Bushwalk Australia

Had a guy inquiring about some portrait work on Saturday. Whilst showing him my portfolio he said "oh theres a picture of hogg creek". "no" i said "thats smoko creek...where is hogg creek?"

"Oh you know its the really nice set of waterfalls up near paloona dam."

"Aha! but i know every set of waterfalls there is for I am taswaterfalls.com...you must be thinking of bella macargee? or perhaps forth falls?"

"No.... Weirdo."

So to cut a long and pointless story short he gave me directions and on way home from work i popped in. From the bottom side follow lake paloona road up and over the hill past the dam until it flattens out. You will come to a small area where you can pull car off side of road that has a stile and a cyclone gate. climb over the stile and head off down the paddocks. Once you get to bottom all feeling of trespassing goes away once you see the Arboureetum sign and see the nicely signposted and well maintained path (with steps and bridges and all!)

Its only a short walk maybe about half hour return at a leisurely pace. Can be done as a loop. If like me you haven't done it its well worth the effort.

Light was all scummy and yuck..so no decent pictures yet. Will return at a better time to get some.

Sounds like the Arboretum annexe.

Yes, you're right, a lovely place - been there...

Taken from http://www.tasmanianarboretum.org.au/
Click on Maps, then Hogg Creek annexe.

EDIT - Just found this link on their site -
http://www.tasmanianarboretum.org.au/in ... 0creek.htm

'ats the one! Yet another beaut area of Tas that is horribly under utilised. *sigh*

I popped in to Hogg Creek while I was in the area on Saturday night. Definitely worth a visit. Thanks for pointing it out. I've only been to the Arboretum once and I didn't notice any reference to the annex. I've mentioned it on my blog at http://www.blognow.com.au/tastrekker/79617/Hogg_Creek.html

Did a retour on my way back from Sheffield today - gees must have passed the start of this walk loads of times hell I even shot a couple of bunnies at the top dam (30 years ago dont do guns now) what a wonderfull oasis amongs farm land .
Many thanks for pointing out this magic place.
corvus

I dropped by Hogg Creek again, this time in daylight. You can see photos on my blog at:
http://www.blognow.com.au/tastrekker/79906/Hogg_Creek_2.html

A bit more data on Hogg Ck Falls.. My Partner & I tracked this one down and made a visit Jan 02 2013. There is little info available other than these forums. (Thanks to all involved). The parking area at the top of Lake Paloona road, the cyclone wire gate and the stile are all correct. When we arrived, there was a sign on the stile stating that the track was closed for maintenance. (Standard warning.. Insurance issues etc). We are careful, but inquisitive. Some issues are wildly overstated. The gate was open, so.. in we went. We proceeded down hill on the wide open path/vehicle track for about 180m to the Arboretum sign. Turned left here and proceeded to follow the reasonable track down along the west side of the creek. After about 270m we hit the timber bridge. The falls complex starts here, and cascades down the gully in bits and pieces. About 5 cascades/falls in total. Very nice. A bit low for us in summer, but would be excellent in the wet! I attempted the lower track, right down near to the bottom, but it was hard. Choked with prickly vegetation, and blocked by tree falls, some large. The gully was a mess. Yes, maintenance on this section was definitely needed. But to the bridge was ok. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience! Highly recommended. Again, the Arboretum web site tells you nothing about this area. Maybe you have to become a member to get the info? Who knows. Still, all I know of it is posted now, so maybe it can help others.
Pics to follow..

Hogg Creek Falls pics...

Hogg Creek Falls pics continued...

Hogg Creek Falls - General access..

Hi Again,
The wife and friends used to do this walk regularly with visiting friends and relatives, they knew the falls as Friendly and Hoggs Falls.
The last time they did it was in 2005 and the bottom that you found overgrown had started its deteriotation back then.
Then we had some storms or floods, can't remember which and the track has been closed ever since (probably 2 -3 years now). Word has it that some of the track was either blocked or slipped away, don't hold me to that..as it is only hearsay.
So no work has been done in there for years and from what we could ascertain there's not likely to be any time soon.
If any one knows any different I would sure like to know.
Davo1

Good reminder of what we have close to home , from memory I last visited them in Dec 2007 and was impressed (could not do much exploring in shirt and tie and dress shoes at the time ) however I am reminded to go back for another look , appropriately dressed.
corvus

Visited Hogg Falls to say which were spectacular due to the never ending rain! The track is still closed which may be because the bridge is rotting. There are tracks to the base of the falls on either side of the creek which must have once made a lovely little circuit, but the bridge at the bottom is now no more that a few bits of twisted metal, and the track on the right hand side looking down stream has trees down across it. The whole circuit obviously had a lot of work put into it once, and just as obviously has had none for a long time which is very sad as it's a pretty walk.
Will post some photos tomorrow, but if you live on the NW Coast and haven't got round to going, now is a good time to go.

No longer a part of the arboretum. Land is now owned by different person. Neglected walk. private land. No trespassing

Sad to hear the update from Hollowcreek1. I liked this walk so I've investigated a little further. The Tasmanian Arboretum were leasing a public reserve which covers the land around the falls (indicated by orange shading on the map below). They decided not to renew the lease when they no longer had members prepared to maintain the site. Full marks to the members who established and maintained the paths originally - super work while it lasted!

It would still be classified as a public reserve (unless TheLIST is not up to date). It is interesting to note the original access to the reserve crossed a narrow band of private land. I can only assume the Arboretum had the blessing of the land owner for their access. The map shows casements which access the Public Reserve from the east and north but I understand these do not guarantee access without going through an application process.

The arboretum and previous owner had an agreement. The previous owner passed and the land now belongs to someone else. The land that the arboretum utilised was signed back to the new owner. It is not a little area you need to walk to get to falls. It is private farming land that is a working farm. It is sad the arboretum did a great job. Unfortunately volunteers drop off and it’s let go. There is only one bridge now the other totally washed away in floods along with undercutting from the flow making some ground narrowed and dropped away.