Dover to New Norfolk via Cockle Creek, Tasmania

Tuesday 7th May 2019
Well this morning the day started out cold and sunny. Our aim to set off early and start walking at Cockle Creek by 9am was almost a success. The sun was shining and we were on our way walking from the most southern road of Tasmania along the South Coast Track in the Southwest National Park by 9.15am. The hike was a 7.5km track to South Cape Bay. The terrain was reasonable easy, on a well formed track and boardwalk with a slight elevation of 40m, up and down along the way. The vegetation changed from rainforest to wetlands, and was quite scenic. It ended with a beautiful bay with a lovely rolling surf beak. We would have loved to have our boards with but would’ve liked to get dropped their by boat. 7.5km is a bit far to walk with your board. It was lovely to see the sun today and it really showed in our photos. The water looked beautiful, a contrast to the last week or so. Once at South Cape Bay we walked along the beach further to Lion Rock. It was very picturesque. After a little break or not so little thanks to ‘Have a chat Broadbent’ we trekked back to Cockle Creek. All in all it ended up an 18km hike over about 4:45hrs. It was a lovely day. We have definitely improved our fitness as our legs were still going okay at the end.

Due to time constraints and roadworks we had to cross Hastings Caves off today’s agenda and leave it till next visit. As we are trying to fit other adventures in we headed back to New Norfolk (just northwest of Hobart) to shorten tomorrow’s drive to our hike at Mt Eliza in the Strathgordon area. Hopefully this is possible but the weather will be our guide tomorrow.

We arrived at our accommodation at about 6pm and had a lovely dinner in their restaurant. Lamb shanks and vegetables. Yummy.

: Our outlook from our camp at Dover Beachside Tourist Park. The sun was shining this morning and we even had some blue sky.

: Cockle Creek

: The end of the road. The most southern road in Tasmania

: Cockle Creek

: Boot cleaning prior to staring our hike.

: A little visitor along the way. He wasn’t at all bothered by our presence

: A little bit of fungi along the way..

: ..and some more. This one was very tiny..there were many other kinds but the same as I have already seen this holiday.

: The boardwalk through the wetlands made for easy walking.

: Some of the plant life along the way..

: Some beautiful ferns as well.

: And then you finish at a beautiful bay

: South Cape Bay looking out to Antarctica

: Morning tea at South Cape Bay

: It was a very pretty spot. The rocks were interesting

: Heading further along the South Coast Track it goes all the way to Melaleuca (85km 8 day walk). You catch a plane there and walk back to Cockle Creek. We talked to a couple today who were on day 8 and about 4km from Cockle Creek. They had enjoyed the walk but were packed to the hilt. Ouch, I hurt for them.