Dropping off Mt Sheaffe.
It was New Years Eve 2020 when I'd last set foot on the Centenary Trail. When Sam picked me up at Tuggeranong on that hot December afternoon the plan had been to enjoy a quiet New Years Eve back at our hotel in Canberra before coming back out to Tuggeranong the next day to complete the last section of the trail... yeah, that went well! Driving back to the hotel I was listening to a Victorian Government news conference when I heard that any Victorian who didn't get back over the border by midnight firstly risked going into a two week quarantine and if we weren't back over by midnight the next night we would be locked out of our home state... indefinitely. Needless to say, not wanting to be homeless refugees in our own country Sam and quickly packed the ute and headed home. Now when this all went down at the end of 2020 I figured that I would of been able to get back up to Canberra again fairly quickly to finish this walk, however I didn't reckon on was the federal governments vaccine stroll out, so we sat at home for another year as wave after wave of Covid kept us locked in our 5 kilometre bubble while the population was trickle fed the vaccine. Finally, 14 months later, Sam dropped me off in Tuggeranong and I ambled off into the morning gloom to finish off this somewhat cursed trail.
Setting off this morning through the Tuggeranong Town Park.
The Centenary Trail wasn't going to come easy though as the weather today was predicted to be pretty ordinary, with periods of heavy rain predicted. Still, while the skies were grey and gloomy I was able to amble off through the Tuggeranong Town Park without deploying my trekking umbrella. The Centenary Trail now started off on a fairly long urban section, firstly around the edge of Lake Tuggeranong before spending an hour beside a concrete lined open drain. Needless to say the walking was fairly easy as I was pretty well just following sealed shared paths, however I was struggling trying to find interesting photos in this urban environment.
My day started off beside Lake Tuggeranong.
Lake Tuggeranong at Tuggeranong.
The mountains around Canberra were cloaked in cloud this morning.
Leaving Tuggeranong I spotted my first Centenary Trail marker for the day.
I walked past a nice wetlands before starting my concrete drain walk.
I'd managed to stay dry... so far.
The Centenary Trail followed this drain for around an hour.
Around an hour and a half after setting off I finally left the drain as the Centenary Trail swung north and after one more short section through the suburbs I finally left the houses behind and entered some bushland. I now dropped down towards the busy Long Gully Road which which I was able to pass beneath though a substantial tunnel. Once on the north side of Long Gully Road I decided that it was well and truly time for morning smoko... and of course as soon as I'd sat down and opened my pack the rain tat had been threatening finally arrived! With smoko cut short I started a fairly long section of the trail that passes through the Long Gully Pine Plantation, this area looks like it was burnt by a fire in the recent past however it still made for reasonable walking. It looks like Long Gully Pine Plantation mostly caters for mountain bikers as there were quite a few single tracks plunging down the slopes on either side of the easy fire track that I was walking.
Centenary Trail.
After one last suburban section...
... I entered the bush for awhile.
Long Gully Pine Plantation.
The Centenary Trail follows a wide fire trail through the Long Gully Pine Plantation...
...passes by the Long Gully Humpy...
... and then arrived at the Isaacs Spoonville (fuck I hope this photo dates quickly!).
Eventually I shuffled my way north and arrived at the Isaacs Ridge Nature Reserve. Now I had a choice, I could continue on along the level fire track on I could take a detour and climb a loop up and over Mt Sheaffe which would add around 3.5 kilometres and a shit load of climbing to todays adventure. As the rain had stopped for awhile I decided that the hill climb might be worth the effort...of course as soon as I'd grunted my way up onto the summit ridge the weather closed in again! The summit of Mt Sheaffe has a trig point and a big view, although you'll have to take my word about the view as the rain was making it pretty hard to take much in the way of photos now, I did get my first glimpses of the Parliament House spire and Black Mountain as I descended the mountain.
Once in the Isaacs Ridge Nature Reserve I took the Mt Sheaffe variant.
Walking along the ridge the weather closed in again.
The views would be pretty sweet along here - normally.
The Mt Sheaffe Trig.
I got my first glimpse of Black Mountain and Parliament House as I dropped off Mt Sheaffe.
Approaching Hindmarsh Drive.
Of course no sooner than I'd sat down on a comfortable rock and un-packed my pack the rain arrived again, so once again I quickly shoehorned everything back into my pack and set off. After a few minutes the track once again met up with Hindmarsh Drive, only this time I crossed over and entered the suburbs again. The Centenary Trail now walked suburban footpaths for awhile as I made my down Dalymple Street to eventually end up following LaPerouse Street. Thankfully the rain had stopped again by now so was able to make my way through the suburbs without having to use my trekking umbrella...until I stopped for a break at the Red Hill shops and then once again after sitting down a starting to enjoy a drink it started to piss down... although this time I just put up the umbrella and sat there a little forlornly in the rain while I enjoyed my bananas and Gatorade.
Dalrymple Street.
The shops off LaPerouse Street in Red Hill provided another excuse to stop for awhile.
Suitably fortified after refueling at the Red Hill shops I set off towards the last big obstacle between me and the finish of my walk at Parliament House - Red Hill itself. After shuffling my way out of the subsurbs again, I entered the Red Hill Nature Reserve and started climbing. once again the shorter and easier way would of been to stay on the track that runs beside Mugga Way however with the rain having stopped again I figured climbing the last hill of the walk would be worth the extra exertion... and my plan went well until I was within a couple of hundred metres of the summit when the sound of thunder signalled the imminent arrival of the rain again. So the rest of my journey up, over and then down Red Hill was completed under the heaviest rain of the day.
Leaving the flash houses in Red Hill...
... I entered the Red Hill Nature reserve and started climbing again.
Thunder and rain welcomed me to the Red Hill summit.
Hey, hey another lookout in the rain - I swung right, off the hill and gave this lookout a miss.
My descent off Red Hill made for the wettest walking of the day.
I was wearing my trail runners today so my feet were pretty well saturated by now.
By the time I re-joined the shorter bike route at the bottom of the hill I was pretty well over the rain, on reaching Melbourne Avenue I headed straight for a bus stop - not to catch a bus mind you, just to get out of the rain for a couple of minutes, a sensible person would of taken the bus though I'm thinking! Melbourne Avenue was the beginning of the end for this walk though as I now just had to amble down the sidewalk of this suburban street all the way until I arrived at the back of Parliament House. After ringing Sam to let her know I was half an hour from the finish I meandered my way through the (surprisingly nice) bushland tracks that seem to encircle Parliament House. Finally after crossing Parliament Drive I wandered up to the deserted front door of Parliament House, took a couple of photos before walking a couple of minutes down to the Foundation Stone to meet Sam and finish off the Centenary Trail, a fairly low key finish to what had been a fairly low key kind of walk really.
Walking Melbourne Avenue in the rain - I was struggling to find something to photograph.
I approached Parliament House via the back door...
... and followed this curated bushland track around to the front.
When I'd started this walk back in 2020 it was on a blue sky, stinking hot afternoon.
One last look over to Black Mountain...
... and I officially finished my walk at the Foundation Stone.
The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked around 28.3 kilometres and climbed about 574 metres on what I'd call a medium-hard days walking. Like a lot of the Centenary Trail I walked long sections of shared path today interspersed with sections firebrick and single track. Today's walk could be shortened up a fair bit and made a fair bit easier if I'd followed the bike alternatives and didn't climb Mt Sheaffe and Red Hill - but where is the fun in that! There are shops at Tuggeranong near the start of today's walk and at Red Hill, off LaPerouse Street, for buying some sustenance. I used the notes and map out of Nina Hvoslef & Tallis Didcott's book Walking & Cycling Canberras Centenary Trail along with my GPS topos and my Alltrails App. Keep in mind that the trail has been rerouted in the Mugga Mugga Nature Reserve and now goes closer to Hindmarsh Drive - it's well marked, however not mapped in any of my resources.
The Centenary Trail took me 6 fairly solid days to walk (spread over two years!) and according to my GPS I walked around 145.8 kilometres and climbed about 3161 metres on what I'd call a medium-hard grade walk. The guide book adds an extra day to my schedule and splits the walk into 7 sections which would make things a bit easier, there is also ample opportunities to make the trail easier by following shorter variants (normally the bike routes). The Centenary Trail can be a little hit or miss when it comes to track marking and it appears as though there have been some big re-routes so I highly recommend the guide book. Overall this multi day trail is better suited to mountain bikes I think, there is some very nice flowing single track up around Hall that would be great on a bike, as far as walking goes the big kilometres on hard surfaces can get a little hard on feet, mine were pretty tender at the end of each day although I was walking in trail runners which is not something I'd normally walk these distances in so that may have contributed to that issue.
Relevant Posts.
I was a fairly wet and bedraggled walker by the time I finished walking today.
We stayed at the QT in Canberra on this hit and run mission.
There is obviously a political theme running through this hotel.
Our stay at the QT was fairly eventful, on our first night we were evacuated for two hours due to (two) fire alarms triggering...
... and we were also woken just after midnight on our second night (after I'd just finished walking almost 30 kilometres in the rain that afternoon) by another fire alarm - yes, the things I'll go through to complete a walk!
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