Sandpit Forest Reserve
About halfway between Copping and Orford in the heart of the Wielangta Forest, the Sandpit Forest Reserve picnic area provides a great stopping point for a picnic in one of the two stone shelters once used by Aborigines. Wielangta walk is a 2 hour return walk that follows the route of an abandoned tramway to the remnants of the old timber milling township of Wielangta. The mill operated from 1911 to 1924, with cut timber carted on trams down the coast to Rheban where it was loaded onto a jetty and shipped off. There is another shorter walk through the rainforest (20 minutes return) at Robertson's bridge.
View from Sandpit PointThe Forest Mosaic Platform explains the various forest types along the drive and the ways in which wet and dry schlerophyll forests are managed and various parts are reserved, while other areas are grown for future quality timber products. At the Northern end of the drive from Orford a narrow road leads to a picnic area with panoramic views over Maria Island and the East Coast. The bushwalk to the Three Thumbs starts just downhill from the lookout.
A day trip to Orford from Hobart with a difference - travel east from Hobart but instead of turning south at Copping towards Forestier and Tasman Peninsula, head north and follow the Wielangta Forest Drive to Orford. It is an unsealed but well maintained Forestry Tasmania trail through Three Thumbs State Reserve and Cape Bernier Nature Reserve. Return to Hobart from Orford via Tasman Highway. Distance: 164 km
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