The Forts Walk and Lunch at Horseshoe Bay

Sunday 20^th August 2017

The run of nice weather continues. It is a little cooler today, which is great because we intend to do the Forts Walk and then go on to Horseshoe  Bay for lunch.

All four of us caught the 10.05am bus from the ferry terminal and got off at the Forts walk junction about 20 minutes later, after the driver did a bit of a circuitous route back to Nelly Bay from Arcadia, to pick up more passengers who couldn’t fit on the bus initially. Several people got off at Arcadia freeing up some seats.

The Forts Walk takes you through the fortifications that were put in place during WW2, to avert any attack by the Japanese. There are several gun emplacements,  a munitions storage bunker, ruins of accommodation and related facilities and a communications tower and command centre located high above the ocean giving excellent visibility of Cleveland Bay and Horseshoe Bay.

Sharon and Carole on the trail

Great view of Arthur Bay

It is a reasonably level walk until the last section up to the communications tower and command centre, and the views are spectacular. As an added bonus there are koalas in the trees in this area and we were fortunate enough to see two.

Our first koala sighting just off the track 

Peter is keeping up pretty well with his new knees

Old Gun Emplacement

Command centre

Another Koala

From the very top of the complex, Command centre and Comms tower, the views are great.

Florence Bay

The walk back down is a bit steep, but Peter’s new knees seem to be standing up very well.

Back at the main road, by 12.20pm in time to meet the bus to Horseshoe Bay, we are ready for a cold drink and a nice lunch overlooking Horseshoe Bay. The Marlin Bay is our choice once again, and both the food and drinks were very welcome.

After lunch, we caught the 1.50pm bus back home, and as we had bought a day pass, decided to continue on past Nelly Bay to Picnic Bay and show Peter and Sharon around there. It is low tide and the place takes on a very different perspective.

A Trailer Sailer waiting for the tide to come back in

On the Eastern side of the Picnic Bay Jetty, the reef is exposed by the low tide

We have to wait about an hour for the next bus back to Nelly Bay, so have a beer at the Picnic Bay Hotel whilst we are waiting.

Back at Nelly Bay by just after 4pm,  we have a short rest, shower etc, before heading off for a BBQ dinner with Sue and John from Imagine, and Brian and Amanda from Dalwhinnie.