Arm End Reserve

Monday, 26 June 2017

Summerleas Road in Kingston affords great views of Mt Wellington and Cathedral Rock. In fact Cathedral Rock’s peak is so prominent that when we first moved to Kingston I’d often drive down Summerleas Road towards home and think about how cool it would be to hike up it.

It took a few years to finally get the opportunity to do so,  but once I’d been to the top it was nice to be able to think about how fun it was every time I looked up at it. Since my adventure run from a few weeks ago I can now look up and know I've been up and over all of the rocky peaks behind it too. Cool.

On a similar theme, today I finally visited another part of the Hobart area that I see ALL THE TIME, but have never visited.  It’s a big arm of land that is right opposite Kingston, but via the Tasman Bridge it’s almost an hour’s drive away. I found out a few weeks ago that it’s called both Gellibrand Point and Arm End Reserve. It’s just past Opossum Bay, a place I’ve only been once on a driving trip with Granny and Grandfather about 7 years ago.

 

There are grand plans for Arm End Reserve, including a golf course, mountain bike tracks, walking trails, bird watching thingies and a whole lot of other stuff. It even has it’s own web-site - but for now, it’s a fairly barren bit of land which has some pretty amazing views all the way up to the city. The current walking trail is more like a mown strip of grass but it does do a satisfying loop of the Arm. 

It reminded me a lot of Maria Island settlement with cleared fields, long yellow grass and windy hills.  It lacked the historical remnants but it did contain the triple decker vault style grave of Gellibrand and a few of his descendants, dug by Mr Gellibrand himself every day after breakfast until it was done. Uff.

When he died in 1840 the area was apparently renown for the 'tallest timber in the colony', a winery and an extensive orchard.  I think he'd be disappointed that you could pretty much count the trees on one hand now, and aside from a few birds, the only wildlife I saw was a mouse that scampered across my path at one point.   

Nevertheless, I was surprised at how nice parts of the coastline were.

although in one spot I was equally surprised at how much rubbish there was on the beach - unusual (and disappointing) for a Tasmanian beach. It had obviously washed up from the sea (rather than having been left by picnicers) which is even more of a worry. 

I only saw two other people during the 6.5k loop - which added to the eerie sense of loneliness the point has.

All in all it was a fun trip, and now when I look across the river at Gellibrand Point I'll know more about what I'm staring at. Whilst I don't love golf courses I do hope the plans for the development of the point go ahead - the place deserves some re-forestation and more visits.