Crescent Bay, Standup Point, Mount Brown

This walk was our last day trip from our house-sit north of Hobart, in two days, we would be back on the road in our little caravan. You can get trip notes for this walk on the internet here, and while not really necessary, we might not have found the two blowholes at Standup Point without them. 

Doug peering into the first blowhole near Standup Point

Once again the drive was quite long, but, we had the Enormocast podcast to listen to which helped to pass the time. From the parking lot at the end of Safety Cove Road, you can also take the short walk down to Remarkable Cave, but, as the tide seemed high, we decided to do that at the end of the walk.

 Spring flowers were every where

The track is straight forward and easy to follow as it wanders along coastal dunes of heath vegetation towards Mount Brown. The Maingon Blowhole is a deep cleft in the cliffs and we were unable to see the ocean although sea mist was blowing out with each wave that came in. Just past the blowhole you can take a short side track out to the cliffs and walk along the cliff tops on large rock slabs instead of following the track. After a couple of hundred metres, you will, however want to get back on the track.

 Cape Raoul from the Maingon Lookout

The side track up Mount Brown is marked with a big cairn and a good track leads up steep but grippy rock slabs to a large cairn with a good view. This is not the summit, so keep following the rather less defined track to the trig station for an even better view. I love looking at Tasman Island; it is spectacular from any location, but, after two days of strong winds there was a lot of particulate matter in the air making the view less clear than at other times. 

 Doug on the Mount Brown track

Back down on the main track, we walked out to deserted Crescent Bay and strolled along the beach until we reached the rocks at the north end. Follow the rocks along the point to another blowhole, and, just beyond this blowhole, find a small cairn which marks a good track around the next section of rocks and leads back out onto the coastal rocks 50 metres further on. From there, it is easy walking along a rock shelf, detour higher if need be to Standup Point. A second blowhole is passed which makes a wonderful deep booming sound every time a wave comes in. Standup Point is a great place to enjoy lunch on the rocks looking across to Budget Head and Tasman Island. 

Doug at Standup Point