Cataract Gorge with water

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Cataract Gorge with water

Postby Chris » Fri 06 Nov, 2009 10:34 pm

Just had a delightful impromptu nearly-bush walk. In town for Friday shopping, camera in car as usual, I thought it would be worth seeing how much extra water was coming down the gorge for the wildwater canoeing event. Not much movement near the bridge, so headed up the zigzag track and looked for vantage points along the way. There was a fair bit of white water upstream, and it was a magnificent day, so somehow I forgot to turn back ... skirted what I later realised were barricades blocking former track which is now the construction site of the wondrous new "inclinator" ... back-tracked, found a new route giving access to gorge downstream of the causeway (now under water), then headed back to the suspension bridge. Couldn't resist taking the Duck Reach track for a while ... had forgotten what how beautiful it was ... watched canoeing activity ... eventually conscience started pricking so back to suspension bridge and return via the western track. Lots of activity in the water there, so progress was rather slow ... not sure quite what was going on, but very colourful with red presumably rescue boats, canoeists carrying their craft over rocks, some struggling with a bit of rock-climbing etc.

It was a terrific 2 hours, a bit like playing hooky from school :lol: . My "To Do" list for the day has barely been touched, but I'm still on a high!

We're so luck to have a place like this so easily accessible, if only it always had a respectable amount of water flowing :(

Anyhow. if anyone's at a loose end over the weekend and doesn't want to go too far afield, there'll be water coming down both days. There will no doubt be hoards more people than I saw today, but also racing on the water rather than just practice. The weather looks like it's going to be great too. :D
IMG_4954 gorge1med.jpg
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Re: Cataract Gorge with water

Postby Macca81 » Sun 08 Nov, 2009 10:13 pm

bloke in the red vest, looks suspiciously like a mate of mine...


you shoulda seen it when it was in flood 2 or 3 months ago! that was insane!
geoskid wrote:nothing but the best of several brands will do :)
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Re: Cataract Gorge with water

Postby samh » Sun 08 Nov, 2009 10:29 pm

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Re: Cataract Gorge with water

Postby Phil » Mon 09 Nov, 2009 10:26 am

It truly is a magical place!

I have the pleasure of running home from work through town, over the zig-zag track to the gorge and then up to Duck Reach once or twice a week .....I never grow tired of the tracks and views!

There's also some really good walking to be had through the Trevallyn Reserve and it's all so close to town!
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Re: Cataract Gorge with water

Postby Chris » Mon 09 Nov, 2009 12:52 pm

Macca81 wrote:bloke in the red vest, looks suspiciously like a mate of mine...


I'd love to know what they were doing Macca. It looked like a tricky manoeuver; I watched for quite a while, but couldn't work out whether they had a problem or were maybe practicing for possible rescues on Sunday.

Macca81 wrote:you shoulda seen it when it was in flood 2 or 3 months ago! that was insane!


Yes it was terrific, but wouldn't like that to happen too often. Too much of our garden on the South Esk goes under water, and I haven't finished clearing the debris yet!
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Re: Cataract Gorge with water

Postby Chris » Mon 09 Nov, 2009 1:00 pm

Phil wrote:It truly is a magical place!
I have the pleasure of running home from work through town, over the zig-zag track to the gorge and then up to Duck Reach once or twice a week .....I never grow tired of the tracks and views!


Yes Phil, I thoroughly enjoyed dog-walking from Duck Reach to the Basin and back regularly after work when living not too far away. Often walked along the water-course rather than the track, with lots of puddle-jumping. Shame on the Hydro for letting so little water through for that to be possible, but it was fun!
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Re: Cataract Gorge with water

Postby Lynda Moir » Wed 11 Nov, 2009 8:28 am

Thanks Chris for posting this walk and pictures - what a glorious day. Makes it seem like I was almost there. Great for those of us living away from Tasmania. 8)
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Re: Cataract Gorge with water

Postby MichaelP » Sun 10 Jan, 2010 5:25 pm

The gorge is amazing in flood.
Here is a pic i took during the floods this year....
The GORGE.jpg

Would love to do some rafting here!
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