I have always been fond of Mount Direction – this very recognisable double-humped hill that rises sharply from the eastern shore of the Derwent. It’s a way upriver from the city, but you can see it from a lot of vantage points. These first two pics are from paddling excursions in Cornelian Bay and off Taroona High School, respectively.
I've also drawn it many times; its one of those shapes I have in my head and I can knock out an inaccurate but recognisable Selfs Point Fuel Terminal and Mt Direction scribble in five minutes.
Anyway – now I have climbed it finally. Michael and I set off mid-morning on Australia Day holiday, 26 January (by the time you read this maybe the day will have been changed). It was a great day for strenuous climbing.
You park at Risdon Brook Dam, stroll around the left side of the dam and then its gets confusing for a bit but before long you turn a corner and there is a slope like this: / that just goes right to the top. It is hellishly steep. The official page for the walk with map etc is here, and it rates it as four Difficulty Units out of a possible five.
But fortunately it was a cool overcast morning and we both enjoyed it a lot. We took a LOT of water and I would recommend that (you can fill bottles at the car park). But it's only 4km to the top, it doesn't take that long.
We saw heaps of wallabies on the lower slopes, quite used to people. We didn’t know they were there in a lot of cases until we got almost within touching distance and suddenly one would launch itself out of the grass then watch us from five metres away. We saw one very brown echidna. And we were often mobbed by butterflies, common orange ones that might have been Australian Painted Ladies.
That peak over there is Gunners Quoin, which is a 17km return walk from the same start point. One to think about for the future.
At the top is a cairn and a ‘Communications Station’ ie a shed with aerials. The track just vaguely peters out just below it.
This is the view from the top, looking north/upriver. I recognised Claremont Golf Club and the Bridgewater Bridge but I was really struggling for other landmarks. These are Hobart’s far northern suburbs and it’s not my patch, man.
The only time I feel like taking a selfie is when I have just climbed something. That's why we look smug.
I assumed that there'd be a clear track from the cairn at the top to a good view of the city; but not so. We picked our way over broken wood and tussocks to get this view to the south. A lot of the city is obscured by the Queens Domain, and of course the misty conditions don't help. But I wanted to at least see the white tanks on Self's Point which always go hand in hand with Mt Direction in my mind.
We climbed back down carefully, with no slips or trips. We did get slightly lost but Michael sorted us out. I got the feeling that the tracks were mostly used for going elsewhere and not many people bothered climbing to the top; possibly because the city view is not all that clear. Anyway – we both loved it and I am keen to go again on a clearer day.
