Southport Lagoon

Thursday, 16 March 2017

When we were in Sydney over Christmas, my good friend Julie and I decided that she should come down to Tassie for a long weekend of adventure runs, both for training purposes (Julie is doing a 50k race in a few months and I want to jog/hike the Routeburn Track in NZ), and simply because it would be fun.   She had an ultramaraton race to take care of in NZ in February, so mid March was agreed upon as the ideal time to come. 


Well March has rolled around faster than you can say “what’s with this heatwave”,  so I picked Julie up from the airport at about 10am in strangely warm, humid and rainy conditions today.  The first run on our list was the flat 20k from the start of the Ida Bay railway track, to Southport Lagoon and back. The Ida Bay railway runs 3 trips down to Elliots Beach a day, stopping along the way to tell stories of the past.  It’s a fair drive down to Ida Bay, so we weren’t running until just after the 12.15 train left the station. 

 Now when I was perusing this run on the internet (on the TasTrails website), I had assumed that the walking track marked on the map ran parallel to the train tracks. Unfortunately, after about 2k of running it didn’t so much run parallel to anymore, as ON the train tracks, which meant there was a lot of this sort of running.  

 

 

Luckily there were lots of grassy patches in between the sleepers, and not too many rocks so It wasn’t too bad, but it was hard to look around while you are watching where your feet are landing, so by the time we made it to Elliots Beach  (about 5k in) we were pretty happy that the track ended  and we had an actual walking track to continue on with.

 

The next bit was really soft and pleasant and traversed some gentle hills and grassy valleys, and about 2k sooner than we had expected (about 3 from the end of the railway line) we suddenly popped out at Southport Lagoon. 

 

We’d been running for 8k, which wasn’t the 10k we had been expecting.  It turns out the missing 2k was because we inadvertently shortened the run by ignoring a side-track we should have taken to a different part of the lagoon - we tried to remedy this on the way back, but that section was much more overgrown than the other trail and there were large spider webs with sinister looking occupants strung across the track, so we gave up after about 200m and retraced out steps back to the end of the train tracks. Skipping 4km wasn’t a big problem as we had a 4k hike to do later in the afternoon anyway.

We briefly checked out Deep Hole Bay before tackling the return train track section. 

 

Of course running on train tracks means you have to look out for…

 

trains..!  

Although the Ida Bay train isn't particularly threatening. In fact it's rather cute.  The 12:15 train only had a few passengers, the 2pm train was positively heaving with tourists which was nice to see. 

We made it back to the car by around 2:45pm,  it was a really nice start to our 3 days of adventure runs. Tomorrow we're heading down to the Tasman Peninsular. 

2016summary
Kangaroo Island - Day 4 Friday, 29 December 2017
Kangaroo Island - Day 3 Friday, 29 December 2017
Intermission Wednesday, 27 December 2017
Kangaroo Island - Day 1 Wednesday, 27 December 2017
Kangaroo Island - Day 2 Wednesday, 27 December 2017
School Lunches Friday, 22 December 2017
Lovely Jett Friday, 22 December 2017
Meanwhile.. Sunday, 10 December 2017
The best laid plans.. Sunday, 10 December 2017
Show Photos Saturday, 18 November 2017
Zali & Jett's cake Saturday, 18 November 2017
Show Cakes Friday, 17 November 2017
Gingerbread Men Thursday, 16 November 2017
Gingerbread Brewery Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Spring Flowers Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Derby River Derby Monday, 30 October 2017
Search Party Sunday, 22 October 2017
Fortescue Loop Take 3 Friday, 20 October 2017
Lime Bay Friday, 20 October 2017
Ikea makes everything better Tuesday, 3 October 2017
Back in Sydney.. Tuesday, 3 October 2017
Australian Champs - Day ? + 2 Saturday, 30 September 2017
Rest Day Schmest Day Friday, 29 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day ? Friday, 29 September 2017
Supertourists Wednesday, 27 September 2017
Way out west.. Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Long Nights Monday, 25 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day 4 Monday, 25 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day 3 Monday, 25 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day 2 Monday, 25 September 2017
Australian Champs - Day 1 Monday, 25 September 2017
Class Play Friday, 15 September 2017
Queens Domain Friday, 15 September 2017
The Great Koala Rescue of '93 Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Bird Rescue! Wednesday, 13 September 2017
It's getting better Wednesday, 6 September 2017
Before and After #43 - Kitchen Update Saturday, 2 September 2017
East Cloudy Head Thursday, 31 August 2017
It's hard to relocate when.. Monday, 14 August 2017
Bonus Weeks Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Small Adventures Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Thursday Bowling Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Before and After #42 - Tool Storage Tuesday, 1 August 2017
Goodbye tas-oak veneer kitchen Tuesday, 1 August 2017
Freycinet Winter Hike - Day 3 Wednesday, 26 July 2017
Freycinet Winter Hike - Day 2 Wednesday, 26 July 2017
Freycinet Winter Hike - Day 1 Wednesday, 26 July 2017
More Kingborourgh Trails Friday, 21 July 2017
Seagulls and Clifftops Monday, 10 July 2017
Vanilla Slice & Vanilla Slush Sunday, 9 July 2017
Garden Projects - Part 2 Saturday, 8 July 2017
Garden Projects - Part 1 Saturday, 8 July 2017
Motivation Saturday, 8 July 2017
Worst. Night. Ever. Wednesday, 28 June 2017
Arm End Reserve Monday, 26 June 2017
If it has to be fruit cake... Sunday, 25 June 2017
Nice Places Thursday, 22 June 2017
Other Milestones Thursday, 22 June 2017
Milestones Thursday, 22 June 2017
Launceston Sprint Orienteering Weekend Tuesday, 13 June 2017
Before and After #41 - Offcut Pathway Thursday, 8 June 2017
Cathedral Rock & Montague Thumbs Loop Thursday, 8 June 2017
Mount Fortescue Loop Saturday, 3 June 2017
Bruny Island Day Out Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Sewing Projects Friday, 19 May 2017
Melbourne Weekend Thursday, 18 May 2017
Before and After #40 - Be afraid.. Be very afraid.. Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Flags Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Cool things Wednesday, 3 May 2017
NZ Day 30 - Long Distance Final Sunday, 30 April 2017
NZ Day 28 - Rest Day 3 (HA!) Friday, 28 April 2017
NZ Day 27 - Long Qualifying 2 Friday, 28 April 2017
NZ Day 26 - Long Qualifying 1 Wednesday, 26 April 2017
NZ Day 25 - Rangitoto Island Tuesday, 25 April 2017
NZ Day 24 - Unexpected Outcomes Tuesday, 25 April 2017
NZ Day 23 - Sprint Qualifying Sunday, 23 April 2017
NZ Day 22 - Goodbye Rotorua, Hello Auckland Sunday, 23 April 2017
NZ Day 21 - Rest Day 2 (HA!) Saturday, 22 April 2017
NZ Day 20 - Rotorua Orienteering & Adrenaline Forest Thursday, 20 April 2017
NZ Day 19 - Rotorua Orienteering Thursday, 20 April 2017
NZ Day 18 - Rest Day (HA!) Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 17 - Oceania Middle & Rotorua Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 16 - Goodbye South Island Tuesday, 18 April 2017
NZ Day 15 - Milford Sound Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 4 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 3 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 2 Saturday, 15 April 2017
Milford Track - Day 1 Saturday, 15 April 2017
NZ Day 9 - Pastries and Packing Saturday, 15 April 2017
NZ Day 8 - Pools and Puzzles Sunday, 9 April 2017
NZ Day 7 - More Glaciers & Amazing Views Sunday, 9 April 2017
NZ Day 6 - Gorges and Glaciers Friday, 7 April 2017
NZ Day 5 - Seals & Rocks Friday, 7 April 2017
NZ Day 4 - Old Ghost Road Wednesday, 5 April 2017
NZ Day 3 - Abel Tasman National Park Tuesday, 4 April 2017
NZ Day 2 - Hot Springs and Long Drives Monday, 3 April 2017
NZ Day 0 & NZ Day 1 Sunday, 2 April 2017
NZ (Planned) Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Pinto Tuesday, 28 March 2017
Before and After #39 - Ikea Stools Tuesday, 28 March 2017
Small Cakes Tuesday, 28 March 2017
Finally. Thursday, 23 March 2017
Shooting Up Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Mt Wellington Hike Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Mt Fortescue and Cape Pillar Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Crescent Bay and Mt Brown Friday, 17 March 2017
Southport Lagoon Thursday, 16 March 2017
Before and After #37 - Sliding Wardrobe Sunday, 5 March 2017
Maria Island Mini Trip Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Phone found! Race Photos! Tuesday, 14 February 2017
Done! Saturday, 4 February 2017
Waiting.. Waiting.. Saturday, 4 February 2017
Back into the wilderness Saturday, 4 February 2017
60 Walks Challenge - Walk #36 Saturday, 4 February 2017
More Frenchman's Photos Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Frenchmans Cap - Days 3 & 4 Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Frenchman's Cap - Day 2 Monday, 30 January 2017
Frenchman's Cap - Day 1 Monday, 30 January 2017
Frenchman's Cap - Prologue Sunday, 29 January 2017
Collins Bonnet Take 2 Saturday, 21 January 2017
Hartz Moutains again! Thursday, 19 January 2017
Bouddi Coastal Walk Sunday, 15 January 2017
Last Day! Sunday, 15 January 2017
Hot Hot Hot.. Saturday, 14 January 2017
More Summer Fun Thursday, 12 January 2017
Quiet Morning Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Sydney Day 9,10,, - Changing Gears Monday, 9 January 2017
Sydney Day 3 - Zali's Birthday Sunday, 8 January 2017
Sydney Day 9 - Spit Bridge to Manly Sunday, 8 January 2017
Sydney Day 8 - Why Sydney Aquarium Sucks Saturday, 7 January 2017
Sydney Day 1 - Bondi and Uber! Tuesday, 3 January 2017
Sydney Day 4 - Canyoning! Tuesday, 3 January 2017