Schooner Cove to Noyhener Beach

[lexharris]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any recent experience of the terrain from Schooner Cove to Noyhener Beach, along the east side of Hannant Inlet? I'm thinking of walking the SW Cape circuit in an anti-clockwise direction early next year but starting from Schooner Cove instead of tracking across from the Port Davey track.

Any info will be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Lex
http://www.lexharris.net

[Marky]

Hi
Back in March we did the SW circuit. Met another group that had come in from schooner. said it was quite muddy lady fell into her armpits aparantly. would be a good way to see spain bay tho.
We walked out via sw range and pascoe range into harseshoe then onto melalueca took about 13 hrs but was a great walk!

You getting ferried up to Schooner by par avion?? whats the extra cost??

[lexharris]

Thanks Marky,

Actually I think I ran into the same party just before Wilson Bight on 1 March. It was a party of 6, they said they'd come down from Schooner Cove and had a pretty good walk so far. It was they who'd given me the idea. Didn't have long to chat unfortunately. I was on my way to do the SW Cape circuit myself but baled out after SW Cape for various reasons. Planning to go back Feb/Mar 09 and have another crack at it, just looking at some possible options. Just wondering, given the option of a shorter approach via Schooner Cove, would you still do the overland stretch via Horseshoe Inlet? Do you think it worth it for scenery or otherwise? After returning to Melaleuca I did a quick walk up to Bathurst Narrows to check out the terrain around Horseshoe Inlet - looked a bit ordinary from there but it's hard to judge.

The Par Avion guys told me they would run me up to Schooner Cove for $50 (from Melaleuca).

[Marky]

Sw Circuit is still today my favourite walk. I wouldnt change the way we did it. though having done it that way I have considered schooner for the next starting point!

Only thing that would stop me going thru horseshoe was the river crossing. But we got it at low tide in very dry weather and managed to wade the sand bars in only waist deep water! It was a long day but it can be broken into 2 and the trip over the ranges isnt overly steep, schooner MAY be slightly more interesting

Window pane bay is my favourite beach in the world!!

[Graham]

I did this walk in a party of four a few years ago. There were no problems at all. Schooner Cove to the inlet was straightforward as was the walk up the eastern side of the inlet. I don't think we even got very wet walking up the inlet, although possibly the tide was out. It is very shallow and a lot of the time you can walk along the shore. When we got to the end of the inlet there was no obvious way through to Noyhener and we ended up more by accident than design on Stephens beach which is a much shorter distance through the scrub. From Stephens beach you can walk through the dunes to Noyhener avoiding all but a very short section of scrub. There is a very good photo of this area on Google Earth which is well worth a look to show you what you are in for. The route through the dunes from Noyhener to Stephens is obvious and from there it is an easy walk to Spain Bay which is well worth a visit (I don't think there is water at Spain Bay). The only problem we almost had was during the boat trip from Melaleuca. The Par Avion boat is only a small tinny and it has to cross some very open areas of water. It wasn't a particularly windy day from memory but the boat only just made it across. Several times we thought the pilot was going to turn back and we would end up wading across Horseshoe inlet, something we were very keen to avoid! Have a good walk - it is definitely one of the best.

[lexharris]

Thanks Graham, I checked out the photo, seems pretty shallow as you say. The Google imagery shows a fairly substantial creek about halfway down the east side of Hannants, how did you get past that, wade out into the inlet or cross upstream maybe?

[Graham]

Sorry I can't remember the creek specifically, I just remember we had no problems whatsoever and I dont think we even got inside our boots wet. We certainly didn't have to go upstream to cross the creek, just stayed out in the inlet. The only problem we had the whole trip from Schooner bact to Melaleuca was getting from Noyhener to Windowpane. I think Chapman says you can walk around the rocks for the first section, but we found that impossible - maybe it was high tide. What we did was climb up to the cliff tops (which are only a few meters high) where we thought we would have to bash our way through. To our surprise and relief we found a taped route which took is all the way along the clifftop to where the track turns inland. Might be worth a look! Graham