A break for a week by a lake

Two years on from our extended-family holiday at Swansea, The four of us and Imp, Ed, Karri and Miah did it again, this time a week at Sisters Beach on the NW coast. Our house was actually at Lake Llewellyn 2km back from Sisters, but very handy to that beach and to Boat Harbour as well – Australia’s Most Beautiful Drive-Up Beach (Wineglass Bay probably has the overall top spot sewn up but you need to walk or sail there).

This was an important family get-together as Marcus’ departure for Hong Kong gets closer, currently booked for March 10. The cousins all get on well, and they spent the week sharing a small bunk room. For various reasons we had four cars between the eight of us, so that meant we could go in a few different directions at once although we did spend most of the week all together. The house is called Platypus Chalet, it’s on Airbnb and we recommend it.

Disclaimer: we understand short term rental operations play a part in the Tasmanian housing crisis. Our host only has one house not ten, and it's a purpose-built holiday house, so I feel like it's kosher.

Our place was one of about 25 at the lake, I think the only one without water frontage. A neighbour suggested to us a good way to get down to the water (but that information is classified). The lake was man-made in the 60s or 70s, it seems mostly for watersports enthusiasts. We swam in it and paddled our wave ski on it every day. One day Elf was paddling while Imp swam alongside and they encountered two platypus! Imp was a bit concerned about the famous poison spur but everyone kept their distance and played nice. I was on the bank as they came back in. Imp had run out of swimming energy so she had hung from the back of the wave ski for a while. Then Elf got a bad cramp so Imp propelled them back to shore. What a pair.

A paddle around Lake Llewellyn

The high side of the lake bank (3rd pic above) looks at first glance like impenetrable virgin bush, but the road to Sisters Beach is right there. So occasionally the Castaway vibe is shattered by very mundane vehicles cruising through on the sealed road. This road has no footpath, and a 100kmh speed limit, but there are ‘Shared Road’ in a few places. If I was in charge of a road and I wanted drivers to share it with pedestrians and horse riders I'd probably make it 60, not 100. Imp and Ed have been here before and walked down this road, so they were happy to do so again. But it scares the pants off me as a pedestrian. One day the rest of us drove to Boat Harbour and Imp and Ed walked this road to Sisters Beach then walked along the coast to meet us. They are quite outward bound compared to us.

Mum and Dad used to own a block on the beachfront at Sisters, with plans to build on it. It was a very fast growing area in the early 00s and then there was a moratorium on new building for a while – they ended up selling the block and moving east to Turners Beach, and then later to Hobart. The house that has been built on the old block is … disappointing.

Around the Sisters Beach township. Middle pic is an amazing place next to Mum & Dad's old block built by a boatbuilder. The pic above is just a classic old shack, before people started proper real solid houses here.

We had a day trip to Stanley to climb The Nut. In a shed at the top there was an interpretative panel with various loose theories about how The Nut got its name. Then it mentions in passing that the palawa name for it is moo-nut-re-ker which seems to me like probably the source. I had never heard this name before. 

The amazing views from The Nut. 

Michael's 19th birthday fell on day 3 of 7, so we took his gifts up with us. We gave him a fairly good metal detector; more news on that once he has taken it for a spin. We had lunch for his birthday in Wynyard at The Vault, a great spot overlooking the river operating in an old bank.

We had heaps of trips to the various beaches. We flopped about the house and did a lot of reading. We got in and out of the lake and the spa tub. We watched old movies and TV shows in the extensive DVD collection. The kids had a Friday night out in Wynyard which was uneventful. I had a day prowling around my old home town of Burnie, and a walk on my own down to Boat Harbour, but I'll do seperate posts for those.

Above is Sisters Beach. A lovely place to swim, I had forgotten the water was so clear.
It’s surrounded by Rocky Cape National Park.
The pics below are Boat Harbour. It was a very calm day so Elf joined us.
I had not forgotten the clear water here; the sand is pure white and
it's just a joy to behold. There were white fish swimming around in the shallows.

At Ed's suggestion we also did a trip to Dip Falls, a spectacular spot 40 mins south of Stanley. It's the middle of nowhere but we all enjoyed it.

The four kids spent most of their time together and had a ball. [As I write a couple of weeks later write the same crew have just come back from a 5 hour walk on Mt Wellington]. They shared a bunk room and they were in the hot tub together every day. They decided to have a night out in Wynyard on our last night at the house. They rang to be picked up fairly early; as there was not all that much happening and they themselves were the main attraction in town.

On our last day we did a big clean up then set off in dribs and drabs in the four cars. The kids had two cars but wanted to travel down all together to enjoy the Hottest 100 on the radio, which is cute. So I took our car and Elf drove Marcus's. She was keen to just get home while I had some diversions planned.

I had another swim at Burnie; this time the beach was pretty grotty, as it as was the day after Australia Day. I did a walk around the CBD and pondered what used to be in various locations back in 1982 or whatever. The closeness of the beach to the town centre is something I mention every time Burnie comes up - but there can't be many places where you could buy a boogie board at K-mart then walk two blocks to the surf club and paddle out.

It was a beaut day for driving. After the swim and walk I drove to Launceston and caught up with Joe who is just back from a soccer camp with William in the UK, which was a big success. William is on course to be soccer professional. 

Lovely old deco Gospel Hall in Launceston next to Du Cane Brewery

Then I went across town and saw Lynn and Scott and heard all their news - they are both teaching at country schools now - Lynn is principal at Westbury and Scott is at Hagley.

Then the drive home from Launceston was mostly uneventful.

I manage to not drown

Elf and I took the wave ski to Sandy Bay for a paddle on the Derwent the other morning. Well, I was going to paddle and she was going to read on a park bench. I left the life vest in the car – I paddled out then remembered it so I came back in, and Elf had it. I put it on and went back out.

This was the day the first yachts were finishing the Sydney Hobart race, so there was a fair amount of action out on the water, and a helicopter or two overhead. It was pretty choppy, and reasonably hard work going against the swell.

I decided to just paddle out to the last mooring buoys, about 500m, then take in the view of the yachts coming upriver. After a while I turned 180° to enjoy the view back to the shore – this is when you are likely to get flipped over but I did it quickly and successfully.

After a while I decided to turn 180° again and this time – flip. I was in the water. We have a tether on the paddle, so that was one bit of good preparation. And I had the vest (not on as tight as it should have been though – it went up around my head straight away). I got hold of the strap on the side of the wave ski and just hung on for a bit while I considered options. I quickly realised that climbing back on was not going to be easy.

The good thing about a wave ski is they are very simple things, you sit on top of them and they are very buoyant. They are sealed, and won't fill with water or capsize. I needed to get back onto it but I didn't need to get back into it.

I started sidestroking towards the shore just to make some progress. I was staying calm fortunately. A motor yacht went past in the distance with a few dozen people on it, some looking my way. I thought I could wave to them, but things seemed to be under control – so I would save myself the embarrassment and just keep slowly swimming and hanging on.

Once I got to the next set of mooring buoys I grabbed on to them and had a little rest. If the worst happened and the wave ski got away from me while I was trying to climb back on, at least I had the buoys. Then I started trying to get on.

I have done this once in shallower water, (where you can get some purchase on the seabed) and I remember ending up with my head at the bow end. You can sort of roll over sideways OK if you are face down, but if you are oriented the wrong way its hard to fix without falling off.

So I got my head to the correct end towards the stern, and pulled my top half aboard, and grabbed onto the elasticated luggage straps right at the back. Then getting my legs swung aboard took so long. I really thought I'd be coming off it again at least once, but eventually I was face down on the thing, out of the water.

Another little rest. Then I did the roll over thing and I was face up, but sitting much too far forward. I managed to scooch my butt back into the seat, pulled in the paddle and ta-da, I was on my way back to shore. They really are very stable and forgiving craft, and it just underlines how incompetent I was letting myself get dumped out.

All through this I imagined Elf had seen me and was having conniptions about my safety. As a full and frank record of the events I must reveal that she was actually entranced the whole time by a great dane puppy.

2 days late I am a bit muscle-sore from all the struggling, but none the worse for wear.

Paddle at Taroona High

This is Taroona High School, where both boys are now. As you can see it has a fantastic location on the Derwent River, about 10km downriver from the city. Out of shot to the left is a little beach with about eight boatsheds, which is a great spot to launch the wave ski. I don't know why I haven't set off from here before.

My aim was to paddle upriver to the point on the left, but it was hard going. I was getting pushed by a swell from behind, but the current was going against me. Is that possible? I don't know anything about the water. I know even less than I thought I knew before I started occasionally paddling on it.

Anyway I adjusted my aim to just getting far enough out in the stream that I could see past the point to my old pals the Tasman Bridge and Mt Direction. This is the first time I have taken our camera out on the water rather than just use my crappy phone.

The paddle back was with the current but through the swell; again I don't really understand this. It was really nice to not have the sun in my eyes (forgot my hat), and the paddling was easy at first, the waves were very smooth. Then they started to get little parallel ripples, and paddling became a bit harder. Then the steady pattern broke up and it was hard work then until I got to a patch of smooth water closer inshore.

The wave ski wobbles about a lot, its a very inefficient way of going anywhere compared to the sleek sea kayaks we did the Sullivans Cove paddle in. But it certainly is a good workout. I look half-crazed here but its mostly relief at stopping paddling.

More paddle therapy

A super morning at the Collegiate boat ramp. So calm!

I have been keen to paddle under the Tasman Bridge. On Thursday I tried out a new launch point; the Collegiate rowing club between the bridge and Cornelian Bay. It was an absolutely perfect morning (I generally only go on perfect mornings so if that comes up every time I am really not making it up). I chatted to a retired couple from Perth who park their camper there to walk into town. They come to Tasmanian to get away from the hot summer and are staying deeper into the year each time.

I set out at about ten. Launching from the wide rowers boat ramp was very easy, and then I paddled around towards a big concrete block in the water. I believe this was one of the anchor points of the floating bridge that crossed the river before the Tasman was built in 1964. I was a fair way out into the stream and the current was surprisingly gentle.

Looking back through the modern bridge at the anchor point of the old bridge. Cold in the shade.

I have heard that the currents are tricky and I know on the Montagu Bay side there is an extremely deep section, where the Lake Illawarra sank after it hit the bridge in 1974. So I am generally taking it very easy, and keeping within swimming distance of the bank. I paddled under the 3rd span into the shade, and the temperature dropped. It is a very beautiful bridge and being under it, on land or sea, is always a profound feeling. The view back through upriver was terrific. I took some pics on my phone which I hope I can get off it again. I thought I would head for the regatta grounds, just to stickybeak around the boatyards there. There is a Naval Reserves clubhouse or depot or headquarters, called TS Huon. It looks very lovely indeed and I have heard it muttered that the whole deal is just a bit of federally funded fun for Tasmanian political dynasty the Hodgmans and their pals.

It was so calm that I was able to actually get my tiny sketchbook out and draw this on the water.

Mt Wellington and Government House through the bridge

From a lovely spot in the sun, on a bench above the boat ramp

Drawing done at the same spot, Cornelian Bay cemetery on the left, and smoke rising from the zincworks

A few drawings I did from memory, in which Mt Direction is a lot steeper than strictly accurate 

It was so nice out there. I turned around after I got down to TS Huon and came back under the bridge again, and decided to just keep going upriver while the going was easy. I was on a heading for Lindisfarne Bay on the other bank, and felt then like I could have made it over in reasonable time if I kept on. 

But again I got to a point were I felt I was going nowhere, so I turned and pointed my nose at St Johns church steeple in New Town. Paddling quite hard that way and drifting with the current got me back to my start point.

I was glad I reached land when I did as something quite big went past and created a wake that might have spelled trouble if it had caught me unawares. I dried off a bit, sat in the sun on a bench and drew the cemetery hill, zincworks and Mt Direction.

I think I will work on more drawings of this scene and try to get the elements to gel together better. I am really happy with the cheap phone's camera though, and now I have deduced I can bluetooth the pics straight to my computer I might be doing this a lot from now on.

Paddle therapy

Some days I have no client work to do and no money coming in. Jobs get put on hold, clients appear to be ignoring invoices that are due - this combines to throw me into a bit of a funk.

One approach is to work on my t-shirt business, but some days I see that for what it really is -  a hobby that generates a bit of pin money but no more than that. What I should do is update my website, but I find its hard to enthusiastically self-promote when I have a lot of negative feelings bubbling around.

So this week I had a few days of feeling low and just doing work around the house, knocking off errands in town etc. But I can tell you, doing housework and going to second hand shops in the middle of a Wednesday morning is a great way to feel unemployed - when you have gone into it with the aforementioned neggo attitude anyway.

I resolved to do something different yesterday morning - just go for another paddle. It wasn't sunny but it was still and reasonably mild. I didn't make up my mind until the last minute, when I chose Geilston Bay. Mum and Dad are away in Fiji (hi!) but I have a key so I thought it would be a good spot, as I could let myself in there and warm up afterwards. I didn't take my camera so I have plundered the internet for photos.

View from Geilston Bay boat ramp by ronrainbow

I slid into the water beside the boat ramp at a little after nine. It's a pretty sheltered bay and the water was like glass. Ducks and cormorants took off as I paddled between the yachts and gave them a fright. One of the yachts was called Jacana - which was the club from which Carlton recruited Bruce Doull. That's right, football trivia never leaves you alone. In fact, that one set of footsteps on the beach? - That's when football trivia was carrying you along.

I was intending to paddle out into the Derwent then upriver to Shag Bay (named for the ubiquitous cormorants). Long ago I fished there with Nick in the early morning and did this drawing of the view. It is not accessible by road, so it has a bit of an air of solitude and mystery and I was keen to paddle around it.

I found this in my 1997 diary so that's 18 years ago. That day
I caught three cod, cooked and ate them. They were mushy.

Geilston Bay is opposite Selfs Point, and the oil storage facility that I talked about in the last paddling post. I was heading straight for it as I came out of the bay, and it looked close enough, and the water still enough, that I could have gone straight over. Would I have got back though? As I hadn't told anyone where I was going I thought it was not a good time to be too bold.

Upriver from Selfs Point the next major feature is the Nyrstar zincworks, which I still think of as "EZ". It was EZ for decades, then Pasminco, then Zinifex briefly and now Nyrstar. I have always found industrial sites like this really fascinating. Dad worked here in his school holidays in about 1959 or so.

Nystar Zincworks from the Bedlam Walls track. Pic borrowed from TasTrails site. 

Again the smell changed once I was out in midstream of the Derwent - the fresh morning salty tang of Geilston Bay took on a more metallic sort of flavour. I was paddling upstream but it was flat, no wind and fairly easy. The eastern shore here is called Bedlam Walls, according to various sources because of an aboriginal massacre that occurred here. The Mou-maire-mener people lived on both banks of the river at the time of white settlement in 1803. A famous massacre occurred that year at Risdon nor far up the river. I am not sure if they are the same event or not. The aboriginal history is discussed a little here. There are caves all along Bedlam Walls that were used as shelters. That page also talks about an aboriginal quarry site where chalcedony was ground into tools.

I had remembered being told that the rusty remnants around Shag Bay were from the whaling industry which used to be synonymous with Hobart. However from the reading I have just been doing the industries here were shipbreaking, a bone mill (making fertiliser) and a Marine Board quarry. The quarry is in my drawing above and also this pic from the blog Walking The Derwent - author unknown but I have borrowed a couple of their pics.

The old Marine Board quarry on the north side of Shag Bay.

I paddled into Shag Bay and looked for a good spot to land. In the quarry there are piles of rusting metal, and at the head of the bay an old boiler that I recalled from the previous visit. I wanted to check them all out but I was lairy about slipping on the slimy rocks. I ended up finding a good rock shelf just below the waterline near the quarry that would be safe enough to climb out on.

The whole area is is fascinating and the lack of signs is surprising. Today I have been reading about the boiler - it is a remnant of the bone mill, which shut down after a fatal accident when a different boiler exploded and killed a father and son. An inquest was held and you can read the newspaper report here. The roof of the boiler shed blew hundreds of feet into the air.

Edit: after an anonymous tip-off I have found some images that suggest the boiler was a relic of the shipbreaking business which makes more sense.

I wandered around the quarry area and collected a rusty iron spike to bring home for Michael, and some good big flakes of rust for Marcus's chemical experiments. There was not a soul in sight, and it occured to me it would be a beaut place to spend a day painting, untroubled by critics. Then a kayaker went by out in the Derwent and gave me a wave. I had just got back into the wave ski and pushed off when two yachts rounded the point and came into the bay with four or five old blokes on each. So my quiet enjoyment of Shag Bay had just been luck, it seems.

Shag Bay is just a little notch really. Pic from TasTrails

The paddle back to Geilston Bay was a bit choppier and slightly harder work, and my back started to ache. But I really felt that my deskbound worries were getting further away, the colder and wetter and more tired and sore that I got. It was amazing. I just focussed on the thought of beaching the wave ski, getting dry, getting some coffee inside me. Nothing else seemed remotely important.

The kayaker I had seen had got to shore just ahead of me and we had a brief chat. He was similarly inexperienced to me which was nice! I asked him if he'd ever been across the river, and he said no, but we agreed that on a calm day it would be do-able.

When I got home the coffee was marvellous, the ugg boots were fantastic and I even had a couple of emails with work to do, so all up it was very effective therapy.

Thank you to all the people and sites I have pinched photos from. I will try to take my own on the next paddle.

An old ship named the Nelson being broken up in Shag Bay. From the Australian National Shipwreck Database.

Paddlin'

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I have been getting the wave ski out a bit. I am in a pre-christmas fallow period with freelance work, and I feel that on a warm day I might as well be out on the water if there's nothing to do at my desk. (In fact there is always something to do at my desk, but if there is not going to be an invoice at the end of it my motivation is somewhat lower).

The other day I did my first fairly serious Derwent River paddle - from this spot at Marieville Esplanade, right around Battery Point to the CSIRO corner. I went out far enough into Sullivans Cove to see the GPO clock in town. Then I got a bit nervous about being on the water equivalent of a major road, piloting the water equivalent of one roller skate.

On the way back I hugged the coast and had a good and envious look at the homes of the Hobart super-rich that back onto the water, with starfish at the bottom of the garden. Private jetties, boathouses and so on. Saw an actual watergate. I had a little rest in the sun on a boat ramp on the way back, and ate a banana. I'm no Sir Francis Chichester, but it was good exercise and very good fun.

A couple of days later I set off from the same spot and went the other way, heading for the little beach beyond Wrest Point Casino. But it was pretty choppy and quite hard work, so I satisfied myself with getting to within sight of it, then turned around and had an easy ride back with the swell. (Note how I am talking all boaty now.)

I had an excuse to go down towards Dodges Ferry on Thursday, as Marcus was at a school camp there and parents were invited to a midday beach frolic. So I took the wave ski, and on the way found a lovely little ramp just where Lewisham peters out into the start of Dodges Ferry. Across the channel there is a long sandspit with big sandhills on it, which is the "back" of Seven Mile Beach. I paddled across and back very easily. I had the sandspit to myself for a time and went through the usual desert island fantasies, spoiled somewhat by people coming over the hill and saying "how are you going?" and the like.

I have been going barefoot, but have found that a lot of places where I would like to make landfall are not so foot-friendly. So today I snapped up some boat-bootees for fifteen bucks.(I did continue on down to the surf beach and see my first-born son but that's not what this blog is about now. Me. Me and my bootees.)

Oops

This afternoon we all had a paddle at Nutgrove Beach, Sandy Bay. Marcus is getting around really confidently now. Michael has overcome his fears of paddling in more-than-knee-deep water - he really enjoyed it today. Everything went brilliantly until I was tipped out by an invisible wave, and lost my glasses is reasonably deep water. A pretty expensive wobble.