Monday 28 May 2012

Lambert Creek to Mount Nelson to Taroona - 27th May 2012

This is a semi-suburban walk which passes close to houses at both ends, and briefly in the middle, but is mainly in the pleasant bush on the slopes of Mount Wellington. You can do the walk as either a return walk or use a car/pushbike/bus shuffle to just walk one way.

Leafy Lambert Avenue is the starting point for this walk.

Starting at the Sandy Bay end, there is ample parking in Lambert Avenue (opposite the casino), which is one of the leafiest and most salubrious walk-starts you can find. You can head off from the lower entry to the park (The Rivulet Track) or just walk to the end of the road and head off on the wider track which goes to Churchill Ave more directly. Crossing Churchill Ave the track doglegs to the right, but is signposted well. The track is easy to follow from here as it heads up the hill, sometimes steeply. Follow the signs to the Signal Station. Quite a bit of work has gone into this track. The park is known as Bicentennial Park - the 200 years being those from 1804 to 2004 marking the establishment of Hobart. It is interesting to see the vegetation change as you leave the gully and climb onto the ridge.

Good track work makes the climb easy
The northern suburbs of Hobart on a rainy Sunday from the Signal Station

At the Signal Station there are good views, and then the track continues on to Taroona, in the Truganini Reserve. There is a brief sidetrack to view the Truganini memorial, placed in 1976 to note 100 years since her death. The track descends gradually and then steeply into a gully which gets wetter, and thence to the large parking area on the Channel Highway.

The Truganini Memorial near the Mount Nelson Signal Station

The walk is likely to take around 1 3/4 to 2 hours one-way, longer with a stop for the views.

If returning from Mount Nelson to Lambert Creek, the alternative Loop Track (signposted) can be taken to vary the walk. It will only take a few minutes extra.

1 comment:

Brenda said...

Hi Mark,

The wooden tracks memorized me my last trip Trekking In Tasmania. We did trekking whole day and when we return to our base camp we all went to sleep and wake up in morning 8. It was tiring but most amazing experience.

Regards,
Brenda.