Tuggeranong Town Centre to Parliament House, Centenary Trail - February 2022

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.

Once I'd finished my Mt Sheaffe loop I continued my journey north along a wide fire track again. Like a few other sections on the Centenary Trail it looked like I was walking beside and old water race along here. After contouring along beside the old water race for awhile I entered the next small nature reserve that I'd pass through today, Mugga Mugga Nature Reserve. Once in the reserve the Centenary Trail has been rerouted a little (compared to my trail notes and my Alltrails Map), the track now misses the disused quarry and instead heads north a bit more to meet Hindmarsh Drive for a few hundred metres before looping south again to rejoin the old route. Once back on the old route it was time for another break.

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.

Centenary Trail Previous Day, 2020.

Centenary Trail Day 1, 2020.

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!

Stromlo Forest Park to Tuggeranong Town Centre, Centenary Trail - December 2020

Red Rocks Gorge on the Murrumbidgee River.

I'd been looking forward to day 5 on the Centenary Trail for the whole walk, today I'd walk not only the Cooleman Ridge but also the Murrumbidgee River. So needless to say I was in a good headspace when Sam dropped me off on Eucumbene Drive near Stromlo Forest Park this morning. My good mood continued as I walked the grassy road side verge south beside Eucumbene Drive passing by the last of the houses before climbing onto the Cooleman Ridge.

Conditions were a little grey and overcast again first thing this morning.

Initially I climbed the roadside verge again beside Eucumbene Drive...

... passing by the houses of Duffy. Black Mountain was looking a lot further away again now.

Once on Cooleman Ridge the walking was pretty easy and the views were fairly extensive, with the bigger mountains in Namadgi National Park cloaked in cloud this morning. The track along Cooleman Ridge sometimes looked like it was following an old water race, although a water race near the top of a ridge is fairly unusual, whatever the case it was nice walking. After passing by a couple of water tanks on the ridge I arrived at Mt Arawang at the end of the ridge, instead of climbing this hill I now forked left and followed the Centenary Trail back down into the suburbs again, turning right onto Namatjira Drive. 

The bigger mountains around Canberra were cloaked in cloud first thing this morning.

Nice walking along the Cooleman Ridge section of the Centenary Trail.

It looked like I was following an old water race at one stage.

The views from Cooleman Ridge were pretty sweet.

Cooleman Ridge wildlife.

Cooleman Ridge

The Centenary Trail on Cooleman Ridge.

One last view from Cooleman Ridge.

While the Cooleman Ridge section was one of the best so far on the Centenary Trail the next section from Chapman down to Kambah Pool was one of the shittiest. The Centenary Trail now followed the grassy road side verge all the way down to the Murrumbidgee River and having a sometimes fairly busy bitumen road beside me all the way was a little sub-optimal I thought. After following the very busy Namatjira Drive for 15 minutes I turned right onto the slightly less busy Kambah Pool Road and started a fairly long and gentle descent. After turning south along Kambah Pool Road I crossed the road and picked up an old footpath running behind the back fence of some suburban houses which I followed down until I arrived at the Murrumbidgee Country Club. From here I pretty well walked the rough and grassy verge between the golf course and Kambah Pool Road all the way until I arrived down at the Kambah Pool Reserve. 

 

Namatjira Drive in Chapman.

The Centenary Trail follows various grassy pads beside Kambah Pool Road as it drops down to the Murrumbidgee River.

The Kambah Pool trail head - time for smoko:)

Arriving at the car park at the end of Kambah Pool Road I resisted the temptation to head down to the river for a skinny dip with my nudist brothers and sisters, instead preferring a nice soft rock in the shade (no that's not a euphemism!) to enjoy my lunch on. Over the last three days the forecast had been for cloudy and overcast conditions with showers, however while each day had started off a little overcast by lunchtime the sun would come out and things would heat up and today was no different in that regard. After having a bit of a break in the car park at the end of Kambah Pool Road watching the comings and goings from this fairly busy spot, I grabbed my pack again and set off towards Tuggeranong.

The Murrumbidgee River up stream of Kambah Pool.

This section of the Centenary Trail is another one of those flowy walking / mountain bike tracks.

The day had heated up a bit now so any shade was pretty welcome.

The next section of the Centenary Trail was another good one. The track now mostly contoured high above Murrumbidgee River for the next 6 or 7 kilometres although the open forest meant that there was plenty of opportunities for water views as I shuffled my way up stream. This bit of the walk was similar to the northern border section in that the track builders have spent a lot of time building a fairly flowy track without any super steep gradients to cater for mountain bikes (and fat old walkers!).

Red Rocks Gorge Lookout.

  There are plenty of places to view the river apart from the signposted lookout.

Murrumbidgee River

The Centenary Trail in the Bullen Range Nature Reserve.

Thirty minutes after leaving Kanbah Pool I arrived at the short side track out to Red Rocks Gorge Lookout  so I headed out for a squiz. Red Rocks Gorge is arguably the most scenic spot along this section of the Murrumbidgee and the view from the lookout is OK, however the views were actually better from the track a little further towards Tuggeranong I thought. Rather than retrace my way back from the lookout I took an old and rougher pad that intersected the Centenary Trail a little further east before resuming shuffling my way towards Tuggeranong. 

Looking across the Murrumbidgee River Gorge towards the distant mountains.

The Centenary Trail in Bullen Range Nature Reserve.

I'm thinking that some of the land within the Bullen Range Nature Reserve is re-claimed farmland.

The Centenary Trail

Getting closer to Tuggeranong the gorge / valley started to open up a bit.

The river views continued, only now I was getting views of the shiny high rise building in Tuggeranong too. The Centenary Trail now started passing through what looks like some re-claimed farmland and I occasionally arced away from the river a fair distance before finally I arrived at the old bridge over the Casuarina lined Tuggeranong Creek. After ringing Sam to let her know that I was almost finished I followed the Murrumbidgee River for a few more minutes before arriving at the historic Tuggeranong Stone Wall. The old stone wall is in need of a bit of love and weed killer I think and after making a fairly desultory attempt to get a photo I shuffled off on my climb up to Tuggeranong. Climbing out of a grassy gully I suddenly found myself on the busy Athllan Drive in Tuggeranong and my days walking was as good as over as I headed for Tuggeranong Town Park on the banks of Lake Tuggeranong to wait for Sam.

The Casuarina lined Tuggeranong Creek.

The Centenary Trail crosses Tuggeranong Creek at this old weir.

Sharing the track with the Bicentennial National Trail.

The historic Tuggeranong Stone Wall.

The Dirt.

I walked 22.7 kilometres today and climbed 411 metres on what I'd call a medium grade days walking. Over the five days of my Centenary Trail Walk so far I've walked around 117.5 kilometres and climbed around 2587 metres.  The Centenary Trail today was a mixed bag really, the crappy section alongside Kambah Pool Road bookended by the nice section along Cooleman Ridge and the Murrumbidgee River section. Navigation today was a lot clearer than yesterday although the more urban the landscape the more I had to concentrate on my map. I used the notes and maps out of the Woodslane book Walking & Cycling Canberra's Centenary Trail by Nina Hvoslef & Tallis Didcott, along with my GPS topos today.

Relevant Posts.

Centenary Trail, Previous Day, 2020.

Centenary Trail, Day 1, 2020.

Unfortunately this was as far as I got on the Centenary Trail on this visit. After Sam picked me up in Tuggeranong we were listening to yet another Covid news conference on the radio when we heard that our state government was going to close the border to New South Wales, while our Christmas trip up to southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory was always planned with the idea that we would only ever be a few hours drive from the border it meant getting home wasn't too much of an issue. What was a little surprising was announcing it at a presser in the late afternoon on New Years Eve which seemed to catch a lot of people out. We had around 7 hours to get back to the hotel in Canberra, have a quick feed, pack up, check out, fuel the ute up and then get over the border so it wasn't too bad for Sam and I... however I'm a strange unit and I'd spent my days on holiday's listening to ABC News Radio so I was all over the situation, a lot of others weren't so lucky. 

I'm thinking if travel and tourism is going to survive then our state governments need to be clear about the thresholds for closing borders, if the threshold is x amount of cases in a local government area then at least you could monitor the situation. The situation here was that the nearest Covid case to us was hundreds of kilometres away and the situation hadn't changed - what had changed is there was an outbreak near our home back in Melbourne which was thought to have come down from up in Sydney. So ironically we had to evacuate from an area that hadn't (and months later still hasn't) had any community spread of Covid and return home immediately to an area with community spread less than 20 kilometres away. As I'm writing this our state government has introduced a traffic light system of restrictions however there still isn't any published figures or logic to what it will take to change the traffic lights from Green to Yellow and Red which I think is what's needed to restore some kind of confidence. To be honest though I think all of our different branches of governments in Australia have done a pretty good job of keeping us safe during the pandemic so far, so I  don't want to be too negative.

From the old stone wall I left the Murrumbidgee River and climbed up to Tuggeranong.

My last few metres on the Centenary Trail (for now) were very pleasant.

Climbing the embankment to meet Athllon Drive in Tuggeranong my day was pretty well finished - and as it turned out so was my Centenary Trail walk!

Yes, heading back to our hotel in Canberra I was listening to a news conference on ABC News Radio and found out that we only had around 7 hours to get back into Victoria before the government closed the border and we'd have to quarantine for 2 weeks - needless to say we made it back safely. When our snap border restrictions settle down a bit I'll head back up to Canberra and walk the last section of the Centenary Trail and stick a link in at the bottom of this post.