10 weekend adventures: Hobart
1. MT WELLINGTON
30 min / 20 km / W
Activity: Mountain biking
Drawcard: Hobart’s star mountain offers a wide variety of activities but mountain bikers arguably have the best of it, thanks mostly to a pair of tracks designed by Glen Jacobs (the designer of the Sydney Olympic mountain-bike course). From Shoobridge Bend, the short North-South Track contours across the mountain to Junction Cabin, passing a series of log rides and jumps and crossing a short boulder field. The Glenorchy Mountain Bike Park, at the foot of the mountain, offers cross-country, mountain cross, downhill, dirt jumps and a short technical track.
Fuel stop: Head to Fern Tree for pub grub or a cafe feed.
www.tasbikepark.com; www.wellingtonpark.tas.gov.au
2. ORGAN PIPES
20 min / 15 km / W
Activity: Rock climbing
Drawcard: There are few more arresting aspects of the view from Hobart as the ribbed escarpment – the Organ Pipes – that furrows the upper slopes of Mt Wellington. These dolerite towers stand up to 100 m high and offer multi-pitch climbing routes with an urban view. The 300-plus routes generally favour experienced climbers.
Fuel stop: As you return to town through South Hobart, stop in at Macquarie Street Foodstore.
www.wellingtonpark.tas.gov.au
3. CLARENCE MOUNTAIN BIKE PARK
10 min / 7 km / E
Activity: Mountain biking
Drawcard: Tasmania’s newest mountain-bike park officially just opened in September, and features dirt jumps, downhill, dual slalom and mountain cross tucked into a fold of the Meehan Range beside Tasman Highway. A cross-country track winds up the slopes from the park in a series of tight and steep berms, or you can range further afield on a loop along the Meehan Skyline Trail and Stringy Bark Gully Track.
Fuel stop: Cross the highway and head into Bellerive for a riverside feed or drink.
www.ccc.tas.gov.au
4. MT FIELD NATIONAL PARK
1 hr 30 mins / 75 km / NW
Activity: Hiking
Drawcard: Walk high or walk low in this wonderful national park. At the foot of the mountain, take a 20-minute amble through rainforest to three-tiered Russell Falls, one of Tassie’s most recognisable natural scenes. From here you can also walk further to Lady Barron Falls and tall stands of swamp gums. Atop the mountain, hike through the Tarn Shelf, sprinkled with alpine lakes and Tassie floral wonders such as pencil pines, pandani and deciduous beech, which turn golden in autumn.
Fuel stop: The national park visitor centre cafe can help provide sustenance.
www.parks.tas.gov.au/natparks
5. GORDON DAM
2 hr 30 mins / 170 km / W
Activity: Abseiling
The drawcard: Holding back the flow of the Gordon River, the Gordon Dam serves a second, more airy purpose. Here, the brave of heart can make the world’s highest commercial abseil, descending 140 m – about the height of a 30-storey building – from the middle of the dam wall to the valley floor. A few metres below the lip of the dam, the abseil becomes freefall, with your body at the mercy of the wind as you descend with no point of contact except the rope.
Fuel stop: It’s a long way between drinks out here; stop at the Maydena General Store.
www.aardvarkadventures.com.au
6. TINDERBOX MARINE NATURE RESERVE
45 min / 25 km / S
Activity: Snorkelling
The drawcard: At the southern foot of the Tinderbox Hills, the Tinderbox Marine Nature Reserve is the setting for Tasmania’s only snorkelling trail. From beside the small beach, the 100 m trail follows the edge of a sandstone reef below a low line of cliffs, and features eight submerged information plaques. The snorkelling trail and the reserve are good places for spotting weedy seadragons.
Fuel stop: Take to the land at Blackmans Bay for a feed at the Beach Restaurant.
www.parks.tas.gov.au
7. KETTERING
45 min / 30 km / S
Activity: Sea kayaking
The drawcard: Hire a kayak and paddle out through Kettering’s yachts and fishing boats into the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. Follow the ferry across to Bruny Island and poke about in Barnes Bay or Apollo Bay, or take the coast north from Kettering past salmon farms and an old whaling station into Oyster Cove. Continue north and you can round a long headland into protected and idyllic Coningham Beach.
Fuel stop: Dry off in Kettering, which has a couple of good cafes.
www.roaring40skayaking.com.au
8. HARTZ MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
1 hr 30 mins / 85 km / SW
Activity: Hiking
The drawcard: In the pantheon of mountain walking areas in Tasmania, the southerly Hartz Mountains are often overlooked, though they shouldn’t be. In this rugged, tarn-speckled range, you can climb to 1255 m Hartz Peak for views deep into the south-west wilderness to Federation Peak. For something a little shorter than this five-hour walk, turn off the track and head to the shores of Lake Esperance, ringed with cushion plants and King Billy pines.
Fuel stop: Come down from the mountains to a feed in Geeveston.
www.parks.tas.gov.au
9. TASMAN PENINSULA
1 hr 30 mins / 75 km / SE
Activity: Rock climbing
The drawcard: The slender dolerite sea stack known as the Totem Pole is Australia’s most photogenic climbing spot. Standing about 65 m high but
only about 4 m wide, it is a rock for experienced climbers, with the first pitch beginning from among the waves, and its routes graded at around 24 and 25. Next to the Totem Pole is the even taller Candlestick, where the climbing is easier but the swim across the frigid, rough ocean is not. Even if you aren’t here to climb it’s worth following the walking trail out from Fortescue Bay to Cape
Hauy for a view of these incredible needles of rock.
Fuel stop: Climb into a plate of seafood at the excellent Mussel Boys in Taranna.
www.parks.tas.gov.au
10. MARIA ISLAND
1 hr 14 mins / 85 km / NE
Activity: Diving
The drawcard: In 2007, the 55 m coastal trader Troy D was scuttled off the west coast of Maria Island, creating an instant dive site in the Mercury Passage. Resting in around 25 m of water, the artificial reef has resident crayfish, and you can also expect to see cod, wrasse and perhaps even a few seals and dolphins. Scuttled specifically as a dive site, all the ship’s compartments are accessible to divers. Permits are required to dive the wreck.
Fuel stop: There’s pub grub and Devonshire teas in Triabunna, the departure point for the ferry to Maria Island.
www.troyd.com.au
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