. Eventually there is a narrow access off this road, which is signposted although the sign itself is a little off the road so the turn is easy to miss, like we did. With a quick u turn and this time taking the exit, you climb fairly quickly up a mostly dry rocky, track, in places it has been eroded and a 4x4 is advisable, although I think a normal car with enough clearance would do fine. Fallen rocks and trees litter the edges of the path and in places have been cut away to allow access up the track.

Continuing up the track eventually leads to a radio tower and parking spaces for a few vehicles. Get out here, you'll need decent shoes as from here it is a boulder scramble up to the top. 

The walking part of this trip takes 10-15 minutes each way. There are hand rails in all the right places although the ground itself can be a little unstable. Boulder to the top and there appears to be a route to the right and one to the left. The one too the left, on the level, goes around to a lower point than the one we took. We took the route to the right that climbs up maybe ten wooden steps towards a large radio mast. N.b. you can go right up to the mast/control building, there is a sturdy panoramic lookout wrapped around it and the sights in all directions are excellent. From here you can see the coast and the valleys below, across to Ben Lomond and beyond. It is a very high point and on a clear day the views are incredible. If its the right season, there will be many, many Skinks along the way, bathing on the hot rocks up the track and at the top.

Nice and easy, you can get the views without a 6 hour hike!

Douglas Apsley - Waterhole and Gorge

This walk heads out from the main carpark area of the southern end of Douglas Apsley National Park, not too far from Bicheno on the East Coast. National Park fees apply as mentioned in other National Park blogs. Again, it is one of Tasmania's 60 Great Short Walks. The time required said 2-3 hours but we did the return in 2 hours walking time.

From the carpark, you head past a drop-loo, its the last one for two plus hours so use wisely! Walk pretty much straight and you head past a campsite and on down to the Apsley river. We were a bit unsure where to head when we got to the river, then worked out that we actually needed to cross it. The rock hop here can be tricky if you want to stay dry, there are a couple of places where it looks like it might be possible but there are no completely dry routes. We nearly turned back at this point as we weren't sure what to do. In the end, we grabbed a few rocks to add to what were there to make stepping stones to cross. It looks like plenty of people do this, except that the water has washed previous routes away.


After crossing (carefully) you rise up a long, steep and slippery route. This is not an easy part of the track, take lots of breaks and watch your footing. There are many areas where the track is covered with slippery roots and smooth/sloping sheets of rock that can be easy to slip on. Take a wider track and go slow.

When at the top there are lots of gums and from here the route is much easier, mostly flat before a rock-step descent to the Apsley Gorge. This part is much easier than it looks although, again going down the man-placed steps can be a long drop, so watch where you put your feet.


Down at the gorge there is the potential for a rock hop over the river and along the gorge but we didnt do that in winter, the waters were reasonably high. There is advice near the carpark on how to go about taking this option to basically return a different route down the gorge. Either way, its a scenic place to hang out and have lunch. Very picturesque and peaceful.


Returning is MUCH easier. The steps up make this a breeze, actually a nice ascent as you can look back to the gorge as you rise up. The flat along the top, again is easy and a nice place to just look around you. The descent back to the river is a lot easier but in places the route is less obvious that on the ascent. Again, those flat sheets of rock can be slippy, take your time. It isn't strenuous, like the original ascent might be considered. Cross back over the stepping stones that you made or used earlier in order to return to the car park.

Springs Track

The Springs loop starts from Fern Tree on the Pipeline Track, as previously blogged. Walk the route to Silver Falls and when reaching the waterfall, take the tight right hand turn up some steps, onto Silver Falls Track. The route from here, whilst flagged as easy-moderate in a few books we have, might be considered tricky for those with short legs, or those who tire easily. It gets narrow, slippery when wet and steep in considerable sections.

(Please note this isn't my map, click for further, more detailed Mount Wellington maps)

Shortly after taking the turn up the steps the ground is relatively stable and the walking is pretty easy going. You have to take a left turn off this route onto Reid's Track which is a much steeper section, that looks like it regularly gets flushed with water and it essentially looks like a waterlogged rainwater gully. It is steep here and in places needs a bit of a heave to get up to the next part. In my experience, it is worth taking a few breathers as you go, maybe stop for a drink because its tiring work. This may have all seemed much harder on the day we walked as it was very wet out and we were getting pummeled by the rain, so much so that even my water-proof became less water proof. When you have reached the top of this section, you then take a left turn onto a much bigger looking track, Radford's Track that leads ever upwards towards the springs.

When we arrived at the springs, cold and wet, we saw the carpark, and information stand and smoke in the air. We looked across and saw a hut, and sought refuge from the rain. We went in to get dry and lo and behold, there was a raging fire! We stopped to warm up and have something to eat. We don’t know who had lit the fire as there was no one around when we got there but to say that it was a relief to have a fire, is an understatement. It instantly lifed our spirits and made having an Easter Egg even more enjoyable. So to whoever lit the fire for our arrival that day, thanks again. Of course we stoked the fire a little before heading off, so that the next half drowned adventurer might benefit too.

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When we’d had a break, we went off from the Springs, back onto Radford's Track that we’d come up, except rather than fully retracing our steps back down Reid's Track, we remained this time on the wider Radford's track that headed down the hill. At this point there is a small sign that prompted the way to Fern Glade. When we headed down further, there was a small monument on the left that signaled that Radford, a young man, had died there during a hill run many years ago. It was at this point that we took a right turn off this track down into Fern Glade.

From this point to the bottom of Fern Glade is a short but excellent walk, even with little kids. Don’t miss this one! See the Fern Glade Blog for further detail. (Point to note, this track comes out on the main road just along from Fern Tree where you might have parked). Walk along the road to the right for approximately 5 minutes as you come down the steps in order to get to Fern Tree.

Fern Glade Track

Fern Glade Track is located on Mt Wellington, and can be taken either from a drive up to the Springs and walking down for 10-15 minutes until you see Radfords Monument and turning right onto Fern Glade Track, shown in PINK below, or start from Huon Road at the bottom, just before Fern Tree, and walk up towards the springs. There is parking in both of these spots but needless to say, if you have the ability, a quick car shuffle, would be ideal so that you can drive to the top, walk down and still have your 2^nd car available at the bottom to ferry you back to the top to pick up car number 1. 

Fern Glade Track is part of the larger Fern Glade Circuit and is relatively easy if you want to do a circuit, it is shown in GREEN below. This loop leaves Fern Tree on the Pipeline track (as blogged here), head up to Silver Falls then onto the Silver Falls Track, then take a right onto Fern Glade Track, this then loops back down, eventually to the Fern Glade access on Huon Road at the bottom, or a minor detour will return you to Fern Tree (GREEN LOOP).

(I take no ownership of this map, it's just really good, find all of the Mount Wellington tracks map here, this one is the 'Eastern Face Map')

Either way, main Fern Glade section is short but magical. When starting the Fern Glade section you enter a dense fern forest. It looms over the track with banked sides in many places. You are essentially walking along a rivulet and as such are close to the water for the most part. There are lots of mini bridges that cross and re-cross the river, with many places inspiring talk of faries, pixies and trolls that live under bridges. Now I have to qualify that, whilst we walked on a rainy day, when we got to this point, there were golden shafts of light beaming down through the trees, lighting up fungi and ferns, glinting off the water and showing the way down. It really was fantastic.

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(It was so wet out that our camera gave up on us, these are all we have...until next time!)

Taking this down hill route would be an excellent idea if you have younger kids as they could easily do it, but might also enjoy the things to be seen on the walk down. The bridges and windy path are sure to inspire some adventurous stories and conversations.

When you come out at the bottom, you come down some stone steps below a large sign signally the entry to Fern glade, it’s a cool place to have a photo of the family if your inclined to. You come out at a car park on the main road, where you might have parked, but if not, follow the road to the right and you’ll end up in Fern Tree in 5 minutes, back to the car.

Lake St Clair - Shadow Lake Circuit

When we decided to go to Lake St Clair, we knew that we'd be walking, we intended to do the Shadow Lake Return walk, by heading out directly to Shadow Lake, have lunch and return the same way. 3-4 hours, 13km return. Accidentally, we set off in the wrong direction, so technically away from Shadow Lake, more towards Mount Rufus. As it turned out, this was part of the Shadow Lake Circuit, not the return walk. The Shadow Lake Circuit is one of the 60 Great Short Walks.

Either way, we set off from the visitors centre and the walk begins relatively tamely, wandering through a wide open forest track. The route then becomes a lot narrower and meanders through tight turns but the track is well beaten and is easy to follow. In many places, the track was muddy, very muddy and in some places totally waterlogged. This added to the adventure as there were several places where rocks, logs or branches had been dropped across the track to provide 'stepping stones'.

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(Click the pictures to enlarge)

After about 20 minutes there was an open swamp area that had a sturdy boardwalk as it would have been near impossible to pass without it. The ground was rough, winding and the bush is quite dense. You can't really lose your way for the main part, but where you aren't sure, there are pointer arrows guiding the way. You are generally surrounded by tall gums for the first part of the route but after about an hour or so the trail then begins to rise through the forests and the air becomes much more moist and there are loads of different kinds of fungi and mushrooms. I'm no 'mycologist' (fungus academic) but it was really interesting to see the vast variety up there. At one point, the route crossed a narrow river by taking stepping stones and having a short leap to the far bank. The route in the forested, marshy banks is easy to lose, look around for markers! After about two hours, where we were sure that Shadow Lake must be extremely near, we paused for thought and double checked our route using Google maps. Lo and behold, we are nowhere near our lunch destination, we realise whats happened (us accidentally doing the circuit not the return), and then have lunch sitting on out on the boardwalk. Most of the track is not boarded out but this part drops down across a clearing, through marsh and back up into the forest. If you take this route, pause here, it's a pretty spectacular place.

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(Click the pictures to enlarge)

An hour on and we finally reach Shadow Lake. There didnt seem to be anywhere to sit/rest so we scrambled throug the bush a little bit to sit on a fallen tree near the lake and again take it easy. When we headed off on the return side of the circuit, we actually found several much more appropriate places to stop and sit, so if we were to go again, we'd continue on a little bit as the views from these other spots are just as good and way less fuss as they are almost on the track.

As we were leaving,  we met a lady coming the other way who was woefully ill-prepared as she was planning to do the full circuit in pumps, continuing in the opposite direction to us (another 3+ hours for her). She had no kit, drink, bag or even raincoat. Let's be sensible here, if you're off on this walk, take some kind of provisions, as all signs at the start centre suggest (quite rightly) that the weather can change pretty quickly.

We got back to the centre about and hour and a half to two hours later, finally crossing over a large river, walking along a boardwalk and then a short forest walk back to the visitors centre. In total about 5 hours and 15-16km.

Additional day walk information

60 Great Short Walks

Lake St Clair

In April we went to Lake St Clair as part of a longer trip to Strahan. It's about half way between Hobart and Strahan on the west coast and we thought that it would be a good stop off for a few nights to explore and do a walk or two. Lake St Clair is within the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, so to actually enter the park you'll need a parks pass which can be purchased when you enter and head to the main visitors centre and they'll sort you out. Otherwise, you can have an all year, all parks pass as mentioned earlier in my blog (Cradle Mountain). Here is the official National Parks info for Lake St Clair.

The trip up there by car is pretty interesting, scenic and all the rest. We stopped off at Tarraleah on the way which is the old Hydro town. The hydro complex itself and the engineering involved, I found was very interesting, yet surreal that in an incredibly scenic valley there was the blatant scar of pipelines, man-made canals, wires and pump houses. Its an incredible sight to behold and an engineering undertaking on a massive scale. The history of Tarraleah and the Hydro can be found here or here.

When you are nearing Lake St Clair, you approach Derwent Bridge, where we stayed. Its the closest conurbation to the national park, lake, walks etc. There isn't an awful lot here except a couple of lodges/hotels, a fuel stop (which I'd advise you to use, there isn't fuel for ages!) and a cafe, The Hungry Wombat. This said, an evening walk with a torch found quite a bit of wildlife, especially if you walk down to the river or the open land area just off the road. Although if you see a Tassie Tiger, it's likely to be the model one at the Derwent Bridge Chalets and Studios, we made this mistake!

When you head to Lake St Clair itself there is a road that leads you into the NP. They recommend you be extra vigilant after dusk as there is a lot of wildlife here and not very many cars brave the road much after dark as there isn't a lot to go to in there after dark. There is a visitors centre which has advice, books and trail information, as well as a hotel/hostel and restaurant. Most walks at Lake St Clair start from here and there are walk registration books here that you'll need to sign, just in case of emergency. 

There is a small foreshore and beach, with a jetty for the 'water taxi' that returns tired walkers from the end of the Overland Track. Apparently you can take a ride around the lake for a better view, you'd have to ask in the visitors centre. 

See Shadow Lake Circuit blog for walk information.

Tinderbox Hills Trail

The Tinderbox Hills trail is a route approximately 3.5 km return on a rather inclined slope. It's not a difficult walk but some sections get your heart pumping and even require a quick breather stop as you go. It heads off from the end of Estuary Drive (off Brightwater Road, Tinderbox) and starts off as a flat walk along a fairly wide path.

As the route elevates you become surrounded by Blue Gums, yet the path remains fairly well trodden. Where the trees thin out towards the ridge there are some excellent views to be had across The Derwent River and Storm Bay, its an ideal place to take some scenic snaps from the top. Some of the steeper sections the ground can get a little rocky and there are some areas where both soil and stones are loose so watch your step.

When you get to the end of the track, at the top there is a sign then saying "No Entry, Private Land". Whilst I'd never encourage anyone to trespass onto privately owned land, its pretty clear that the trail continues to the peak, or at least that's what the very well worn path leading straight past the sign would suggest. Near the sign there is a good flat area to have a picnic or just sit and look out at the view. I think, although I'd need to check, it is possible to see the Iron Pot from here also.

You have to return the way you came. More information on this route can be found here. In all the walk took us around 1 hour, so its a nice short walk for an afternoon, with some nice views and more interesting terrain to negotiate.

Pipeline Track

The Pipeline Track heads out from Fern Tree, Hobart. If you're looking for an indicator, a good place to park up is at the Fern Tree Tavern (or nearby). It's quite useful to be near a pub for when you arrive back thirsty. The track heads up past the small park area and is extremely well managed, you can't get lost! The track is shaded almost the entire way, so you won't likely get overly hot on sunnier days.

There are a lot of users of this track including cyclists, walkers and joggers too. Be respectful of all other users and watch out for pedestrians or cyclists as your heading along the track in whatever method you prefer. It's generally pretty flat and is an easy walk or cycle for the most part. The route follows a steel pipe that in many places you can see underfoot. The pipe goes all the way along to Wellington Falls but many places and routes can be accessed from this track, the Springs, Fern Glade to name a few (I will review these soon).

As you head out from Fern Tree you soon come to the Gasworks where there are a few signs explaining the Pipeline and its link to Old Hobart. You can take a 5 minute detour to Silver Falls if you continue upwards from here, it would be a tricky uphill cycle, especially for kids but many tend to leave bikes at the side of the path for a 5 minute walk up to the falls and then continue along the path after their detour. The falls are pretty and whilst I wouldn't want to publicly recommend drinking this water, I did and there were no adverse side effects, so far!

After visiting the falls you come back down the decent and can then continue along on the flat (back from where you began your detour) or head back to Fern Tree for a 45 minute return. Generally the track is flat and maintained although thin in places if there are lots of walkers. There are many scenic views to be had along the track.

Point to note: Every so often the track comes out across a road (just house accesses normally) but the tracks can be picked up on the other side if you scan down the road a few meters. We had a shock when we couldn't find the rest of the track with the first 'crossing' but we soon noticed a track like entry a little further along the road. Generally, in hindsight, it's easy.

We haven't cycled any of the track, but will do when it warms up a bit. It would be okay for kids, pushchairs and the like for most of the route, except the detour to Silver Falls which would be more challenging. 

Bivouac Bay

Bivouac Bay  is situated in the Tasman National Park and the trail begins at the Eastern end of Fortescue Bay. Fortescue Bay has a camp ground, toilets, walk station and easy beach access. Taking the A9 (Arthur Highway) south takes you through Tarana, where there is a Tasmanian Devil park. As you continue south for a couple of minutes, on your left will soon be a turn off for Fortescue Road, which quickly becomes a dirt road which is easily passable in any vehicle. Boats use this route too, so watch out for big oncoming boats.


When you reach the end of the road you arrive past the walk station and head onwards until you can see the beach. There are benches down there which are a nice scenic place to picnic. The walk begins from the beach just here. You can read the sign for a bit of extra information, I always take a snap of the sign just so I know where I'm going! As you can see it is one of the 60 Great Short Walks.


Walk along the beach to the far end, about three-quarters of the way along there is a river outlet into the sea which requires a run and jump or otherwise a ankle-deep wade. If you're lucky there should be a few handy rocks to hop across without too much fuss. The track continues on until the end of the beach where you head up a bank onto the bush track. You can't get lost! Its a well trodden and managed track (where needed).

(Fortescue Bay from the beginning of the bush track)

Point to note: Trees often fall across the track and can take time to be cut back and cleared. When we went along the route, there was a huge tree down which required some scrambling down the bank, past the now grounded treetops and back up onto the track. Going 'through' or over the tree was impossible. We actually saw wallaby in daylight here too.

(View shortly after the bridge at Canoe Bay)

Continue on for 30 minutes and you come to Canoe bay where an old ship was sunk to create a breakwater for the fishing boats that frequent the bay. Become Indiana Jones on the wire bridge that crosses the small rivulet that feeds into Canoe bay. Upto now it's been easy and flat. From here it gets a little less beaten and steeper. You'll probably remove a layer of clothing or two while you ascend through the fern forests and then descend over the next 35-45 minutes until you round a corner to Bivouac bay.

Its nice to sit out on the rocks and explore a bit while you have a snack. You'll cool off pretty quickly here as the wind fetch is on-shore. This is where you put your jacket back on (in winter). Return the way you came, just be sure to check the track you get back onto from Bivouac bay as the route continues on further.

A relatively easy walk with a few steeper sections that most could do (at the right pace). Walk takes approx 3 hours return at a reasonable pace.

Enchanted Walk

The Enchanted Walk at Cradle Mountain starts from Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge and is one of Tasmania's 50 Great Short Walks. If you haven't tackled some of these, I highly recommend it, although there are a few extras that I would add in there too!

The walk is a very easy short boardwalk that follows a small river, crosses over and then walks back up the other side back to the start. As you walk you are surrounded by tall Pencil Pine trees, the sound of the babbling river and fresh, simple nature. Apparently wombats and platypus' frequent these areas but we didn't spot any. It is a nice simple walk that might be a tranquil start to your day in Cradle Mountain. There are a few 'art tunnels' on the route, i'm sure intended for kids, but we nipped through anyway.

As it goes from Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, if you're staying there, it's a great one to do to let your breakfast go down before you tackle a proper hike.

The Enchanted Walk takes about 20 minutes and you need no real special equipment, but a waterproof might be a good idea.

Cradle Valley Boardwalk

We were staying at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, near to the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre (mentioned here) so we left the car behind and headed off on the Cradle Valley Board Walk to Dove Lake, this takes about 2:30 in total but can take a bit longer in snowy or icy weather. The walk has three sections. These are:

1) Visitor Centre to Snake Hill (55 mins)

2) Snake Hill to Ronny Creek (40 mins)

3) Ronny Creek to Dove Lake via Lake Lilla (55 mins)

This entire track is board walk except part of the track from Ronny Creek to Dove Lake, it is extremely well maintained even though it undulates, has steps and lookouts. There are even a few well-placed benches, although we sat on the boardwalk itself a couple of times on route, just to take in the scenery. We went in winter, so snow was thick and there was a good layer of ice on much of the boardwalk that was in the shade, we were fine in our walking boots but you do need to be careful. The boards themselves are covered with mesh to give a little more grip.

We had fantastic weather up there and whilst there was snow on the ground, I stripped back to just T-shirt and trousers for the majority of the walk. This said, there is very strong advice at the visitors centre to make sure that your well equipped for cold and wet weather as weather in Tasmania can change very quickly, even more so in the Cradle Mountain National Park. We met a couple on the walk who we chatted to for about 20 minutes. They commented that they come to Cradle Mountain every year and it has a different but magical atmosphere at all times of the year.

Just before Snake Hill there is a mini detour loop that takes you 5 minute return to a small babbling river which is very pleasant, a nice place for a drink and a snack. 

At the section just before and just after Ronny Creek there were lots of wombats, at times many could be seen from the same spot, we have photos with 2 or more in the same picture. They were pottering around, eating greens and minding their own business. This was our first wombat-spotting experience and was incredible.

Can you spot all three in this picture?

This was taken from the boardwalk! We were careful not to interrupt his lunch!

When we arrived at Dove Lake itself, this is where the obligatory and rather famous photo of Cradle Mountain can be taken. 

We were tired after trekking in the snow and decided to utilise the shuttle bus back to the visitors centre.

Cradle Mountain

My wife and I went to Cradle Mountain in early July 2013, so while I’m posting this a little late, the spectacle hasn't changed. Cradle Mountain is situated in the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park, but unlike heading to Lake St Clair, if you want to go to Cradle Mountain you have to enter the park from the North. The drive from Hobart in the south is long, but as you approach it develops into a magical cruise through bush land and natural highlands. The roads tend to thin out a little in the immediate vicinity, especially on the ultra-windy hillside sections, but are still decent roads bearing in mind their remoteness.

We stayed at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, which was something in itself. See my other blog on this hotel stay. To be short, it was a fantastic luxury wilderness hideaway.

Upon arriving in early July, we found that it had snowed, quite a bit. The roads were completely clear but scenic lookouts that look towards Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake were covered. There are some excellent photos to be taken on approach to the main conurbation. 

Don’t expect a big village. Basically, it’s lodges (including their restaurants), campgrounds and tourist information huts. All of the accommodation is just outside the park but you’ll need a national parks pass in order to enter. You can buy them from the tourist information hut near the accommodation area outside the park or you can pay for a single day inside the park, at the car park. Warning, paying in the car park is an expensive way to go, it is much cheaper to buy a year pass, even if you’re only there for a week. Plus, it can be used in any other Tasmanian National Park for the rest of the year! The other transport option, where you’d avoid having to pay for a car pass (but still technically would need a ‘people pass’) would be the free shuttle buses that run in and out of the park. They drive a loop route so you can get a bus in to Dove Lake or other walking start point, and walk from there. These are very useful at the end of the day, if light is fading and you’re at Dove Lake, the shuttle bus can be an easier way back to your warm retreat.

The Cradle Valley Boardwalk is blogged here. It's a nice, fairly easy and highly recommended walk (2:30 hours) and is one of my Top 20 things to do in Tasmania.