Sunday, November 07, 2010

Paradise Cove

Yesterday some friends invited us to visit Paradise Cove with them.  We have lived back on the coast for a few years now and every so often we hear about this place.

Sadly Miss and Mrs TasTrekker were away but the boys and I jumped at the chance to visit this mythical destination.  A couple of hours before low tide, we headed east from the Penguin viewing platform at Lilico Beach.

The foreshore reserve varies in width so a GPS ensured we were steering clear of the surrounding unfenced private farmland.  The excitement started to build as we roudned the last hill and saw the double curve of Paradise Cove.  The first half is a rocky beach but the second half features a beautiful arc of sand seperated from the sea by an inter tidal lagoon and rock shelves.

This would be a great place to visit at high tide when the sea reaches the sandy arc.  However, steep cliffs either side of the cove prevent access without straying onto private property.

Sadly the small dunes of the cove are being devoured by sea spurge.  There are also problems with erosion where stock have wandered down steep banks to the foreshore.  On a good note though we noticed some shrivelled cape weed in the pastured sections of the coastal reserve.  Someone has done some hard work on that score.

On the way back, we marvelled at the columnar rock formations and wondered at the almost black sand of the next bay to the west of Paradise Cove.  To top off a ripper walk, a penguin at the viewing platform decided it would have an uncharacteristic stretch in the afternoon sun, much to our delight.  As if that wasn't enough, we rendezvoused with Mrs TasTrekker who was waiting at Don Heads with a delumptious hot dinner.

(Photos later)

Mt Roland

I love a family who is up for a challenge.  My wife and sons joined me for an assault on Mt Roland today.  The weather forecast was ordinary but we decided to have a go anyway.  Progress up the face track from Kings Road was slow, steady and dry until we reached the cliffs.

As we approached the top of the climb the rain set in and a nasty wind chased onto the plateau.  Just before the summit we stopped for shelter in a cave to have lunch in the dry.  At this point we decided to continue past the summit in the hope that cruising down the back of the mountain would be more sheltered.

Our decision was doubly rewarded.  As soon as we left the summit it became apparent the back track to Gowrie Park was much better maintained than the track up the front.  No more scratchy scrub.  Hooray.  Secondly our hunch about the wind was correct.  The back of the mountain was eerily still with mist preventing views more than a hundred metres or so.  The rain even stopped for long enough to get the camera out for the board walk section.

After descending past Reggies Falls and down the mossy valley of O'Neills Creek we connected on to the new track to Gowrie Park.  This new track adds as much as 3km on to the walk and made a tedious end as it gradually contoured its way below the face of Mt Vandyke.  Thankfully my mother-in-law was kind enough to respond to our request for a lift after our summit change of plans and we completed our circuit with the short drive back to our car.