Monthly Archives: March 2015

Walking to Duckhole Lake

Photograph of small lake surrounded by trees, with reflections.

Duckhole Lake fills a sinkhole near Hastings, Tasmania, Australia. The track to the lake is one of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks.

Getting there

Duckhole Lake is over an hour south of Hobart, and a correspondingly longer drive from anywhere farther north. We stopped at the Hastings Caves Visitor Centre to enquire about the state of the track, then drove north. This was a scenic route, but the southern parts were very narrow, although still suitable for two-wheel-drive cars. The car park was a flat patch of ground next to Creekton Road, just east of a bridge over the Creekton Rivulet.

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Walking the Adamsons Tramway Track

Photograph of rainforest with long fallen mossy tree trunks.

The Adamsons Tramway Track is a short walk near Hastings, Tasmania, Australia. It overlaps with the much longer Adamsons Peak Track. The tramway portion passes the remains of various old forestry constructions.

Getting there

This track, like most in Tasmania’s far south, was not easy to reach. It began on the Peak Rivulet Road, west of Dover. We began even further south, at Hastings Caves, which meant a long drive north on unsealed forestry roads. The narrowest of these was Creekton Road where it turned north off Hastings Caves Road. As the roads continued north, they became wider and smoother.

The “car park” was a small flat patch at the side of Peak Rivulet Road, next to the sign shown above.

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Walking around Merthyr Park, Tasmania

Photograph of track meandering between eucalypts and cherry ballart trees.

Merthyr Park is a reserve near Lilydale, Tasmania, Australia. A gift from Lord Merthyr, of Saundersfoot in Wales, it was once a popular picnic area, was a rubbish tip from 1965 to 1995, and since then has been under ongoing rehabilitation by the Lilydale Landcare Association. Two walking tracks – the Large Circuit Track and the Small Circuit Track – allow visitors to see the park.

The Merthyr Park in Tasmania should not be confused with the multiple other Merthyr Parks in Australia and in Wales.

Getting there

The only road to Merthyr Park was the Second River Road, which passed through the middle of the park. From most of Tasmania, this was best accessed from Golconda Road, just north of Lilydale. The car park was at the east end of the Merthyr Park, opposite the Lilydale Waste Transfer Station.

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